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HISTORY 



OF 



Bates County 



MISSOURI 



BY 

Wi'^O. ATKESON 



ILLUSTRATED 



HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

TOPEKA CLEVELAND 

I918 






1, "i- 



PREFACE. 



This book is submitted in the behef that it will be found a readable 
book. Many historic incidents not mentioned in the general story will 
be found in detail in the biographies of men and women, now living, 
who witnessed the incidents they relate; many events are faithfully 
related by sons and daughters of parents who lived and passed through 
history-making epochs in this county. An earnest and sincere attempt 
has been made to present all subjects honestly and fairly, to give the 
early history of the county more fully, more comprehensively than has 
ever been attempted in the past. This is not a book of dry statistics or 
tabulations, designed to show the present status of the county as to 
wealth or its progress in diversified industry. It is not an advertisement, 
colored to suit the wishes of any line of business or any class of our 
citizens. It is a faithful effort to give permanency to the really valuable 
and supreme historic facts of the settlement and progress of Bates 
county. In the biographies of the county's leading families will be 
found a wealth of historic incident well worth preserving for future 
generations. 

The author has done his best to get the truth and to so write it that 
the reader may find it a pleasure and not a burden to read it. Mooted 
statements have been discussed without prejudice. Writers of history 
and the early records have been treated fairly and frankly. To the 
author, the wnde range of his reading has been intensely interesting 
and his investigations have been as thorough as possible. Conclusions 
are stated respectfully and without criticism of the old, and in some 
instances, long-accepted authorities, with which the author could not 
agree. It has been a laborious task, but he will be satisfied if the reader 
enjoys the pages of this volume by the fire-side as much as the author 
has the writing of them. 

Proper credit is given in the proper place to all who have con- 
tributed to the making of this book and we here express our apprecia- 
tion of the assistance received from a few men who have aided and 
encouraged us during the progress of our work. 

Respectfully, 
Butler, Missouri, Mav 7, 1918. W. O. ATKESON. 



INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS 



Academy, The Old Butler 212 

Ackerman, James T. and Wife 492 

Atkeson, W. O. Frontispiece 

Baie, William 804 

Bassett Family, Three Generations 
of The 748 

Bassett, George 748 

Bassett, Mrs. George R. 748 

Bassett, William C. 748 

Batchelor, Bate and Wife 620 

Bates County Pioneer Family, Four 

Generations of A 877 

Beaman, David W. and Wife 580 

Borland, George W. and Wife 636 

Botkin, Isaac H. 484 

Boulware, Theodrick C. 333 

Briscoe, Charles B. 428 

Brown, Mrs. William G. 885 

Brown, William G. 885 

Butler Boy, First to Make Supreme 
Sacrifice in World War 948 

Caches or Wells, The Mysterious — 100 

Charters, W. H., Jr. 660 

Cope, Seth E, 940 

Gotten, William H. 676 

Court House, Bates County 33 

Crabb, Edward 516 

Cresap, Daniel, Sr. 532 

Cummings, Hiram G. and Family — 924 

Dickison, Thomas Humphrey 644 

Earsom, Robert Roland 756 

Eichler, Lewis C. 364 

Evans, George H. and Family 708 

Farmers Bank Building 231 

Farm Scene in Bates County 122 

Fischer, August and Family 852 



Foster, Mrs. William C. 444 

Foster, William C. 444 

Franklin, Joseph S. and Family 468 

Gepford, D. A. and Family 692 

Golden Wedding Anniversary Group 860 

Halley's Blufif, On the Summit of__ 100 

Hanson, Andrew and Family 668 

Hardinger, Willie M. and Family__ 772 

Harper, Judge R. F. 780 

Headquarters of Bates County Red 

Cross 150 

Hedden, William C. 524 

Hensley, J. T. 380 

Hess, Edward C. and Family 812 

Holcomb, Colonel John Ewing 916 

Holland, Frank 540 

Home, Bates County 261 

Hoover, Andrew J. 828 

Inn of Butler, Missouri, The 231 

Julien, Barn of Reinhold A. 844 

Julien, Residence of Reinhold A 844 

Lampton, Dr. W. E. 564 

Largent, William P. and Family 684 

Laughlin, David William 460 

Lawson, John and Family 596 

Lewis, J. W. 508 

Lewis, Rev. Abram H. 508 

Littlefield, Mrs. Ellen 452 

Littlefield, Warren 452 

McKee, James J. and Wife 572 

Mahan, William S. and Family 836 

Map of Bates County 39 

Map Showing Location of Harmony 
Mission 50 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Methodist Church, South, Butler ___ 248 
Moreland, Arthur C. 548 

Newberry, Captain John B. 652 

Nichols, William T. and Wife 868 

Nickel, John 372 

Ohio Street Methodist Church, But- 
ler 240 

Owen, Horace Benton 396 

Owen, Martin V. 348 

Perry, W. W. 724 

Philbrick, Harrison 700 

Price, Milton H. 588 

Price, Mrs. Milton H. 588 

Raybourn, James H. and Wife 612 

Residence of W. M. Hardinger 125 

Rush, R. H. and Wife 796 

Searfus, William A. and Family — 893 

Sellon, John 764 

Sellon, W. G. 764 

Sharpless, Dr. B. F., Wife, Children, 

and Grandchildren 860 

Shelby, General Joseph O. 356 



Shelton, P. L. 412 

Simpson, James R. — 7l6 

Smith, A. J. 820 

Smith, Dr. Decatur , Ti2 

Smith, H. W. 877 

Smith, Judge Estes 932 

Smith. L. W. 877 

Smith, Matthias L. 877 

Smith, Wilber 877 

Standish, Dr. Stephen Lafayette 340 

Stone, John H. 556 

Thomas, Edward Leslie and wife__ 420 

Thomas, James Pendleton 404 

Tilson, Thomas Henry 436 

Trout, Willard and Family 500 

Union and Confederate Veterans— 135 

Vint, Dr. William D. 388 

Walker, Elliott Pyle 948. 

Washington School, Butler 201 

Webster School, Butler 248 

Wix, Clark 604 

Wix, Elder Lewis L. and Wife 628 

Woodfin, Jason Sherl 476 

Woodfin, Mrs. Prudence E. 476- 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

PURPOSE — TRADITIONAL AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY — NOT CONFINED BY BOUN- 
DARIES—SCOPE—GEOGRAPHICAL—LACK OF APPRECIATION— ORIGIN AND 
DEVELOPMENT — MISSOURI, THE MOTHER OF THE WEST — MISSOURI OF THE 
FUTURE PAGES 33-3S 

CHAPTER II. 

EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 

LIMITATIONS OF STORY — LEGAL AGE OF COUNTY— AREA — CLASSIFICATION — 
BEGINNING — OCCUPATION BY OSAGBS— THEIR CHARACTERISTICS— MAR- 
QUETTE'S MAP— EARLY MAPS AND WRITERS— PREHISTORIC RACE— VOY- 
AGEURS AND COURIERS DU BOIS — JOLIET AND MARQUETTE— DE SOTO AND 
DECORONADO — PENALOZA'S EXPEDITION — ADVENTURERS — FRENCH 
CLAIMS TO TERRITORY— FIRST FRENCH EXPLORATIONS— GRANT TO 
FRENCH KING — M. DE TISSENET'S VISIT — NAMING OF OSAGE, LITTLE OSAGE, 
AND MARMITON— LOCATION OF THE OSAGES— THE MISSISSIPPI COMPANY— 
RENAULT— INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY— "GET RICH QUICK" SCHEME- 
RENAULT'S MEN PAGES 39-49 

CHAPTER III. 

HARMONY MISSION. 

GREAT HISTORIC FACT— MISSION FAMILY— RELIGION OF OSAGES— OBJECT OF 
SOCIETY— MISSIONARY ENTHUSIASM— SPIRIT— ORIGIN— GREAT OSAGE MIS- 
SION — COLONEL M'KENNEY — DR. MILLEDOLER — THE COVENANT — APPLICA- 
TIONS — FAMILY SELECTED — PERSONNEL — APPEALS AND RESULTS — FARE- 
WELL MEETING — DEPARTURE OF "ATLANTA" AND "PENNSYLVANIA" — 
COMMISSION— REPORT OF SECRETARY— DOWN THE OHIO— DIFFICULTIES- 
MISSIONARY STATION— JOURNAL— CEMETERY PAGES 50-73 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE GRAND OSAGE INDIANS. 

GRAND OSAGES AND HARMONY MISSION— HOME OP THE OSAGES — CHARACTER- 
ISTICS — FAILURE OF MISSION — PIKE'S EXPEDITION — LOCATION — RECENT 
OBSERVATIONS— THEIR RELIGION — FIRST MARRIAGE IN OSAGE COUNTRY — 
LAST OF HIS LINE PAGES 74-84 

CHAPTER V. 

MARCHIONESS DEGNINON OF THE OSAGE. 

A ROMANCE OF HARMONY MISSION AND HALLEY'S BLUFF PAGES 85-103: 

CHAPTER VI. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

TECHNICAL DISCUSSION UNCALLED FOR — SOIL SURVEY — HON. JAMES WILSON — 
HON. DAVID A. DE ARMOND — SURVEYORS — LOCATION, ELEVATION, AND 
EXTENT OF TERRACES— EROSION— RANGE IN ELEVATION- ALTITUDE— 
CHANNELS— STREAMS— UNDERSTANDING OF RIVERS OF IMPORTANCE — 
DRAINAGE PAGES 104-106 

CHAPTER VII. 

SOILS. 

MEANING OF TERMS — NON-GLACIATED PORTION— RESIDUAL UPLAND SOIL— ROCKS 
— SHALE, LIMESTONE, SANDSTONE— HORIZONTAL STRATA — EROSION— TOPOG- 
RAPHY— SOIL SERIES— RESIDUAL SOILS— SOIL TYPES— OSWEGO SILT LOAM 
— SUMMIT SILT LOAM — BATES SILT LOAM— CRAWFORD SILT LOAM— BATES 
LOAM— BOONE FINE SANDY LOAM— OSAGE CLAY— OSAGE SILT LOAM. 

PAGES 107-11* 

CHAPTER VIII. 

RESOURCES OF BATES COUNTY. 

TIMBER— CHANGE OF OPINION — "THE PRAIRIE" — STRIP COAL MINING — UNCULTI- 
VATED LAND— BLUEGRASS— "SCRUB STOCK"— STOCK PRODUCTION— FERTIL- 
IZERS— HORTICULTURE— WILD FRUITS— NUTS— WATER — FISH — BUILDING 
MATERIALS— CLAYS— KAOLIN— COAL^ASPHALTUM, ROCK OIL, AND GAS- 
IRON ORE— PAINT BOULDERS— POULTRY— CORN PAGES 120-13(> 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 

(By Judge Charles A. Deutou.) 
NATIONAL, Territorial, state, and county governments— French posses- 
sion— Spanish POSSESSION— PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA— ACT OF MARCH 26, 
18(H— ACT OF MARCH 31, 1805— ACT OF JULY 4, 1812— MISSOURI ADMITTED 
—TREATY OF NOVEMBER 10, 1808— LEGISLATIVE ACTS PAGES 131-134 

CHAPTER X. 

THE BORDER WARFARE. 

"KANSAS WAR"— PRO-SLAVERY SETTLERS VS. "FREE STATE MEN"— THE AGI- 
TATED, EXCITED PUBLIC MIND— FACTS BETWEEN LINCOLN'S ELECTION AND 
INAUGURATION— BORDER LAND INFLAMED — WAR REPORTS— OSAWATOMIE 
JOHN BROWN PAGES 135-186 

CHAPTER XL 

RAILROADS. 

EARLY TRANSPORTATION — COLONEL BROWN— RAILWAY CONNECTIONS— FIRST 
SURVEY— RAILWAY PROJECTS— PLEASANT HILL, BUTLER & FORT SCOTT 
RAILROAD— LEBO & NEOSHO— RAILROAD MEETINGS— SPECIAL SESSION OF 
COUNTY COURT— LEAVENWORTH, LAWRENCE & GALVESTON— CONTRACTS 
LET— "BOB" STEVENS- PERSONAL BENEFIT SCHEMES— GENERAL PARSONS 
—LA BETTE CITY— COLONEL WILLIAMS— KANSAS CITY & MEMPHIS COM- 
PANY—MISSOURI, KANSAS & TOPEKA— GENERAL DISGUST— FAILURE OF 
SYNDICATE— MISSOURI PACIFIC— RICH HILL BRANCH— OTHER RAILROAD 
PROJECTS— COLONEL PACE AND COLONEL NICHOLS— SYNDICATE REPRE- 
SENTED—WALNUT CITY BOOM— DAMAGE SUIT— BOOMLET— J. D. SCOTT- 
SINCERE PROMOTERS— "IN THE LAND OF BEGINNING AGAIN"__PAGES 187-200 

CHAPTER XII. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BATES COUNTY. 

(By Artliur C. Morelaud, County Superintendent.) 
EARLY SCHOOLS— FIRST SCHOOL HOUSES— FIRST TEACHERS— BEFORE, DURING. 
AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR— EARLY SETTLERS— OFFICE OF SCHOOL COM- 
MISSIONER CREATED— WILLIAM C. REQUA— NATHAN L. PERRY— FIRST 
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT, DAVID McGAUGHEY— L. B. ALLISON— FIRST 
TEACHERS' INSTITUTES— CHARLES WILSON— JAMBS HARPER— SCHOOL COM- 
MISSIONERS—HOWARD TOWNSHIP— FIRST READING CIRCLE— LAWS— MEET- 
INGS— SALARY— STATISTICS— ADRIAN— RICH HILL— BUTLER— BUTLER ACA- 
DEMY— HUME— AMORET— AMSTERDAM— ROCKVILLE — MERWIN — BUSINESS 
COLLEGES PAGES 201-218 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PRESS. 

VALUE AND INFLUENCE — "BATES COUNTY STANDARD" — "WESTERN TIMES" — 
"WEST POINT BANNER" — "BATES COUNTY RECORD"— "THE BAT:£S COUNTY 
DEMOCRAT"— "THE BUTLER WEEKLY TIMES" — "REPUBLICAN"— 'ADRIAN 
ADVERTIZER"— "THE REGISTER"— "RICH HILL GAZETTE" — "NATION>i. GA- 
ZETTE" — "DAILY GAZETTE" — "HERALD" — "COMING NATION" — THE WEST- 
ERN ENTERPRISE" — "THE RICH HILL MINING REVIEW" — "DAILY REVIEW 
— "AMORET LEADER"— "AMSTERDAM ENTERPRISE" — "THE BORDER TELE- 
PHONE" — "THE HUME NEWS' — "HUME STAR" — "HUME CHRONICLE" — "THE 
HUME GLOBE"— "HUME SUN"— ROCKVILLE NEWSPAPERS— "THE ROCKVILLE 
NEWS" PAGES 219-226 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FINANCE AND BANKING. 

A STORY OF SUCCESS — C. B. DUNBAUGH & COMPANY — BATES COUNTY BANK — 
BATES COUNTY SAVINGS BANK — BUTLER NATIONAL BANK — F. J. TYGARD 
AND W. F. TYGARD— RAILROADS AND BUILDING OF TOWNS — BANKS AND 
TRUST COMPANIES — LOAN CENTER— THE MISSOURI STATE BANK — THE WAL- 
TON TRUST COMPANY — THE FARMERS & MANUFACTURERS BANK — ADRIAN 
BANKING COMPANY — THE FARMERS BANK — THE FARMERS BANK OF BATES 
COUNTY— BANK OF ROCKVILLE— BANK OF AMSTERDAM— BANK OF AMORET 
— THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF HUME — THE COMMERCIAL STATE BANK — 
STATE BANK OF HUME — FARMERS BANK OF ROCKVILLE PAGES 227-234 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE BENCH AND BAR. 



INTRODUCTION— THE BENCH — THE BAR— THE HEGIRA OF OUR PUBLIC RECORDS 
(By James H. Raybourn) — CRIMES AND CRIMINALS PAGES 235-239 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CHURCHES. 



RANKING IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS — GROWTH AND PROSPERITY— LIBERAL ATTI- 
TUDE—PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH— LATTER DAY SAINTS — CHURCH OF THE 
BRETHREN PAGES 240-245 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

BUTLER. 



LOCATION— AD /ANT AGES— ORIGINAL TOWN— NAMING — WILLIAM ORLANDO BUT- 
LER — FIRST SURVEYS — JOHN C. KENNETT — MONTGOMERY — JOHN E. MOR- 
GAN—FIRST HOTEL — GENERAL STORE — McCOMB & ROBISON — LORING & 
BTjRNETT — FIRST PHYSICIAN — FIRST ATTORNEYS — FIRST TEACHER AND 
. SCHOOL HOUSE— WILLIAM HARMANN— VAN BUREN VAN DYKE— FIRST SAW 
AND GRIST MILL— FIRST CHURCH— FIRE— DURING CIVIL WAR— INCORPORA- 
TION — CITY OF FOURTH CLASS— FIRST MAYOR— FIRST CITY OFFICERS — 
CITY OF THIRD CLASS — EARLY ESTABLISHMENTS— OLD SURVEY— DEEDS. 

PAGES 246-252 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

RICH HILL. 

POSTOFFICE — DEVELOPMENT — ORGANIZATION — THE "LEADVILLE OF MISSOURI" — 
"MINING REVIEW"— "TRADE JOURNAL"— CITY OF FOURTH CLASS — TOM 
IRISH— ORGANIZATION — FIRST MAYOR— CLINTON R. WOLFE — THIRD CLASS 
—WATERWORKS— PROSPECTING— GAS PLANT— WATER, LIGHT AND FUEL 
COMPANY — REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH— THE "REVIEW" — TOWN COMPANY — 
LOCATION PAGES 253-260 

CHAPTER XIX. 

TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

INTRODUCTION — MINGO TOWNSHIP — SETTLE FORD — COVE CITY — MAYESBURG — 
GRAND RIVER TOWNSHIP— ALTONA— DEER CREEK TOWNSHIP— ADRIAN- 
CRESCENT HILL — EAST BOONE TOWNSHIP— BURDETT—PARKERVILLE — 
WEST BOONE TOWNSHIP — ROSIER— WEST POINT TOWNSHIP — WEST POINT 
VILLAGE — VINTON— AMSTERDAM — ELKHART TOWNSHIP— ELKHART POST- 
OFFICE— MOUND TOWNSHIP— PASSAIC— SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP— CULVER. 

PAGES 261-269 

CHAPTER XX. 

TOWNSHIPS. TOWNS AND VILLAGES— CONTINUED. 

SPRUCE TOWNSHIP— JOHNSTOWN— BALLARD POSTOFFICE— DEEPWATER TOWN- 
SHIP—SPRUCE VILLAGE — SUMMIT TOWNSHIP — MT. PLEASANT TOWNSHIP— 
BUTLER— CHARLOTTE TOWNSHIP— VIRGINIA POSTOFFICE— HOMER TOWN- 
SHIP— MULBERRY— AMORET— WALNUT TOWNSHIP— MARVEL— LOUISVILLE- 
WALNUT POSTOFFICE— WORLAND— FOSTER PAGES 270-277 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES— CONTINUED. 

NEW HOME TOWNSHIP — NEW HOME VILLAGE— SHOBETOWN AND RIVELY— 
CORNLAND— LONE OAK TOWNSHIP— PERU AND ATHOL— PLEASANT GAP 
TOWNSHIP— PLEASANT GAP VILLAGE— STUMPTOWN — HUDSON TOWNSHIP— 
HUDSON— LAHIA—ROCKVILLE TOWNSHIP— ROCKVILLE TOWN— j?RAIRIE 
TOWNSHIP — HARMONY MISSION — PAPINSVILLE— PRAIRIE CITY— O&^GE 

TOWNSHIP — HOWARD TOWNSHIP — SPRAGUE — HUME PAGES 278-281 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE MARAIS DES CYGNES AND OSAGE RIVERS AND 

VALLEYS. 

CONFUSION — DERIVATION AND MEANING — EARLY OFFICIAL MAPS — ERRORS — 
CONTROVERSY— MILTON WHITING— ERRONEOUS PLATBOOKS— EARLY WRIT- 
ERS—LOCATION OF OSAGES— THE MARAIS DES CYGNES A PART OF BOUND- 
ARY — A BEAUTIFUL SCENE— HAPPY HOME— BIG TREES— CROOKED STREAM 
— DESCRIPTION — FISH STORIES — RECLAMATION — CAPTAIN A. B. DICKEY— C. 
G. GREEN — DRAINAGE COMPANY— "VALLEY OF THE NILE"— EXTENSION. 

PAGES 287-293 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE BIG DRAINAGE DITCH. 

THE EGYPT OF BATES COUNTY— "MARAIS DES CYGNES"— RECLAMATION — PRE- 
TENSE—NO FEASIBLE PLAN UNTIL 1906 — PETITION PRESENTED— VIEWERS 
AND APPRAISERS — PROPOSED PLAN— REMONSTRANCE — REPORTS — JUDGE 
McFADDEN — REPORT APPROVED — PERMANENT BOARD APPOINTED — DUTIES 
OF BOARD AND COST OF WORK — OBJECTIONS — CONTRACT — BONDS — CON- 
STRUCTION— LITIGATION— COMPLETED— RESULTS— J. F. KERN. 

PAGES 294-297 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE. 

(By Lucieu Green.) 
IN KANSAS— THE GRANGERS — POOR CROP YEARS — INVASION — J. C. TAYLOR — 
SMALL DAMAGE — THE "JUANITA OF THE WEST" — JOURNEY TO BATES 
COUNTY — DESTINATION — RECEPTION — JOHN McCONNELL — CAPTAIN JOHN W. 
HANNAH— THE ATTACK— LEAVE TAKING — GOOD FEELING — CROPS. 

PAGES 298-301 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

REMINISCENCES. 



OLD SETTLER '3 AND EARLY INCIDENTS— INTERESTING FACTS — RECOLLECTIONS 
OF HA'^iMONY MISSION — BATES COUNTY IN THE FIFTIES — SIXTY-EIGHT 
YEAB.S AGO— EVENTS OF LONG AGO— TALKS AND TALES OF OLDEN TIMES. 

PAGES 302-332 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX 



Ackerman, James T. 492 

Adams, James Perry 421 

Allen, C. A. 680 

Alsbach, George F. 560 

Anderson, J. W. 871 

Anderson, M. W. 864 

Argenbright, Albert 626 

Armstrong, J. B. 841 

Arnold, William M. 565 

Atkeson, W. O. 697 

Baie, William 804 

Bailey, W. E. 887 

Baker, J. H. 639 

Baker, William A. 391 

Barclay, Alexander M. 351 

Barnett, Benjamin F. 854 

Barrows, Mrs. Asenath C. 782 

Bartlett, James E. 754 

Bartlett, Roy 757 

Baskerville, Hon. Lucien 922 

Bassett, D. D. 748 

Batchelor, Bate 620 

Bates, Dr. S. L, 503 

Baum, Jacob R. 603 

Beaman, David W. 580 

Beard, Henry 705 

Beard, J. A. 927 

Bedinger, J. F. 944 

Bell, James S. 465 

Bell, William M. 466 

Bennett. E. A. 592 

Berry, James Claude 488 

Biggs, J. C. 416 

Blangy, John 830 

Blount, T. W. 800 

Bobbitt, James W. 410 

Bohlken, G. B. 818 

Bolin, Thomas 739 

Borland, George W. 636 

Botkin, Isaac H. 484 



Boulware, Theodrick C. 333 

Bowman, Charles R. 536 

Brannock, William H. 935 

Briscoe, Charles B. 428 

Briscoe, William T. 826 

Brooks, Jesse L. 866 

Brown, Ira M. 703 

Brown, J. O. 966 

Brown, J. S. 616 

Brown, Troy F. 699 

Brown, William G. 885 

Buckles, William 759 

Bullock, William J. 953 

Burkhart, Owen M. 386 

Burk, Monroe 376 

Cannon, Thomas F. 904 

Canterbury, B. B. 574 

Capps, E. M. 913 

Carpenter, Wilson C. 400 

Carroll, M. M. 378 

Carver, J. W. 685 

Catterlin, John M. 740 

Chambers, Chester A. 786 

Charters, W. H., Jr. 660 

Charters, William Henry 775 

Cherry, E. A. 505 

Choate, Dr. John W. 566 

Chrisman, C. W. 969 

Chrisman, G. E. 969 

Christy, Dr. J. M. 569 

Clay, Frank T. 583 

Cline, James S. 430 

Clouse, William D. 470 

Cobb, William Penn 462 

Cole, J. W. 670 

Coleman, Charles 402 

Coleman, John W. 549 

Collier, Stephen Cole 823 

Collins, Albert Clay 463 

Commercial Bank of Hume, The 418- 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 



Connell, W. P. 816 

Connor, John P. 928 

Conrad, William 704 

Cook, H. G. 597 

Cope, John Quincy Adams 942 

Cope, Seth E. 940 

Corbin, Gustavus A. 480 

Gotten, William H. 676 

Council, H. H. 945 

C*ox, J. W. 806 

Crabb, Edward 516 

Crabb, Fred 489 

Cresap, Daniel 532 

Crooks, George 807 

Crowell, Frank H. 566 

Culver, A, H. 558 

Cumpton, Clay S. 658 

Cumpton, Dr. V. J. 393 

Cummings, Hiram G. 924 

Curtis, Harry L. 418 

Daniel, G. W. 384 

Darby, James William 687 

Davis, Leonard 707 

Dawson, Watt Burress 742 

DeArmond, David Albaugh 693 

DeArmond, James A. 659 

Denton, Hon. Charles A. 688 

Denton, J. C. 968 

Denton, Wesley 552 

Dever, John 363 

Deweese, W. H. 624 

Dickison, Thomas Humphrey 644 

Diehl, F. H. 721 

Dixon, Alonzo 843 

Dixon, George W. 585 

Doane, Charles W. 835 

Doane, William C, Jr. 902 

Donnohue, Jerome T. 913 

Doolittle, Jesse G. 438 

Douglass, John Henry 898 

Douglas, William 890 

Durand, J. B. 891 

Duvall, William F. 526 

Eads, William A. 856 

Earsom, Robert Roland 756 

Edwards, Elliott F. 950 

Edwards, Horace Perry 960 

Egglcson, J. W. 578 



Eichler, Lewis C. 364 

Ellington, J. P. 938 

Embree, T. D. . 631 

Engelhardt, Herman . 366 

Evans, George H. 708 

Falloon, George — 788 

Finklang, William Frank 767 

Fischer, August 852 

Fisk, Charles L. 599 

Fitz Gerald, E. D. 815 

Flammang, Joseph A. 535 

Fleming, Mrs. Lulu (Rand) 473 

Fortune, Charles E. 531 

Foster, William C. 444 

Fox, Arthur Ray 681 

Frank, George H. 845 

Franklin, James J. 433 

Franklin, Joseph S. 468 

Fulkerson, John F. 360 

Fuller, W. S. 847 

Gench, George 906 

Gepford, D. A. 692 

Gilbreath, J. W. 710 

Gilmore, A. L. 873 

Gordon, James R. 929 

Gragg, James F. . 371 

Grant, E. G. 934 

Graves, Waller Washington 783 

Green, Lucien 791 

Sutridge, George H. 662 

Hall, Carl F. 399 

Hall, E. R. 389 

Halfert, Samuel Peter 408 

Hamilton, R. R. 397 

Hand, Oscar 965 

Hanson, Andrew 668 

Hardinger, Willie M. 772 

Hardin, James 615 

Harper, Judge R. F. 780 

Harper, Thaddeus S. 375 

Harrison, James A. 678 

Harshaw, John W. 633 

Hart, George W. 897 

Hart, Otis P. 827 

Hathaway, J. T. 947 

Hays, R. C. 651 

Hedden. William C. 524 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 



Hegnaucr, Christian 719 

Heinlein, O. A. 745 

Henley, William T. J. 832 

Henry, Charles 849 

Henry, Walter 600 

Hensley, J. T. 380 

Hensley, Lyman 925 

Herman, John A., Jr. ^ 776 

Herndon, Jefferson 961 

Herrmann, J. P. 915 

Hertz, George 920 

Hess, Edward C. 812 

Hinson, J. M. 377 

Hirni, E. H. 769 

Hodges, James K. 794 

Holcomb, Col. John Ewing 916 

Holland, Frank 540 

Holland, John G. 422 

Holland, Orren T. 426 

Holloway, W. H. 537 

Hook, J. Emmett 910 

Hoover, Andrew J. 828 

Houtz, John J. 446 

Hughes, Amos J. 918 

Hull, Dr. John R. 520 

Hurt, W. S. 667 

Huston, F. A. 971 

Hyatt, H. C, Jr. 758 

Ireland, Benjamin 673 

Ireland, Grover C. 851 

Jackling, Daniel Cowan 683 

Jenkins, J. R. 547 

Johnson, O. C. 350 

Julien, Reinhold A. 844 

Kash, S. B. 637 

Keirsey, Moses S. 664 

Kern, J. F. 594 

Kincaid, Eli F. 955 

Kretzinger, I. M. 642 

Lampton, Dr. W. E. 564 

Lane, Clifford J. 395 

Laney, William 883 

Largent, William P. 684 

Laughlin, David William 460 

Laughlin, Elmer Elsworth 824 



Laughlin, Fred 462 

Lawson, John 596 

Legg, Thomas Webster 584 

Lewis, Hon. John W. 512 

Lewis, Rev. Abram H. 508 

Lewis, Thomas Henry 415 

Lightfoot, T. W. 802 

Lindsay, Anthony 728 

Littletield, Warren 452 

Lockwood, Dr. Thomas Franklin 544 

Lotspeich, J. B. 545 

Lutsenhizer, Del. 656 

McComb, Charles A. 715 

McComb, Rev. Lewis 734 

McCulloch, James 957 

McCune, Frank J. 361 

McDavitt, J. N. 749 

McGaughey, Judge David 839 

McGovern, James M. 930 

McKee, James J. 572 

McKee, John 962 

McKee, S. C. 809 

McKissick, John F. 848 

Mahan, W. S. 836 

March, John J. 457 

Marshall, Robert 966 

Marsteller. Charles 939 

Mathers, Frank U. 491 

Miller, A. A. 790 

Miller, Alfred A. 649 

Mills, William Moore 834 

Meglasson Family 792 

Moles, J. W. 921 

Moore, A. E. 963 

Moreland, Arthur C. 548 

Morilla, E. E. 859 

Mudd, J. J. 959 

Murray, R. A. 518 

Nelson, Palmer E. 855 

Newberry, Capt. John B. 652 

Newlon, Dr. J. S. 579 

Newlon, George K. 630 

Nichols, William T. 868 

Nickell, James E. T2>1 

Nickel, John 372 

Norbury, Alfred 958 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 



Xorflect, J. K. 602 

Osborne, William Y. 646 

Owen, Horace Benton 396 

Owen, Judge A. B. 576 

Owen, Martin V. 348 

Owens, Clyde C. 905 

Page, C. N. 875 

Page, Herbert E. 726 

Pahlman, George H. 810 

Parish, W. W. 514 

Park, Wilbur J. 353 

Patchin, William H. 442 

Perry, W. W. 724 

Peterson, Niels 445 

Pettys, Thomas L. 542 

Pheasant, Thomas J. 711 

Philbrick, Harrison 700 

Poindexter. Luther 876 

Pollard, T. C. 608 

Popp, Fred E. 831 

Porter, E. A. 440 

Porter, George S. 862 

Pratt, Harry T. 880 

Price, Milton H. 588 

Prier, A. A. 713 

Priestly, Frank 590 

Raybourn, James H. 612 

Reinheimer, Henry 562 

Reist, D. B. 495 

Requa, Adelbert 382 

Requa, Dr. William C. 702 

Rice, J. B. 337 

Ricketts, W. W. 497 

Roberts, Alonzo Irving 888 

Robinson, James W. 743 

Robinson, Mrs. Icie L. 887 

Rosier, A. C. ^ 338 

Rush, R. H. 796 

Schapeler, Henry William 752 

Schapeler, Hermann A. W. 762 

Schmidt, Christian 374 

Searfus, William A. 893 

Sellon, W. G. 764 

Sells, C. J. 779 

Shadburne, Dr. J. T. 539 

Sharpless, Dr. Benjamin Franklin — 860 
Shay, Alonzo Wilson 111 



Shelby, General Joseph O. 356 

Shelby, Webb 359 

Shelton, P. L. 412 

Silvers, John A. 554 

Simon, Merle 621 

Simpson, James R. 716 

Simpson, Matthew S. 471 

Smith, A. J. 820 

Smith, Dr. Decatur 732 

Smith, Jesse E. 648 

Smith, Joseph T. 454 

Smith, Judge Estes 932 

Smith, Judge J. F. 586 

Smith, L. W. 879 

Smith, Matthias L. 877 

Smith, W. H. 675 

Speer, John 355 

Sproul, Robert J. 435 

Standish, Dr. Stephen Lafayette 340 

Standish. William Roy 342 

StanfiU, O. W. 803 

Steiner, H. 763 

Stone. John H. 556 

Strien, James L. 474 

Sturgeon, Robert 623 

Sunderwirth, George W. 900 

Swarens, Frank Ray 455 

Swarens, Clarence C. 494 

Teeter, Darius 671 

Teeter, M. N. 665 

Tilson, Thomas Henry 436 

Tipton, Joseph 618 

Thomas, Edward Leslie 420 

Thomas, James Arthur 407 

Thomas, James Pendleton 404 

Thomas, Mark Henry 479 

Thomas, R. J. 936 

Thompson, David W. 414 

Thompson, George W. 369 

Thurman, Albert B. 770 

Trent, J. R. 819 

Trout, Willard 500 

Tyler, William Benjamin 730 

Vint, Dr. William D. 388 

Walker. Daniel K. 948 

Waller, Edgar D. 451 

Walls, Sam 798 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX, 



Walters, John Robert 368 

Walton, William E. 908 

Weadon, John R. 954 

Weedin, Alphonso Freeman 423 

Weirick, Isaiah L, 432 

WeMott, A. W. 553 

Wheatley, William 482 

Wheeler, Francis Marion 487 

Wilcox. E. D. ^ 609 

Williams, Dr. William A 813 

Williams, James E. 529 

Wilson, E. C. ■_ 747 

Witmore, Reverend Ira 498 

Wix, Abner L. 392 

Wix, B. M. 722 

Wix. Clark 604 



Wix, Elder Lewis L. 628 

Wix, Joseph F. 870 

Wolfe, Charles W. 760 

Wolfe, David Clayton 448 

Wolfe, Marshall Lee 343 

Wolf, Fred 931 

Woodfin, Jason Sherl 476 

Wright, H. L. 346 

Wright, John 943 

Wyatt, Edward H. 522 

Wyatt, George P. 551 

Yeates. Willis Isaiah 774 

Yoss, John T. 895 

Yost, George N. 767 

Yost, Jonathan 765 



History of Bates County 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



PURPOSE— TRADITIONAL AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY— NOT CONFINED BY BOUN- 
DARIES — SCOPE — GEOGRAPHICAL — LACK OF APPRECIATION — ORIGIN AND 
DEVELOPMENT— MISSOURI, THE MOTHER OF THE WEST — MISSOURI OF THE 
FUTURE. 

The story of the beginning, development and progress of a commun- 
ity is always interesting; and it appeals specially to the posterity and 
successors of those who have gone before. Every modern community 
iias had its "early days" of trials, struggles and successes, as well as its 
days of progress and achievements. Hence the story of a community 
like Bates county is an intensely interesting one to those who now live 
within her borders. The purpose of this book is to present her story 
as fully and completely as historical data and the recollections and 
memories of people now living can do it. It is a regretable fact that 
much of historical worth has perished with the death of leading actors 
in the early days of the county; and that much of the preserved data 
is meager in detail, uncertain in value, and much confused by the early 
writers. 

Much of the history peculiar to Bates county in the very beginnings 
of our story is so shrouded in uncertainty, and upon authority so indefi- 
nite and obscure, that it becomes difficult to separate authentic history 
from legend and tradition. The wonderful era of the French and Span- 
ish fur traders, antedating the coming of the American to our soil more 
than an hundred years ago, can never be adequately presented by the 
■ conscientious historian ; for the voyageurs kept no records and left 
none. All that can be said of them is what may be gleaned from the 
data left by their employers, and even that is limited and confusing. 
When we come to what may be properly called the "Pioneer days" the 
story becomes easier and safer, as some records and folk lore have 
• come down to us upon which we may rely. 

It will be dif^cult to confine this story wholly to the confines of 

(3) 



34 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



Bates county as it exists now and has existed since its present boundaries 
were fixed in 1855; for much of the most interesting part of our early 
history occurred along the Osage, the little Osage, and the JMarais des 
Cygnes rivers, and part of which, of course, occurred in what is now 
Vernon county. It is true that in the real pioneer days Bates county 
included all of what is now Vernon; and hence a discussion of some 
things wdiich took place south of both the Osages could not be objec- 
tionable in a present-day history of Bates county. But our purpose is, 
as nearly as possible, to keep within the boundaries of this county, and 
anything of occurrences beyond will merely be excursions worth while 
to illumine our own history. 

Notwithstanding the difficulties and perplexities involved, the writing 
of the story of this community, the story of the lives and acomplish- 
ments of our people and their ancestors, is a pleasant one ; and we hope 
to do it so well that all who read these pages will thereby be pleased 
and profited. The scope of the work is sufficiently broad to take in 
everything in the life and labors of our people worth recording. 

The progress of this state and county is such that we need not refer 
to latitude and longitude, or appeal to the Gunter's chain, to locate 
Bates county as it is today. It has a place "on the map," and all that 
need be said to locate and identify it is this: Bates county, Missouri, 
is a border county, joining the state of Kansas on the west, the third 
county south from the Missouri river in the western or border tier of 
counties running south to x\rkansas. It joins Cass and Johnson on the 
north, Henry and St. Clair on the east and Vernon on the south. It lies 
about half way between the great Missouri river bottoms on the north, 
and the western foothills of the Ozarks on the south ; about half \\-ay 
between Kansas City, Missouri, on the north and Joplin on the south. 
With this description any school child in^ tlie Union can locate and point 
out Bates county on the map. It contains 866 square miles, or 554,240 
acres — more than a half million, nearl}' all in a high state of cultivation, 
one of the very largest producers of corn, cattle, hogs, horses and mules 
in the state. Bates county is a little more than two-thirds the size of 
the state of Rhode Island. A circle drawn with Butler, the county 
seat of Bates county, as its center, and whose diameter is 200 miles 
and its radii 100, will inclose tlic richest and most producti\'e area to be 
found on the face of the glo1)e in similar area around any center; and 
this circle will touch only parts of Missouri and Kansas. It might well 
be called a magic circle, for its agricultural possibilities are wonderful 
and its mineral resources marvelous; and if the diameter and radii of 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 35 

this circle should be doubled the same statements of its area would 
still be true. Such a circle would include the very heart of this country, 
and Bates county lies at its center. 

People who now live and own homes within 100 miles of Butler — of 
the center of Bates county — do not properly appreciate the great privi- 
leges and advantages which are theirs. 

A broader view of our relation to history requires that a brief 
account of the state, its origin and development be given. Prior to 
1763 the territory of Bates county belonged to France and was a part 
of that vast western empire which, wherever settled or occupied, recog- 
nized Louis XV as its king and sovereign. This ownership was predi- 
cated upon "the right of discovery" made by the French Canadians who 
as explorers, voyageurs, and trappers and fur dealers, had pushed far 
west and southwest from Canada by way of the Great Lakes on the 
north to the waters of the Mississippi and thence down that river, and 
up its tributaries, to greater or less distance. 

Prior to 1763 the entire continent of North America belonged to 
France, England, Spain and Russia. France owned prior to 1760 all 
that portion west of the Mississippi river as well as all of Canada. The 
"French War in North America," as it is usually called, between the 
French and English began in 1752. and closed in 1-760. This war was 
waged between them for possession of this continent. The French 
were in possession of Canada and Louisiana. They entrenched their 
forces on the banks of the St. Lawrence river, and near the mouth of 
the Mississippi and attempted by the occupation of various points in 
the interior to confine the English colonies to a narrow strip on the 
Atlantic coast. The Lidians of the West became the allies of the French. 
The French and English both claimed the country drained by the Ohio, 
but it had been settled by neither. The governor of Virginia organ- 
ized a force to take possession of the spot where Pittsl^urgh now stands; 
but the French beat him to it, and established there Fort Duquesne and 
held it until 1758. A long struggle ensued to dispossess the French. 
Here in 1755 Braddock was defeated and General Washington won his 
first renown. Then followed the l)attles of Ticonderoga. Crown Point, 
and Niagara, in 1759, all taken by the English, and the war in America 
terminated in the capture of Quebec by General Wolfe; but the strug- 
gle for the possession in Europe continued until, on September 8> 1760. 
it was ceded to England. But France retained possession of Louisiana 
until 1762. when she ceded it to Spain, thus yielding her last foothold 
upon the American continent. At that time neither France nor any 



36 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



one else had any adequate idea of the vast territory west of the Mis- 
sissippi river. It was practically an unexplored country which we know 
as the ''Louisiana Purchase." As long as the French held it, it was 
called the "Province of Louisiana" and it included what is now the 
state of Missouri, as well as all the states west of the Mississippi, except 
the territory afterward acquired from Mexico and Russia and the state 
of Texas. Then for thirty-seven or thirty-eight years what is now Mis- 
souri was under Spanish rule, and the wdiole cession was known as the 
"Illinois country." During that time free commerce on the Mississippi 
became a burning question. Spain controlled both banks of the river 
at New Orleans and the settlers in Kentucky, Tennessee and other 
parts of the Mississippi valley clamored for an open way for commerce 
to the sea, or at least to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The 
point was that Spain claimed the right to close the river to all but 
Spanish commerce. The controversy was serious. It is not necessary 
to go further into this vexed question. In 1802 the Spanish intendant 
at New Orleans withdrew the right of deposit, and that again inflamed 
conditions. But about that time it became known in this country that 
Spain had retroceded Louisiana to France by the secret treaty of San 
Ildefonso two years before 1800, in return for an Italian principality to 
be granted to the son-in-law of the King of Spain. The doings of 
Napoleon in this country led President Jefferson to send Monroe to 
France in 1803, with instructions to buy New Orleans and the Floridas, 
or at least secure a port of deposit or similar concession. 

When Mr. Monroe reached Paris, he discovered that Livingston, 
the resident minister, had completed the preliminaries of the purchase 
not only of New Orleans, but of the whole of Louisiana. At that time 
England and France were at peace, but Napoleon's continental policy, 
he knew, was certain to bring on war with England. On account of dan- 
gers threatening from that quarter and unexpected obstacles he was 
encountering in San Domingo, where the heroic resistance of Toussaint 
L'Ouverture was giving him much trouble and exhausting his resources, 
he suddenly abandoned his dreams of a colonial empire on this continent. 
Colonial expansion and war with England at the same time would prove 
too great a burden. "Napoleon, therefore, with the remorseless dis- 
regard for sentiment that made and ruined him. met Livingston's 
demands for concessions on the Mississippi with the proposal 
to sell all of Louisiana to the United States." Before Mr. Livingston 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 37 

could recover from his astonishment Mr. Monroe arrived, and after talk- 
ing the matter over together they resolved to exceed their instructions 
and accept the bargain "tossed into their laps." 

For $15,000,000 the United States secured all the claims of France 
to New Orleans and the watershed of the Mississippi on the western 
bank. Thus began the colonial expansion of our own government. 
This purchase more than doubled our material domain, settled forever 
the Mississippi question and hastened the inevitable advance to the 
Pacific. 

From this it will be noticed that Missouri has twice been under 
the sovereignty of France and once under Spain. The history of Mis- 
souri, or the Province of Louisiana as it was known under French rule, 
and as the Illinois country under Spanish rule, would be interesting; 
but we need not go into that. At the time of the transfer from France 
to Spain in 1762 there was only one settlement within the bounds 
of the present state of Missouri, Ste. Genevieve, 1735, the oldest in the 
state. St. Charles was established the year of the cession, 1762. and 
St. Louis in 1764. Then came Carondelet in 1767, Florissant in 1776; 
and these seem to have been all the towns in existence at the time of 
the Louisiana Purchase. 

Missouri was admitted as a territory by James Madison, Tune 4, 
1812. Missouri territory then embraced what is now Missouri state. 
Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Oklahoma, North 
and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and most of Kansas, Colorado 
and Wyoming. It was admitted as a state, conditionally, March 2, 
1820, by James Monroe, President; but was not formally admitted until 
August 10, 1821. The story of Missouri's struggle for admittance as a 
state is an intensely interesting one, but too long for a work like this. 

It has been truly said that Missouri is the mother of all the great 
West. Her sons and daughters have followed the sun to the Pacific, 
and every state west of the mouth of the Kaw is indebted to Missouri 
for many of the brave pioneers wdio have blazed the way to statehood 
and greatness in the land of their adoption and settlement ; and not- 
withstanding the stream which has flowed out to the westward the 
"Mother State" has waxed great and strong and fat. 

Any extended eulogium upon our state would be manifestly out of 
place here; but it requires no great vision to see her fifty or an hundred 
vears hence, still leading all the boundless West in commerce and mate- 



38 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

rial greatness, strong, prosperous and patriotic; the home of good folk 
then as now, and as beloved by her children of the generations to come. 
Her continued progress is assured. She has the love and devotion of her 
people; and her internal values and her external environments are 
guaranties of her future greatness. 



CHAPTER II. 



EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



LIMITATIONS OF STORY— LEGAL AGE OF COUNTY— AREA— CLASSIFICATION- 
BEGINNING— OCCUPATION BY OSAGES— THEIR CHARACTERISTICS— MAR- 
QUETTE'S MAP— EARLY MAPS AND WRITERS— PREHISTORIC RACE— VOY- 
AGEURS AND COURIERS DU BOIS— JOLIET AND MARQUETTE— DE SOTO AND 
DE CORONADO — PENALOZA'S EXPEDITION — ADVENTURE.-^S — FRENCH 

CLAIMS TO TERRITORY— FIRST FRENCH EXPLORATIONS— GRANT TO 
FRENCH KING — M. DE TISSENET'S VISIT— NAMING OF OSAGE. LITTLE OSAGE, 
AND MARMITON— LOCATION OF THE OSAGES— THE MISSISSIPPI COMPANY— 
RENAULT— INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY— "GET RICH QUICK" SCHEME- 
RENAULT'S MEN. 

In telling the story of Bates county we refer to the county as it 
was finally organized by act of the General Assembly in 1855, and as 
it is now; for there has been no change in boundary since. Where 
reference to Cass, Van Buren, Vernon or other counties are made, care 
will be taken to explain the relation sustained by Bates to any other 
county. Roughly speaking Bates county is now sixty-three years old. 
That is a short period in history but there have been many changes in 
the world, in our nation and state, since Bates county was legally cre- 
ated and became one of the great counties of this great commonwealth. 
It might be a pleasant privilege to write down the solemn and momen- 
tous events which have occurred within the life of Bates county of 
national and world importance — the progress and decline of people, 
crumbling dynasties, wars, victories and defeats; the marvelous achieve- 
ments of science in every field of human speculation; the literary, 
philosophical and moral accomplishments of our own people as well as 
of the other civilized people of the world. But an excursion into such 
wide and limitless fields is beyond the scope of this work whose boun- 
daries are fixed, by law and the Gunter's chain. Bates contains within 
its boundaries a little more than half a million acres — a little more than 
900 square miles. It is the fourth in area in the state. It belongs in the 
class described as rolling, prairie country. It has a history as important 
and interesting as any in the western part of the state. Its present 



MAP OF BATES COtWTT, MISSOUBI. 







CHAPTER 

EXPLORATION AND I 

LIMITATIONS OF STORV— LEGAL AGE OP 
BEGINNING — OCCUPATION BY OSAGES- 
QUETTE'S MAP— EARLY MAPS AND WI 
AGEURS AND COURIERS DU BOIS— JOLIE 
DE CORONADO — PENALOZA'S EXPEl 
CLAIMS TO TERRITORY— FIRaT FRE 
FRENCH KING — M. DE TISSENET'S VISIT- 
AND MARMITON— LOCATION OP THE OSA 
RENAULT— INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERl 
RENAULT'S MEN. 

]n telliiin- tlic story of Bates county 

was linally organized by act of the Gem 

it is now; for there has been no ciiang 

reference to Cass, Van Biiren, Vernon or 

will lie taken to explain the relation sus 

county. Roug-hly si)eal<ing: Bates county 

I hat is a short period in history Init tlicr 

tlie worlil, in our nation and state, since 

ated and became one of the great conntie; 

It might be a pleasant privilege to write ( 

tous events which have occurred within 

national and world importance — the pro 

crumbling dynasties, wars, victories and tk 

ments of science in every field of hum 

philosophical and moral accomplishments i 

of the other civilized people of the world. 

wide and limitless fields is beyond the sco 

daries are fixed, by law and the Gunter's i 

its boundaries a little more than half a mill 

900 square miles. It is the fourth in area ir 

class described as rolling, prairie country. 

and interesting as any in the vyestern pai 



40 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

development as we know it, did not begin until after the din of battle, 
the smoke and shouting had passed away at the conclusion of our Civil 
War in 1865. 

It is not our purpose to overstep the county lines except where 
the events transpired on both sides of the boundary in such a manner 
as to render the story incomplete without crossing into other counties or 
into the state of Kansas. 

Harking back to the beginning of any knowledge of this territory 
by white men, we find that Bates county was occupied by the Osage 
(or Ouachage) Indian tribes, the Grand, or as sometimes written. Great 
Osage, and the Little Osage. Ethologically, they were one tribe; but 
there seems to have been quite a difference between them physically 
and as to mental attributes. The Great Osages, by all authorities, were 
the largest and finest specimens of manhood and womanhood among all 
the wild tribes of the hills or prairies. The men, or "bucks" were tall, 
straight, athletic; the squaws, well formed, straight, with regular Greek- 
line faces, and of a uniform lighter color than other Indian tribes. Indeed, 
history leads to the conviction that the Grand Osages were pure in 
blood, more definite in type, and superior in mentality, contrasted with 
or measured by any of the numerous tribes who inherited the prairies 
and dwelt thereon. 

As far back as we have any history Bates county was a part of the 
lands of the Osages, as far back as 1673, when the renowned Father 
Marquette descended the Mississippi and viewed its tributaries. He 
made a map on his return and this country was shown on it as the 
Osage country. Of course he did not explore the Missouri nor the 
Osage, but he understood that all the country west of the Mississippi 
was inhabited by Indians and he learned in some way that this part of 
the then unexplored West belonged to the Osage tribes, and so put 
it on his map. Every later map up to the second treaty made with the 
Osages in 1825 had this territory marked as Osage country. So it was 
treated by Shea, Charlevoix, Du Pratz, and other early writers. As 
we shall see later, this treaty between the Osages and the United States 
in 1825, removed the Osages out of Bates county and out of Missouri. 

There is no authentic evidence that any other race of people ever 
occupied this particular territory other than the American Indian prior 
to the coming of the white men. The story of a prehistoric race called 
the "Mound Builders" is so dreamy and imaginative that, at least, so 
far as Bates county is concerned, it is disregarded. In passing, it should 
be stated that the numerous beautiful "mounds in this county are held 
by competent authority to be results of geological formations and the ero- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4I 



m 



sions of the ages. Certain it is, nothing has ever been discovered i 
or about these mounds to justify the behef that any of them are the 
work of human hands. 

If called upon to say when the first white man of European stock 
first set foot on Bates county soil we would be compelled by candor to 
say no one knows; but if the French-Canadian voyageurs, or couriers 
du bois, generally spoken of as French and Indian half-breeds, are to be 
taken into account, it may fairly be claimed that they came into this 
territory as far back as 1700, or more than an hundred years before any 
white American ever set foot on our virgin soil. After the return of 
Joliet and Father Marquette, and Joliet had reported to Governor Fron- 
tenac at Montreal and the news of the great discovery got noised abroad, 
a horde of adventurers, hunters, and trappers streamed out of Canada 
and the North Country, found their way up the Fox river and by portage 
to the headwaters of the Wisconsin, down that river to its confluence 
with the Mississippi, the Father of Waters, and thence down it and up 
its tributaries, especially up those coming into it from the w^est. They 
followed up the great Missouri and up its tributaries, hunting, trapping 
and trafficking with the friendly Indians until they literally over-ran all 
this country between 1664 and 1800. It is a fair historical conclusion 
that these Vrench-Canadians came up the Osage river and dealt with 
the Osage Indians right here in Bates county fifty or an hundred years 
before any Englishman or American set foot on our soil. 

Digressing here a moment, it may be stated that the first Europeans 
who came west of the Mississippi were the men in the expeditions of 
Ferdinand De Soto and Francisco de Coronado. The former came 
from the southeast and the latter from the southwest, both being Span- 
iards, but neither of them quite reached Bates county. De Soto 
approached somewhere near Springfield and then turned south onto the 
White river, and thence to the Arkansas, thence northwest into what 
is now Oklahoma ; turning about he again reached the Arkansas river, 
traveled a three days' journey up that river to the "town of Tanico" 
where he found a lake of "hot water" and "salt marshes"; thence south- 
east to the village of "Viscanque" which was probably on the Washita 
river somewhere in the state of Arkansas. There the expedition spent 
the winter of 1541-2. Then he went southeast until they reached the 
Mississippi river, where De Soto sickened and died May 21, 1542, and 
was buried in the waters of the Mississippi near Helena, to keep the 
Indians from knowing that he was dead. His wife died in Havana three 
davs after hearing of his fate. 

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was the Spanish governor of the 



42 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

northern portion of Mexico, called at that time New Gallicia or New 
Gallia. He was sent out on his expedition by Don Antonio de Mendoza, 
the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico. 

Both these expeditions were bottomed upon marvelous stories of 
large cities and untold wealth and riches, situate somewhere far in the 
interior north of the Gulf of Mexico, and the object was to discover and 
conquer them, and of course, to dispoil them as Pizarro had done the 
people of Peru, after murdering their king in cold blood for gold. They 
were led to believe that they would find a "country abounding in popu- 
lous cities, containing temples and palaces with roofs of silver and whose 
inner walls were adorned with ornaments of burnished gold," and where 
precious metals and precious stones were to be found everywhere and 
the entire country was pictured as a succession of lovely landscapes, 
fertile fields, beautiful streams, fountains and flowers, and whose occu- 
pants were an intelligent, handsome, hospitable people dwelling in great 
wealth and luxury. History does not record how these wonderful 
stories originated or by whom, except to say that the Spaniards had 
heard these stories from the aborigines. Evidently they had wide 
circulation and were believed. Both treated the Indians, who were 
harmless and hospitable, with barbarous cruelty, and the Indians finally 
revenged themselves to some degree as best they could. De Soto dis- 
covered nothing in the nature of his quest, except the lead fields of south- 
east Missouri. Francisco de Coronado, whose search was for the fal^led 
"seven cities of Cibola," found them to be miserable mud-built towns 
of the Zunis and Pueblos in New Mexico. But he treated the inoffensive 
Indians with cruelty, beating the men and ravishing their wives and 
daughters. One historian says: "Lusting as much for gold as for 
female virtue and consumed with a passion for both, they failed to find 
the former and only obtained the latter by the grossest violence." He 
tortured the poor Indians in a vain efTort to make them tell where gold 
existed, until the Indians finally revolted, but were soon subdued by 
the Spaniards: and for their presumption "scores of them were burned 
at the stake and hundreds put to the sword." Thus did these brutal 
Spaniards teach these children of the plains who had received them with 
the soft music of the flute and an offering of fragrant flowers that "there 
is a God in heaven and an Emperor on earth." 

At the climax of this devilish cruelty, the story goes, a heroic young 
Zuni, a brave, patriotic soul, came forward and represented to the Span- 
iards that he was not a Zuni but an enemy of that tribe ; he told them 
that he belonged to the country of "Quivera," far to the northeast, where 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 43 

there was a river seven miles wide, and in whose depths there were fishes 
as "large as horses," upon whose broad waters floated huge boats with 
colored sails and golden prows, and on board he would find the lords of 
the country resting on downy couches under canopies weighted with 
gold; and along whose course were cities of immense wealth and gran- 
deur. The king of his country was Tartarrax, a gray-haired, long- 
bearded sovereign who took his siesta in summer in a garden of roses, 
under a spreading tree on whose branches hung innumerable golden 
bells that tinkled as they were shaken by the soft breezes that lulled his 
Majesty to sleep. 

"Come with me to my sovereign and my country, O, Mighty Chief- 
tain." said the young Zuni to Coronado, "and you will see all this for 
yourself. I will guide you thither, and you may slay me if I lie." Coro- 
nado believed the story and started on the fifth day of May, 1541, a 
few days after DeSoto had discovered the Mississippi, with 300 Span- 
iards to sul)due the land of "Ouivera." Starting from the Rio Grande 
river they pursued a northeasterly course and in due time reached the 
Arkansas river, which they called the "River of Saints Peter and Paul." 
The commander became suspicious of his guide: he 'sent the body of his 
men back to the Rio Grande, and with thirty picked men they continued 
their journey. Forty-eight days later somewhere near the Missouri 
river in northeast Kansas or southeast Nebraska they halted. \Mien 
the young Zuni was accused of duplicity he boldly admitted it and said : 
"I have lied to you ! I have lied to you ! I am a Zuni. I saw your 
cruelties to my people and to relieve them and punish you I have led 
you here. I hope you will perish before you reach your homes. There 
is no such land as I have described to you. I hope you will lose your 
way and die of hunger and thirst. I am satisfied. I said you might 
kill me if I deceived you, and now I am ready to die !" 

It did not take these base Spaniards many minutes to send this 
brave, heroic soul into eternity. Coronado and his butchers remained at 
this point about twenty-five days exploring the adjacent territory, and 
after they had erected "on the bank of a great river" (presumably the 
Missouri) a cross and enscribed on it: "Thus far came Francisco de 
Coronado. general of an expedition," they started on their return to 
New Mexico, where they finally arrived notwithstanding the prayer 
of the young Zuni, whose heroic self-sacrifice deserves to be commemo- 
rated by granite or marble shaft. 

It has been claimed that Coronado passed through the counties of 
western Missouri. But the burden of authority is against this. The best 



44 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

authority is to the effect that he crossed the Arkansas river near Wichita 
and reached some point in Brown county, Kansas, near the Missouri 
river. In the story of these two expeditions, both of which have been 
well authenticated, it is a notable fact that at one time these expeditions 
were not more than 125 miles apart, and that both^had been notified 
of the proximity of the other, but neither gave credence to the infor- 
mation. If they had united, as they probably would have done, the 
whole course of subsequent events might have been greatly changed 
for the better. 

Later, when the Spaniards became established in New Mexico other 
expeditions w^ere sent out into the land of the "Ouivera," as Coronado 
had named the remote country visited by him. The best authorities 
fix "Quivera" in northeastern Kansas, anywhere from Brown to Repul:)lic 
county, or in what is known as the Pawnee Republic. One Penaloza, 
a governor of New Mexico, led one of these expeditions in 1662. It 
was composed of eighty Spanish soldiers and officers and 1,000 Indians, 
thirty-six carts, a large coach, litters, six three-pound sw^ivels, etc. Father 
de Freytas, a monk who accompanied the expedition and wrote its report, 
says it reached the ''Mischipi" river. But the best informed writers claim 
that it only reached the Missouri near the mouth of the Platte river. 
Others claim that it only reached the Arkansas near the mouth of the 
Verdigris in Kansas. 

The story of other expeditions into the ^Mississippi valley from 
Santa Fe are interesting; but it is safe to say from an examination of 
the best authorities that no Spaniard from the West ever reached Bates 
county. The records of most of these excursions into the then unknown 
plains east of the Rocky Mountains, have been preserved, and there is 
no reason to believe many of the wild, speculative tales written by 
men reckless of truth and historic facts. 

The first white man who came to Bates county may never be 
known, but it is reasonably certain that he did not come from the ^^'est 
over the arid plains ; and it is reasonably certain that he came from the 
East up the Osage river, through a country of great pristine attractive- 
ness and replete with provision to sustain human life far from any 
base of supplies. All the adventurer had to do was to put forth his 
hand to gather the bounties of nature in season, to trust his ancient 
field piece, or dextrously use his unfailing bow. By right of discovery 
France claimed practically all the vast territory west of the Mississippi 
river and east of the Spanish possessions to the southwest, and a large 
territory east of the Mississippi, north to Canada and northeast as 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



45 



far as Pittsburgh. This claim was based upon the discoveries of Joliet 
and Marquette and Chevalier La Salle; but prior to 1705, only a few 
settlements had been made and they were east of the Mississippi. 
None at all were west of the river. But in 1705 the first French explora- 
tion of the Missouri river was made. The prospecting party ascended it 
as far up as the mouth of the Kaw, or Kansas City, but no settlements 
were attempted or made by this party of explorers. In 1712 the King 
of France granted the vast territory of Louisiana to M. Crozat, and not 
long afterward preparations were made for the settlement and occu- 
pancy of what is now the state of Missouri. 

This review of preceding events seems proper in order that the 
reader may realize the situation about tHe time of the coming of the 
first white man to Bates county. The reader will remember that in 
the early years of the eighteenth century this was a wild, unknown, 
undiscovered country as far as Europeans were concerned. The wild 
Indians had been undisturbed by the Caucasian race in all this vast 
region. How long the Indians had roamed over these beautiful prai- 
ries was not then, is not now, and never will be known. They were 
here when history first took note of them. Back of that it may be 
said to be pre-historic and the whole question of their occupancy here 
falls within the fields of ethnology and archeology; and while con- 
clusions have been reached in those fields of profound interest and with 
great certainty as to some pre-historic facts, it is too remote for specu- 
lation here. 

In Brown & Company's "History of Vernon County," 1887, written 
by Mr. Holcomb and regarded by competent judges of historical works 
as one of the very best county histories ever written, we find the fol- 
lowing which doubtless is applicable to Bates county as well: 

"We are coming now to the account of the first visit made by a white 
man to what is now Vernon county. This white man, too, was a native 
American, born of French parents, however, and an acknowledged sup- 
porter of the French king. This fact deserves to be noted in connection 
with the incident. His visit was made in connection with the first 
efforts at colonization of the country, and he spent many days here 
noting the lands and cultivating the acquaintances and friendship of the 
occupants. 

"About the close of the year 1714; M. De Tissenet (the name is fre- 
quently written Detisne), a young Canadian-Frenchman, arrived at the 
post of Mobile to enter the service of M. Antoine Crozat, then the lessee 
of the vast expanse of country called the Territory of Louisiana. Of 



46 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

good family and considerable education and accomplishments, young 
De Tissenet was ambitious to distinguish himself in the service of his 
sovereign and his governor. He had come from Canada to Kaskaskia 
(Illinois) and from the latter point went directly to Mobile. He carried 
with him to Mobile specimens of lead from the mines in the neighbor- 
hood of Kaskaskia, or (Ste. Genevieve) and presented them to M. De 
la Monte. On being assayed these specimens were found to contain 
some silver. He afterward took charge of a grant of land in Lower 
Louisiana, where he remained until Crozat was succeeded by John 
Law's 'Company of the West' and M. De Boisbriant was appointed 
governor of the Illinois district of Louisiana. In October, 1718, Bois- 
briant set out for his post at Kaskaskia, and De Tissenet joined him 
at 'the Illinois' the same season. 

"In the year 1719, M. De Bienville, the then governor of Louisiana, 
sent De Tissenet on an expedition from Kaskaskia far into the country 
westward from the Mississippi to examine the country and its resources 
and to cultivate friendly relations with its inhabitants. Perhaps the 
real purpose of the journey was to discover whether or not the precious 
metals existed in this country, although no hint of this design has come 
down to us in the well-verified and perfectly preserved historical accounts. 

"If only one man had to be selected to make this expedition, full 
of responsibility, peril and privation, as it must have been known it 
would Ijc, no fitter choice could have been made than of the young 
Canadian, De Tissenet. He possessed all the essential qualifications for 
the work — youth, courage, vigor, zeal and intelligence — and set out on 
his journey, on foot and alone, full of desire and confidence. He left 
Kaskaskia in the spring of 1719, and reached the western limit of his 
journey, in the country of the Padoucas — in what is probably now Lincoln 
county, in north-central Kansas — the following September. On the 27th 
of September, somewhere near the headwaters of the Smoky Hill river, 
he erected a cross with the arms of the French king engraved thereon, 
thus claiming the country for France. On his return to the Illinois district, 
in a letter to Governor Bienville, dated 'Kaskaskia, 22nd of November, 
1719,' he gave a lengthy and interesting account of his ex]:)e(lition. 

"M. De Tissenet was the first Caucasian that we know visited the 
soil of what is now Vernon county, and certainly the first to give any 
definite information in regard to the country and its inhabitants, the 
Osage Indians. On the expedition referred to he visited the Osages 
at their 'great village' on the river to which he was the first to give 
their name." 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 47 

So here we have the date of the naming of the Osage river, and 
why and by whom; and this doubtless accounts for the name, Little 
Osage, as it is claimed by Mr. Holcomb that De Tissenet visited the 
Indian village near the mouth of the Marmiton, and having passed up 
the smaller stream west of the juncture of what was afterward called 
the Marais des Cygnes, he would very naturally call it the Little Osage. 
And this also strengthens our contention that it is the confluence of 
the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes which makes up the Osage 
river proper. It is barely possible that De Tissenet regarded the larger 
stream which seemed to come down from the north as the continuance 
of the river he named Osage, and on that assumption it was perfectly 
natural that he should call the other the Little Osage; but where the 
name Marmiton came from is not clear, though it is said to be from 
the French. 

After discussing the reasons for his belief Mr. Holcomb further 
says: "There cannot be much doubt that the 'village' of the Osages 
visited by De Tissenet was located in the northern part of this count}', 
in the angle formed by the union of the Marmiton with the Osage. (He 
does not say 'Little Osage.') It probal)ly stood on the east side of the 
'small stream' (the Marmiton) and could not have l)een very far from 
the Blue Mounds. The distance from the mouth of the Osage ('eighty 
leagues') is approximately correct, and other circumstances fix the 
location with reasonable certainty." 

This was in 1719, and in 1806, Z. B. Pike, on his map, 
locates the "village" of the Grand Osages practically in the same place. 
This apparent permanency of fixedness of residence, if true, rather runs 
counter to the nomadic habits of the Indians in general. If they lived 
in one place for al)out one hundred years, it would seem that certain 
evidence of their long abode would be findable. And while we must 
indulge reasonable historical conclusions where proof is now impossible. 
we also must consider in this connection that all back of Pike's expedi- 
tion in 1806 there is little dependable history and even Pike's data is 
unsatisfactory and in some particulars will not stand a test of accuracy, 
for instance his distance traveled when approaching the Osage village. 
Either his distances were inaccurate or he never found the Grand 
Osage ^'illage where he put it on his map. 

It is reasonable to conclude that even if De Tissenet came afoot 
up the Osage, on the south side all the way, and visited the village only 
four or five miles from the Bates county line, for a number of days, it 
is altosrether likelv that he sfot his Canadian feet on Bates countv soil. 



48 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and thus achieved the great distinction of being the first white man to 
visit Bates county. 

In 1717, two years before De Tissenet's visit to this section, this 
vast territory known as Louisiana passed from M. Crozat to the Scotch 
plunger, John Law, and his "Mississippi Company" or "Company of 
the West." This company made great preparations for the develop- 
ment of the resources of their grant; especially its mineral resources, 
and the precious metals supposed to be discoverable in vast quantities 
somewhere within the territory. The people of France and England 
went wild and the stock of the company was eagerly sought and bought. 
But we cannot go into that wonderful story. Soon after obtaining their 
patent from the king they established Ft. Chartres east of the river and 
a little above Ste. Genevieve. The "Company" offered marvelous 
inducements to immigrants and the result was that settlements in the 
vicinity of Ft. Chartres were largely increased in a very short time. 
With skilled workmen, assayists, chemists, scientists, with all the 
methods known to the scientists of that day in hand, they started their 
search for gold and silver with a sublime faith. They had miners and 
metallurgists, and all the tools and apparatus necessary to test out their 
findings on the ground wherever anything worth while might be found. 

Renault came from France in 1719, and with a company of experi- 
enced scientists, stopped at the St. Domingo Island and purchased five 
hundred native negroes to do the drudgery work of the expedition. He 
arrived at Ft. Chartres with this considerable outfit in the forepart of 
1720, and established a new settlement near by called St. Phillip in 
honor of the sub-company known as the "St. Phillip Company." From 
this base Renault sent out expeditions in all directions to prospect for 
precious metals. For twenty-two years he and his efficient lieutenant, 
M. La Motte, were engaged in this enterprise during which time they 
sent many expeditions into the interior of Missouri to examine the 
country and dig it up wherever "prospects" were found either on or under 
the soil. They sometimes built rude smelters when far from their base, 
but usually carried portable furnaces, crucibles and other necessary 
things with them. We may well pause here to call attention to the 
fact that to Phillip Francis Renault belongs the distinction of the first 
introduction of human slavery into Missouri. Chronicles of the time 
tell us their lot was pitiable and their fate a sad one. It does not appear 
that their work was hard; but they could not stand the climate and 
exposure. "They were homesick and despondent. Numbers of them 
committed suicide, and nearly all died during their twenty years of 
servitude in the Upper Louisiana Country." 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 49 

Disappointed in his search for the precious metals Renault turned 
to the mining of lead, vast quantities of which had been found in south- 
east Missouri. He built in the vicinity of Potosi, at Mine a Renault, 
and at Mine La Motte, on the St. Francis river, and smelted immense 
quantities which he delivered from the interior to Ft. Chartres on the 
backs of his slaves and thence to the gulf and into the markets of the 
world, principally to France. Large quantities were taken to supply 
the chasseurs du bois, or French hunters who hunted over the vast 
region between Canada, Wisconsin and New Orleans, as well as the 
French settlements. 

In 1742, after the loss of nearly all his slaves, Renault abandoned 
mining, sold the surviving slaves, and with his workmen went back to 
France. But before this, in 1731, the "Company of the West" had 
been united with the **Royal Company of the Indies," and the whole 
territory of the Mississippi valley with the exclusive privilege of the 
commercial and mining interests of Louisiana was retroceded to the 
crown of France; and thus came to an inglorious end one of the most 
gigantic "get-rich-quick" schemes in all history. Its failure appreciably 
affected the business and life of nearly every country in Europe. 

We mention the exploits of Renault and his men in passing, not 
because it is at all certain that they ever visited Bates county; 
yet it is claimed by some writers that the wells, or holes, digged in the 
hard stone high up under the overhanging ledge on Halley's Bluffs, in 
southeast one-quarter of section 27, township 38, range 30, was the 
work of Renault and his men. If we are to believe this it is reasonable 
to believe that Renault and his scientists explored at least a part of 
Bates county as early as 1730-35. 



(4) 



CHAPTER III. 



HARMONY MISSION. 



GREAT HISTORIC FACT— MISSION FAMILY— RELIGION OF OSAGES— OBJECT OF 
SOCIETY— MISSIONARY ENTHUSIASM— SPIRIT— ORIGIN— GREAT OSAGE MIS- 
SION— COLONEL M'KENNEY- DR. MILLEDOLER— THE COVENANT— APPLICA- 
TIONS— FAMILY SELECTED — PERSONNEL — APPEALS AND RESULTS— PARE- 
WELL MEETING — DEPARTURE OF "ATLANTA" AND "PENNSYLVANIA"— 
COMMISSION— REPORT OF SECRETARY— DOWN THE OHIO— DIFFICULTIES- 
MISSIONARY STATION— JOURNAL — CEMETERY. 

The story of Harmony Mission has never been written as it de- 
serves to be. From an historical viewpoint it is one of up-standing- 
importance to a large section of this western country; and it is the 
great historic fact of Bates county. Practically a century has swept 
on since that devoted little band — the Mission Family — toiled up the 
Missouri and Osage rivers in 1821, slowly approaching, day by day, 
its destination in the land of the Osages. They were chosen because 
of their fitness for the work planned and sought to be accomplished, 
the sending of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathens of this, our 
own land; and to civilize and Christianize the Osage Indians, then in 
possession of a vast section of wdiat is now Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas 
and Oklahoma. Although we are warranted in saying the Osages, the 
Big or Grand, and Little Osages, as one tribe was one of the noblest 
in many respects of all the Indian tribes known to the white men of 
that age. Large, athletic, well featured and disposed to peace, this 
tribe may be fairly considered the most admirable of the Indian race. 
But they were heathen beyond question. They were so low in intel- 
lectual culture and so morally depraved that it cannot be said that they 
had any conception of right and wrong as an abstract proposition ; and 
only a weird and uncanny notion of a Great Spirit — a notion born of 
their experiences with the forces of nature as manifest about them in 
the storms and lightnings and other to them incomprehensil:)le phen- 
omena. In these powers of nature they saw dimly something above 
and beyond themselves and for the want of a better name they called 



iOWDSDjp i>U. 



General's Letter of 3d of July, 1S39. 




ar« Office. 

^:Xi.^Z^^ north Of .he base Une, range 30 west of t.e^tbpr.nc.pa. ™er.dUaU,^^^^^^^^ 

,orted to be the head ot navigation, down to the f?^' ,^°"°f^[r °' 
osltlon : miles 56.70 chains, were all surveyed In 'he < '^ Q"/"" °' 
account of the Surveyor General for that quarter-Voucher No. 19 

WILLIAM MILBURN. Surveyor General 



Aggrexate Area. 23,019.01 

.^ a ... *« rtf ihn Survey (hereof or Olo In this ofllco. which have 

nformable to the ««'"» °»'f? °' /g^j . „ ,,/. „„. yet t,«n paid for. The South bound, 
er contract of the 25th of M»':'^^|*J;„;|,.,, „, i,,„ (j„:.^-..f,.„M ih.- line beiw.o., «,T,lonH, 31 
lines 59 miles •_-'^'2j^]'7h"J'imT,ro7emeBl of the Harmony Mission ostabllBhmont In order to 



1 around the Improvement 



Aggregate Area. 23,019.01 acres. 

hlch have been 

boundary 6 

?.2 and 

show 



;;;d."7hreas7h7unlary6-mlles was surveyed in .he _.j^,,uan^ 

rhro^.?XtVonT-down-tor°eL?f5go^S^^^^^^ P- - '» - - -«- «' -9 and 

^^^^^^, ^, ^. ...,,„, Oe...! ^K^d^O,^.:^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ 

I hereby certify that this la a. rut- copy of the plat of survey of the 
lands fo whU It relate, on (lie In.^hjs omce, so far as legible. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5 1 

it the Great Spirit, and ascribed to it all those events and forces which 
they could not understand. At least they seem to have had no con- 
ception of the God of the Christian world, and their moral sense was 
limited indeed. 

It will become necessary, as we go on, to further discuss the 
Osages. It is sufficient here to say that the object of the United For- 
eign Missionary Society, by whom the Harmony Family was sent out, 
was to establish and carry on a work that would illuminate the dark- 
ness of heathendom and spread a light among these Indians that would 
forever bless that benighted race. Missions were to be schools where 
the children should be taught and trained in Christian knowledge. 

One hundred years ago there was a great religious enthusiasm in 
the churches of this and other countries on behalf of both home and 
foreign missionary work. Men and women qualified were dedicated 
to the work; and history contains no chapter fuller of splendid self- 
consecration and heroic self-sacrihce than that which chronicles the 
Tabors of the missionaries, both men and women. Devout men and 
women, fired by a holy zeal and upheld by a Divine hand, left every 
thing behind them and went forth to conquer darkness with light, as 
it is in Christ Jesus. Prompted by holy and unselfish motives and sus- 
tained by sublime faith in God's constant love and care they met the 
difficulties and responsibilities in their course as real Christian soldiers. 

The trials of an unexplored and unknown wilderness inhal^ited by 
heathen races and wild beasts, far from the supports of civilization, 
with sickness and death meeting them on the way and continuing with 
them at their point of destination, they met every obstacle, endured 
every sorrow and disappointment, suffered untold hardships of every 
kind, in the spirit of the Master whose Gospel they sought to preach 
and teach to a degraded and Godless people. They murmured not. 
They praised God for his mercies and constant care without ceasing. 
On the banks of the rivers they followed, amidst the great primeval 
'forests, they rested every Sabbath nlorning during their long, tedious 
and difficult journey of about five months, and held divine worship at 
least twice each Sunday. There were usually two sermons and a "con- 
ference" each Sabbath ; and a daily hour of prayer and praise, morning 
and evening on their boats. Thus they toiled from Pittsburgh, Penn- 
sylvania, to Harmony beyond the head of the Osage river in the land 
of the Big and the Little Osages. 

The origin of this mission we gather from the fourth annual report 



52 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of the United Foreign Missionary Society, held in the Presbyterian 
church in Cedar street, New York City, May 9, 1821, which meeting 
was held while this Mission Family was on its way to their destination 
in the Osage country, where they arrived on August 2, 1821 — not 
exactly at the site afterward chosen, but within a few miles of it. 
where they were obliged to stop on account of low water in the Osage 
river, about two miles east of the confluence of the Marais des Cygnes 
river. We quote from the American Missionary Register, 1821-22, 
the society report: 

Great Osage Mission, 

In the early part of July, 1820, a new field for missionary exertion 
was providentially opened to the board. An important communication, 
dated at the seat of government on the 5th of that month, was received 
from Col. M'Kenney, the superintendent of Indian trade. In this com- 
munication Col. M'Kenney thus remarks : — 

"I have had this moment a most interesting interview with the 
chief counsellor, and the principal warrior of the Osages of the Mis- 
souri. The object of their deputation is, to solicit the introduction of 
the school system among their people, and to pray for the means of 
civilization. I wish I could send you the old chief's talk; but, to do so, 
I should have to paint as well as write. He is a most eloquent and 
able man. 

"I felt authorized, considering the great anxiety under which I 
perceived them to labour, and relying on the benevolence of the society 
set on foot for this laudable work, to give assurance, that they might 
expect the same attention that had been shown to their brothers on 
the Arkansas (Union Mission, near Ft. Gipson, Oklahoma). I find 
that these Osages are jealous of their Arkansas brethren. They claim 
to have merited, by holding fast their promises to the government, the 
first care of this generous sort. 'Our hands,' said the old chief, 'are 
white, and their hands are bloody.' 

"I cannot but think that much good would result, could they be 
assured that an agency would be established amongst them immedi- 
ately." — "As you are under way with the Osages, it would be best for 
you to occupy that ground." "The tide is now at its flood; and if taken, 
you will be borne on to a realization of all your generous hopes." 

On receiving this communication, the board resolved to occupy 
the ground thus unexpectedly presented to their view. The Rev. Dr. 
Milledoler was appointed a commissioner, with full powers to proceed 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



53 



to Washington, and to form a covenant with the Indian chiefs. He 
left this city on the 17th of July; and on his arrival at Washington, 
was introduced to the chiefs by the honorable Secretary of War and 
the Superintendent of Indian trade. In the course of the interview, a 
covenant was formed, binding the board to send out a missionary fam- 
ily in the ensuing spring, for the purposes of teaching to the nation the 
principles of Christianity, and the arts of civilized life, and of establish- 
ing a school for their children; and binding the chiefs to receive the 
family with kindness, to treat them with hospitality and friendship, to 
protect them from injury, and to mark out, and secure to them, land, 
sufficient for the missionary establishment. On signing the instrument, 
the old chief observed — "So soon as the family arrive at my nation I 
will go out to meet them at the head of my warriors, and will receive 
them as my friends. You want a piece of land. You may point it out,. 
and it shall be yours, wherever you choose. It shall be for your use. 
I will mark it out with my finger. It shall be as much as you want for 
the family. Come soon." The counsellor said — "I shall be at home 
when your family come out, I will help the chief to mark out the land, 
and will be your friend." The warrior also said — 'T am a warrior. It 
is my business to be about in the nation. I will defend your people 
when they come to us." 

The proceedings of the commissioner, on his return from Washing- 
ton, received the sanction of the board; and the committee of missions 
were instructed to look out for a mission family, and the committee of 
ways and means, to adopt measures for furnishing the necessary 
supplies. 

A statement of these transactions was immediately laid before the 
public and in the course of a few weeks, applications for appointment 
in the Great Osage Mission, were transmitted by more than one hun- 
dred individuals, including both sexes, and embracing various occupa- 
tions. Most of the persons furnished satisfactory testimonials of their 
character, and their qualifications for some kinds of service required 
in the mission. From this list of applicants a family was selected, con- 
sisting of ten adult males, fifteen adult females, and sixteen children — 
residents of the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey. Pennsylvania and Maryland. This- 
numerous and interesting family is composed of the following persons: 
— The Rev. Nathaniel B. Dodge, and wife and seven children, of Under- 
bill, Vermont; the Rev. Benton Pixley, and wife and one child, of East 
Williamstown, Vermont ; the Rev. William B. Montgomery, and wife,. 



54 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of Danville, Pennsylvania; Doctor \\illiani N. B.elcher, and wife, of 
Greenwich, Connecticut; Mr. Daniel H. Austin, and wife and five chil- 
dren, of Waterbury, Vermont; Mr. Samuel Newton, and wife and two 
children, of Woodbridge, Connecticut; Mr. Samuel B. Bright, and wife 
and one child, of Bloomsburgh, Pennsylvania; Mr. Otis Sprague, and 
wife, of Leicester, Massachusetts; Mr. Amasa Jones, and wife, of 
Rindge, New Hampshire; Mr. John Seeley, and wife, of Rockaway, 
New Jersey; Miss Susan Comstock, of Wilton, Connecticut; Miss Har- 
riett W'oolley, of the city of New York; Miss Mary \\"eller, of Bloom- 
field, New Jersey; Miss Mary Etris, of the city of Philadelphia; Miss 
Eliza Howell, of the city of Baltimore. 

Besides the superintendent and assistant, there are, among the 
males of the family, a minister of the Gospel, who goes out as a teacher, 
with the privilege of preaching whenever his health will permit, and 
the circumstances of the mission require; a regular!}- educated phy- 
sician and surgeon; a person capable of manufacturing machinery, per- 
forming most kinds of blacksmith work, and teaching music; a car- 
penter and millwright; a shoemaker, a wagon-maker, and two farmers. 
The females, collectively, are qualified to teach all the branches of indus- 
try pursued by that sex in this country; most of them have had con- 
siderable experience in teaching common schools ; and two or three 
have taught in seminaries of a higher order. It is distinctly understood 
by the whole family, that each member is bound to perform, so far as 
practicable, any branch of duty which the general interests of the mis- 
sion may require. 

To the churches of the three denominations combined in this insti- 
tution an appeal was made for money, and for the various supplies neces- 
sary for the outfit of so numerous and important a mission. The appeal, 
agreeably to the expectation of the board, was received with cordiality 
and answered with efficiency and promptitude. By churches, auxiliary 
societies, individuals, and associations of ladies formed for the ])ur- 
pose, money was contril)uted to the amount of more than nine thousand 
dollars, and garments and goods of various descriptions, to the estimated 
value of eight thousand — an amount of both, which demands of the 
managers undisscnd)lcd thanks to tlie generous contributors, and 
unmingled gratitude to Him, who rules alike in the armies of Heaven, 
and amongst the inhabitants of the earth. 

The whole of the mission family, with the exception of the two 
females from Philadelphia and Baltimore, had arrived in this cit\- on 
Saturdav evening the 3d of March, 1821. On Monday evening, the 5lh. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 55 

they were set apart to their missionary labours, and on Tuesday eve- 
ning, the 6th, a farewell meeting was held in the Reformed Dutch church 
on Nassau street. The exercises on both evenings were similar in kind 
to those preparatory to the departure of the Union Mission, which 
were detailed at length in the last annual report. On the present occa- 
sion, therefore, it is sufficient to remark that never were churches in 
this city more crowded, not any religious exercises more solemn, appro- 
priate, or impressive. 

At three o'clock on A\'ednesday, the 7th of March, the family and 
their friends met the board at the consistory room in Garden street, 
where the general commission, the general instructions, and talk to the 
Indian chiefs,' the whole enclosed in a box prepared for the occasion, 
were formally presented to the superintendent and assistants. Having 
then united in a parting hymn, and an appropriate and fervent prayer, 
the assembly moved, in procession, to the steam-boat "Atlanta," at the 
foot of the Battery. At four o'clock the steam-boat departed from the 
wharf, while the family on board were singing a farewell hymn, and 
receiving the last affectionate salutation of many thousands of citizens 
and strangers, who had crowded to the docks and the Battery to wit- 
ness their departure. 

On their way through the state of New Jersey, they were invited 
to attend missionary exercises in the churches of Elizal)ethtown, New 
Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton ; and to the lil)eralitv of our friends 
in those towns, and of the proprietors of the steam-boats "Atlanta" and 
"Pennsylvania," are we indebted, for the conveyance of the family, from 
this c'ty to Philadelphia, without expense to the ])oard. 

At Philadelphia tliey arrived on the 10th of March, and were 
received with attention and kindness. Public meetings were held, and 
collections taken up in several of the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch 
cliurches. Time would fail us to acknowledge the many tokens of 
respect to the family, and of regard to the missionary cause, with which 
they were favoured in Philadelphia, and on their journey westward. 
Suffice it to state, that they left that city on the 15th of March, and 
notwithstanding the l^ad state of the roads at that season of the year, 
arrived on the 10th, at Pittsl)urgh ; and were everywhere received with 
affection, and honoured ^^•ith benefactions important to the missions. 
\\"e cannot hc^wever, omit to mention, that, at Harrisburgh, thev found 
articles of value amounting in weight to more than a ton. much of 
wliicii had been sent in for their acceptance, from various congrega- 



56 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

tions in the county of Columbia and other parts of the surrounding 
country. 

At Pittsburgh, boats, for the conveyance of the family, were pre- 
viously purchased, by order of the board. Having experienced much 
of the hospitality of the friends of missions in that city, and having 
received, by mail, a number of important documents from the secretary 
of war, and the superintendent of Indian trade, they embarked on their 
long and hazardous voyage on the 19th of April, under circumstances 
the most pleasant and propitious. In descending the Ohio, they are, 
in relation to the season, about six weeks in advance of the Union 
Mission (which went out the year before — 1820) ; and when they enter 
the Missouri they will be borne, to the close of their journey, on waters 
which are generally navigated with safety in the severest heat of sum- 
mer. What will be the issue is known only to that God, under whose 
barmer they have enlisted. They have gone forth in this glorious 
enterprise, accompanied with the prayers and benedictions of their fel- 
low Christians throughout our country, and, thus far, under the smiles 
of an overruling Providence ; and whether they live to reach their 
destined station, or sink into an early grave — whether they be rendered 
the honoured instruments of converting a savage tribe, or doomed to 
labour in vain, and spend their strength for naught — yet, they have the 
consolation to know, that, if they are faithful unto death they shall 
receive a crown of glory in the kingdom of Immanuel. 

Commission to Washington. 

In this stage of their operations, the managers deemed it important 
to send a commissioner to the seat of government, with instructions 
to solicit of the secretary of war, and of the superintendent of Indian 
trade, the necessary letters and documents for the Great Osage Mission; 
to exhibit a view of the present and projected transactions of the board; 
to obtain, if practicable, immediate pecuniary assistance; to ascertain 
to what extent the managers may calculate on the aid of government 
in their future labours among the Indian tribes; and to adopt other 
measures to promote the views and subserve the interests of the insti- 
tution. The Rev. Dr. Milledoler was appointed to perform the duties 
of this commission. On his arrival at Washington, he procured, under 
the hand of the secretary of war and the seal of the war department, 
a talk to the chiefs and warriors of the Great Osage nation, and letters 
to Governor Clarke and other agents of sfovernment in the mission 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5;- 

territory. He was also furnished with similar papers, under the hand 
and seal of the superintendent of Indian trade. These documents were 
immediately transmitted by mail to Pittsburgh, and were received by 
the superintendent and assistant of the mission, before they left that 
city. 

Besides furnishing these documents, the government agreed to- 
make advances, to the Great Osage Mission, of one thousand dollars, 
on account of their buildings ; and to allow, for the support of the schools 
at the Tuscarora and Seneca stations, the annual sum of nine hundred 
dollars. For the former sum, the board were permitted to draw at 
pleasure, and for the latter, quarterly, from the first day of January 
last. Assurances were also given, that further assistance should be 
granted to the managers, whenever schools shall have been com- 
menced at Union and at Harmony. 

As tending to show the spirit of the times, the missionary enthus- 
iasm, and the consideration of this society to the great work — not alone 
at Harmony, but at other points in the wide Osage country, we quote 
the conclusion of the report: 

Conclusion. 

''On a review of the facts now presented, your managers discover 
much to excite their gratitude, and to stimulate to further exertion. 
In every stage of their progress through the last year, they recognize 
the guidance of a superintending and omnipotent Hand. To no other 
cause can they ascribe the unexpected extension of their operations, 
of the correspondent augmentation of their resources. To no other 
source can they trace the circumstance, that a number of heathen chiefs 
should have wandered two thousand miles from the Western wilder- 
ness, to obtain for their tribe the benefits of religious instruction; or,, 
that when Christian teachers were thus required, more than one hun- 
dred should have promptly solicited the privilege of conveying 'the 
Message of Mercy' to those benighted and perishing pagans. 

"The heart of man is in the hand of the Lord; as the rivers of water^ 
He turneth it whithersoever He will. The silver and the gold are His;: 
and when His designs are to be accomplished, the instruments, and the 
means, are alike obedient to His control. 

" 'Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance^ 
and the uttermost ends of the earth for thy possession. — It shall come 
that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see 



58 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

my glory. — From one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath 
to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me. — The glory of 
the Lord shall' be revealed and all flesh shall see it ; for the mouth of 
the Lord hath spoken it.' The pledge shall be redeemed. The work 
is begun. The Lord hath' made bare His holy arms in the eyes of many 
nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our 
God. Through the instrumentality of missionary efforts this delight- 
ful change in the moral condition of the world shall be achieved. Be 
it our ambition to bear a distinguished part in the glorious and heavenly 
enterprise. 

"For our exertion. Christian brethren, a wide field is spread before 
us. On this AA^estern continent, perhaps a hundred nations, sitting in 
the shadow of death, are yet to be raised to life, and gathered into the 
spiritual kingdom of our Redeemer. Let us. then, press forward to 
the work with renewed vigor; rejoicing, that our lot has been cast in 
an age so eventful as the present; cherishing the warmest feelings of 
gratitude, that we are permitted to be the humble instruments of 
redeeming power; and ascribing the success, and the glory, to Him who 
sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever. 

"By order of the Board of Managers, 

"Z. LEAATS, 
"Secretary for Domestic Correspondence." 

This devoted band — dedicated and set apart l)y solemn church 
ceremonies — embarked at Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania, on April 19, 182L 
and the daily report kept by them and printed in the "Missionary Reg- 
ister" from month to month, shows that the trip down the Ohio river 
on a good tide was practically a picnic until sickness and death came 
to mar their happiness. They met with a most cordial and beneficent 
reception at all the principal towns and cities on either bank of the 
Ohio; and they received donations of goods and money as they pro- 
gressed. They preached and prayed and sang with the people who 
came to their Sabbath services. It is an interesting story, but too long 
for these pages. Soon after they had passed Louisville, Kentucky. 
Sunday, April 29, "a fine daughter" was ]x)rn to Mr. and Mrs. Newton. 
The next dav thev ran seventy miles on a swift current and Sister 
Newton "was remarkably comfortable." On May 3, John A\'. Patter- 
son fell over-board and was lost. Both the skiff^s were gone. He was 
a hired boatman and nothing further is said of him. Sister Newton 
was worse and the "babe was dedicated to God in baptism." May 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY eg 

4, the babe died at three o'clock in the morning. The funeral was 
preached the next day by Rev. Dodge, and the infant buried at Mt. 
Vernon cemetery, Indiana. Sister Newton grew worse and died on 
May 6, at Shawneetown, where her body was buried. The daily 
record is sad and touching, but shows deep humiliation and unwaver- 
ing dependence on God. 

After leaving Shawneetown nothing of importance happened and 
the boats reached the Mississippi river at noon on May 9. An item 
of the chronicle of that day says: "We have now as we calculate, 
between six and seven hundred miles up-stream to perform, which will 
be laborious indeed, unless favored with wind." Their picnic was over. 
From now on they had hard work and many difficulties; but they never 
fainted nor faltered. But every Sabbath they rested and held religious 
services in a primeval grove. If there were any inhabitants about they 
were invited to the services; if not the services were conducted just 
the same, usually both Reverend Dodge and Reverend Pixley would 
preach, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The best 
they could do upstream was from seven to ten miles a day — sometimes 
only four or five — pulling by ropes along the banks. They complained 
much of the enormous Hood trees coming down on the rise — as thick 
as ice in winter. A short distance below St. Louis while tied to the 
shore at night "a tremendous raft of trees came driving in upon us. 
Some of the family were greatly affrighted, but we were mercifully 
preserved." They could not proceed. So Brothers Dodge and Pixley 
took the opportunity to "walk forward to St. Louis, about twelve miles, 
to make arrangements that the family might not be detained there." 
Here they met Governor Clarke, the younger and elder Chouteau. In 
discussing the location of the Missouri with the Chouteaus, the younger 
having just arrived from the Osage village, "in seven days," said, "It 
is their opinion that the junction of the Little with the Big Osage river, 
near the old village, will be the best place. They say there is there 
high prairie ground, plenty of wood, good millseats, excellent soil, and 
limestone for all the purposes of building." This statement will become 
important when we come to discuss the location of the village and of 
Harmony. The boats finally arrived at St. Louis, June 5. and on 
the 8th thev entered the mouth of the turl)id Missouri ri^'er, where 
they stopped at a small settlement "entirely destitute of the privileges 
of the Gospel" and at the earnest request of the people Brother Dodge 
preached. The 10th was Sunday and they held public worship on the 



60 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

bank near their boats. Monday, June 11. — "The current this day very 
strong and with difficulty we make five miles." On the twelfth they 
arrived at St. Charles. "We here saw an Indian woman from the Osage 
nation." This was an interesting fact to them. The other people they 
saw were French to some of whom they gave Bibles. 

They had much hard luck and hard labor up the Missouri from 
St. Charles, but arrived at the mouth of the Gasconade river June 25. 
They met quite a lot of French people from time to time to whom 
they gave Bibles and tracts; and arrived at the mouth of the Osage on 
June 29. All were well. Sister Weller and others who had been sick 
had recovered and they were rejoicing with "gratitude to God for the 
blessings received at His hands." The next day they made about four- 
teen miles, and the second day was Sunday or Lord's day, as they put 
it. July 1. — "Spent this day in the wilderness. One house not far 
distant. Attended public worship under the shadow of a great rock. 
The rock for several rods projects over about ten feet, and is capable 
of sheltering from the storms as well as from the rays of the sun. 
Brother Dodge preached this morning and Brother Pixley in the after- 
noon, A conference was held in the evening." This rock was probably 
near Wardsville in Cole county, though the chronicle does not say on 
which side of the river it was — about fourteen miles from the mouth 
of the river. The record makes frequent mention of this beautiful river, 
and the next Lord's day, July 8, was spent on a gravel bar or island 
and Brother Montgomery preached under a large tent erected on poles, 
made of one of their sails. The river got low and increased their diffi- 
culties, but a big rain came and "raised the river about six inches. We 
passed on this day (July 13) to the Great Rapids, and ascended the 
first ripple." That night the waters rose about three feet so they were 
able to pass the Great Rapids, providentially, as they believed. July 15 
was Sunday and the chronicler says : "We are now emphatically in 
the wilderness, but our God is here; Christian society is here; and the 
Sabbath of the Lord is here; and what privileges more can we ask 
for?" They preached and prayed and worshipped as usual. On Mon- 
day "our boys went out and cut a bee tree from which they brought 
a pail of honey." The water had fallen about two feet that day, but 
the next day "it was very high, insomuch that we find it very difficult 
to push our boats upstream." They had some difficulty with the hired 
men. "The whiskey which had been provided for their use, having 
all been drank, they demanded brandy, and threatened to leave us in 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 6l 

the wilderness unless they were supplied." To the glory of God and 
the honor of His missionaries, it was refused and the hired men went 
■on a strike all day. But they finally capitulated and consented to pull 
on. The river continued high and difficult of navigation, but by the 
twentieth they had arrived at the mouth of Grand river, now known 
as the Sac river. It continued to rain, and the 22nd, was Lord's 
day again and they "are now three week's journey from civilized 
society." All the next week they moved slowly, but safely — the water 
going down from ten to twelve feet in that time. Tuesday, July 21 — 
''This evening we met for business, and resolved to pass on to the 
mouth of the Little Osage river; and at the nearest convenient place, 
to take our stand until we can hold a counsel with the Osage chief, and 
learn where we are to fix our permanent establishment. We are now 
drawing near our destination. Oh! may the God of Israel go with us; 
and may He assist us in the discharge of the duties devolving upon us, 
that we may instrumentally save the people now sitting in darkness." 
They had their first interview with Osage Indians on August 2. 
This is the chronicle for that day and it is worth remembering in con- 
nection with some disputed facts of history, to be discussed later: "This 
day moved on favorably. Passed the Little Osage river, and opened 
our eyes upon a most beautiful prairie. Came to Chouteau's establish- 
ment, where we found a number of families of the Osage Indians. We 
had an interview with them and made known the objects of our visit. 
They gathered around us in a friendly manner, and their countenances 
apparently brightened with gladness at our arrival. Having ascertained 
that most of the chiefs and warriors of the tribe were absent on a hunt, 
we moved on a little above Chouteau's settlement and landed for the 
present." The next day an Indian runner was dispatched after the chiefs 
to inform them of the arrival of the missionaries. "This day the 
brethren performed the task allotted to them last evening. No good 
situation was discovered on the Little Osage. Resolved to make a 
trial tomorrow to move our boats as near it as we can conveniently 
get." Saturday, August 4. — "We started our boats up the stream, 
and passed very pleasantly until just at night when we came to a ripple 
which had not water sufificient to carry us up. We were obliged to 
turn back a little to a place where our boats could lie in safety, and to 
land for the Sabbath." Lord's day, August 5. — "Attended public wor- 
ship as usual. Brother Pixley and Brother Montgomery preached. 
We enjoyed a very peaceful season, having none to disturb us." 



62 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Place Settled for the Missionary Station. 

Monday, xA-Ugust 6. — "This day most of the brethren went up to 
the United States Factory to take another look for a situation for our' 
establishment, and found a place which we all think very suitable for 
the object. Here we met with Mr. Williams, who is appointed inter- 
preter at the factory. We conversed with him some time concerning 
this tribe of Indians, and then returned to the boats. Attended monthly 
concert in the evening." Tuesday, August 7. — "This morning we con- 
cluded to make a further trial to get our boats up the stream. Unloaded 
part of the goods on board the first boat, and worked half the day, but 
could not effect our object. This evening we met for business. As 
our boats are stopped for the present, and we know not how long they 
must remain here; as the chiefs of the nation are not yet assembled, 
and we know not the particular time when they will convene; and as 
we have been informed that it is the general wish of the Indians that 
we should establish on the very spot which we ourselves have selected; 
under these circumstances we resolved to convey our goods to the 
station in our skifT, and to build a warehouse without delay." 

Wednesday, August 8. — "This morning we set two men and a 
boy to the skiff, while a number of the l)rethren went up to our intended 
station, to cut timber and begin our establishment. On these, and on 
all our future exertions, may the Lord add his blessing."' 

It is proper to say here that the ripple mentioned over which they 
could not get their boats at the stage of water is what is known as 
the Rapid de Kaw, about a mile and a half east of Halley's Bluff on 
the Osage, and about three miles east of the junction of the Little 
Osage and the Marais des Cygnes rivers, whose confluence makes the 
head or beginning of the Osage river proper. One statement in the 
foregoing is inexplicable. It is stated they "passed the Little Osage." 
This is clearly error, as shown by their later statement about looking 
for and finding no suitable site on the Little Osage. The government 
survey, shown on the map of Prairie township, fixes the location of 
Chouteau's place, but the exact location of the United States Factory 
where Mr. Williams was stationed is not now known ; but everything 
points to its site about a mile down the Marais des Cygnes from Har- 
mony Station, or practically right where the village of Papinsville is 
now situate. The precise location of Harmony Station, which has been 
much confused by writers, is shown on the lithographic copy of the 
government survey furnished by the general land office at Washing- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 63 

ton, found in this volume. There can be no error in this. The survey 
was made in 1838, only six years after the virtual abandonment of the 
mission. 

Journal of the Mission. 

The sad story of their affliction soon after their settlement is so 
accurately and graphically told in the "Jo^^^nal of the Mission" that we 
give it as there written. It is a story replete with human interest. 

"Thursday, August 9. — This morning Brothers Newton, and Bright 
took their departure for the Missouri to purchase horses, oxen, and 
cows. To-day we plant potatoes. 

Arrival of Indian Chiefs. 

"Saturday, August 11. — After labouring until towards night w^e 
returned to our boats, where we found the chiefs of the Osages assem- 
bled together with near seventy of their people, anxious to attend 
immediately to the business of our establishment. But as the night was 
coming on, and the Sabbath approaching, we gave them to understand 
that they must wait until Monday; for we professed to regard the Sab- 
bath as holy time, and we could not attend to any w^orldly business on 
that day. They then stated that they could stay until Monday; l3ut 
that they were destitute of provisions. We then turned them out pro- 
visions for their support. This was an interesting season for our fam- 
ily, to see these tawny sons of the forest approaching in their warlike 
attitude, and seating themselves at their tires within a few yards of 
our boats. 

"Lord's Day, August 12. — This morning the Indians thought of 
moving up the river a few miles near our proposed station, as we had 
to hold our council at that place; but we invited them to remain with 
us through the Sabbath, to which they very readily agreed. We went 
on shore, and held public worship among the Indians ; and although 
they could not understand our speech, yet they could form some idea 
of the propriety of our worship. Brother Pixley preached in the morn- 
ing, and Brother Dodge in the afternoon. 

"After our exercises were through, w^e brought our children out to 
attend to our Sabbath school lessons in the presence of the Indians. 
May a blessing attend the performance of this day. Had a talk this 
evening with the big soldier. He asked us how long we expected to 
remain with them. We replied, 'As long as we live.' He said, he now 
saw us we are men; and had the appearance of good men; but he 



64 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

wanted to see us next year, and the year after, and in about three 
years he could judge better whether we were good men. He said that 
when he was off on his hunt after buffaloes, he heard that the mis- 
sionaries were coming to them, and on his return he met a man who 
told him that the missionaries had come, but, said he, they have bad 
hearts, but he was now convinced, as far as he had become acquainted, 
that what that man had told was false. We tried to turn his attention 
to the education of his children, but to this he had many objections, 
yet we thought it full likely he should be one of the first to send chil- 
dren to school when we are ready to receive them. Things seem to 
wear as favourable an aspect among this people as we could reasonably 
expect. May God direct us in the path of duty. 

Indian Council. 

"Monday, August 13. — After breakfast we assembled our family, 
old and young, on the deck of our boats, and the Indian chiefs came 
on board, and in token of friendship shook hands with the whole. We 
then immediately repaired to the spot in which we proposed to erect 
our establishment, in order to hold our council. Previously to entering 
on business, we invoked the gracious benediction of heaven to rest upon 
us in our deliberations. After reading all the papers necessary from 
the general government, and expressed something with regard to our 
site, the chiefs expressed perfect satisfaction, and pointed out the 
bounds of a certain tract of land for our accommodation. On this tract 
we have the best mill-seat without doubt in this part of the country; 
a large quantity of excellent timber; several creeks of water; quantities 
of limestone and coal, and a great abundance of as good prairie land 
as we could ask for. This site is bounded south by the main branch 
of the Osage river, immediately on the bank of which we have a most 
beautiful spot on which to erect our buildings. In this grant there 
is perhaps fifteen thousand acres of land. A deed of this is to be given 
when we can get time to survey it. 

"Tuesday, August 14. — We now engage in good earnest to pre- 
pare for business, having the spot for our establishment fixed. 

"We have a fine field before us for making hay. Some of the family 
employ themselves in that business, and others engage in fixing tents, 
tools, &c. 

"Thursday, August 1. — Our boats are seven or eight miles down 
the stream, and cannot at present be moved nearer. We keep three 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY " 65 

hands constantly employed in running the skiff to fetch up such things 
as are immediately necessary, and to move up our females, and the 
feeble part of the family. 

"Lord's Day, August 19. — To-day we held public worship at our 
station under the shade of some oak-trees. Brother Dodge and Pixley 
preached here, and Brother Montgomery at the boats. Several men 
who are employed at the government buildings attended with us. 

Arrival of Messrs. Chapman and Fuller. 

"Monday, August 21. — This day several of the members of our 
family, and three of our hired men, are attacked with the ague and 
fever, and other disorders. We are in the hands of God, and whatever 
he does will be well. 

"Saturday, August 25. — This day we finish unloading our boats. 
It has been a heavy job, as we had to raise our goods up a very steep 
bank. We have them now secured under shelter. The family have 
all left the boats, and arrived at the station. We are now all dwelling 
in tents. May the God of Israel overshadow us, and cause that our 
tents may be the tents of Zion, where the Lord God Omnipotent may 
delight to dwell. 

"Lord's Day, August 26. — This morning we have the pleasure of 
hearing the word dispensed by Brother Chapman; and Brother Dodge 
preached in the afternoon. At the close of the exercises, we wevQ 
visited by a number of Indians. 

"Monday, August 27. — The chastisements of the Lord are upon us. 
A number of our family are in a state of debility; but, as yet, there is 
no case very alarming. 

Visit from Sans Nerf, 

"Friday, August 31. — To-day held a talk with Sans Nerf; in which 
he expressed a wish, that we would aid him in preparing a communi- 
cation for the government, requesting that all white men, who have 
not been suitably authorized, might be kept from trading with his peo- 
ple. Such irregular traders, he observed, are the cause of the young 
men being so bad. Government, he said, told him that there should 
be but one road to the Osage nation; but he found that there were 
two, — that is, one by the family here, and another on the Arkansas. 
In reply, he was told, that, although there were two roads, or families; 

(5) 



66 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

yet they led in one direction. They were sent out by one society to 
accomplish one and the same object, which is to do them good as a 
nation. He was also informed, that, in respect to helping the chiefs 
by advice, or any other way, to guard against any depredations of bad 
traders, we would do all in our power. We held a long talk upon the 
concerns of his nation, and of our mission, in which he manifested 
many things which were very important. After this talk. Sans Nerf, 
while partaking of some roots and nuts, said, "You see the diet upon 
which we principally live." He was told to set his blacksmith to work 
in making ploughshares and hoes against next spring, then to plough 
and plant the ground, and he would soon have a better living. This 
evening received a visit from Major Graham, the principal agent among 
the Osage Indians. 

"Saturday, September 1. — Brothers Newton and Bright returned 
from the Missouri, with a pair of horses, four oxen, and seven cows, 
with their calves. They have brought with them a number of letters ; 
among which there is one from the secretary of the board, bearing 
date the 8th of July, which we received with gladness. Our whole 
family are now collected together at our station for the first time. 
Brothers Chapman and Fuller, from the Union Mission are still with 
us. Sister Howell is about to leave us; and altogether we have no 
church organized, yet we conclude to hold a communion season at 
the table of our Lord to-morrow. We held a season of prayer this 
evening. May God prepare us for the duties of the coming day. 

"Lord's Day, September 2. — This morning at eight o'clock, we 
meet for a preparatory conference, in view of attending the communion. 
Brother Pixley preached in the morning; and Brother Dodge admin- 
istered baptism to Brother Seeley's child. Brother Chapman preached 
in the afternoon; and the Lord's supper was then administered. This 
day six months ago, we held communion with our dear brethren in 
New York. This evening Brother Fuller and Sister Howell were 
married. 

"Monday, September 3. — This evening join in concert with the 
Christian world in supplicating mercy upon the perishing heathen. 

"Tuesday, September 4. — Our hired men are now debilitated, and 
there are but four of the brethren who are in sound health. What the 
Lord is about to do with us, we cannot tell. 

"We are now all in tents, and our kitchen and dining-tal)le in the 
open air. The winter is drawing on, and we have not begun to erect 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 67 

our houses for want of a team. With what strength we have, we are 
now about to commence, as we have been furnished with a good team 
for the business. 

"Wednesday, September 5. — This day we commence hauHng tim- 
ber for our houses. May God grant to us strength to accomphsh our 
undertaking, or grace to be submissive to his will. A number of our 
family are this day taken down with our common complaint. 

"Friday, September 7. — Four men out of sixteen, are able this day 
to labour. May we rejoice that the Lord gives us as much strength 
as we still possess. 

Sickness Increasing. 

"Monday, September 10. — Our number for business is this day 
diminished one-half. Last week we had four, to-day two. Blessed be 
God that we have any. Had a very heavy thunder-shower to-day, 
which thoroughly tried our tents. Most of our people were drenched 
with the rain, but the Lord is our Protector, and will guard our health 
as far as is for His glory. May we be content with that. 

Departure of Messrs. Chapman and Fuller. 

"Tuesday, September 11. — We experienced a very powerful rain 
during the night. Brother Chapman and Brother Fuller and his wife, 
leave us to-day, to return to their station. May God go with them 
and bless them. Visited this evening by one of the chiefs, and num- 
ber of the people of the Little Osage village. This chief made a formal 
introduction, by showing some papers signed at the city of Washing- 
ton, in 1812, by some of the heads of department, signifying his good 
behavior, &c. After showing these, he informed me that he had a talk 
to deliver to-morrow. 

Talk with the Little Osage Chief. 

"Wednesday, September 12.— Held a talk with the Little Osage 
chief, in which he made inquiries as to our object in coming to this 
place — how long we expected to stay among them — and what we cal- 
culated to do. After receiving answers to these questions, he expressed 
satisfaction. We then inquired whether he and his people would be 
willing to send their children from their village to our school when we 
should be ready to receive them. He said he was going to a great 
council at St. Louis. The people there had always used him well, and 



68 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

what they told him he would do. We gave him to understand, that we 
were sent by good men in the great city of New York, with the appro- 
bation of their Great Father, the President of the United States, to do 
them all the good in our power. He appeared much pleased, and said 
that if any of the people in his village should steal any thing from us, 
he would see that they were returned. 

"Saturday, September 15. — This day and evening we are again 
drenched with rain. Our situation is rather uncomfortable, l)ut we 
have reason to bless God that it is no worse. We are thronged with 
the Indians, and have been all the week. What a view we have of 
the human family in its native state! 

"Tuesday, September 18. — This evening met for business. Brothers 
Newton and Bright reported as follows with regard to the business 
transacted at the Missouri. The cost of two horses, four oxen, and 
seven cows with their calves, including their expenses, amounted to 
$295 96-100. Cash paid out by them at Franklin for postage, $9 79-100, 
making in the whole $305 75-100. 

"Wednesday, September 19. — This day Brother Dodge, who has 
been complaining for several days, is very ill, and but few in the family 
are able to labour. 

"Wednesday, October 10. — From the 20th of Septend)er to this 
day, such has been the state of the family, that no regular minutes 
have been kept. It has been with great difficulty, that we can find suffi- 
cient help to take care of the sick; l)ut so it has been the providence of 
God, that when one has been taken down, another has been raised up to 
assist in the kitchen, thus far. Our buildings have been for several 
days entirely suspended, and no business attended to, but taking care 
of the family. We have, however, got our warehouse in a situation 
to receive goods, and have secured the greater part of them in it. The 
Lord has seen fit, in His all-wise Providence, to make another breach 
upon us. On the 5th of October, He called Brother Seeley's child to 
Himself. Thus He is lopping off our tender branches. Oh, that the 
Providence of God, in relation to this family, may serve to humble us. 
and bring us near to Him. We have had much rain, which has rendered 
our situation uncomfortable. But the Lord has helped us through the 
whole, and we have abundant cause of gratitude. In this interval, our 
horses have broken away from us, and as yet, we have not heard from 
them. Brother Newton has now gone in search of them to Fort Osage. 
Three men came over from the Arkansas yesterday. They are on 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 69 

their way to St. Louis, and they offered to assist in putting up a liouse 
or two. 

"Friday, October 12. — This day very pleasant, after the rain of 
yesterday. The men above mentioned, go to work to erect us a house. 
This is a Providence which we looked not for. 

"Saturday, October 13. — The missionary family continues very 
feeble. A number are very low. What the Lord is about to do with 
us, we cannot tell. Oh, may the afflictions which we are called to 
endure, serve to humble and to quicken us in the path of duty. 

"Monday, October 15. — To-day an Indian brought home our horses, 
which had been strayed a number of weeks. He found them near the 
mouth of the Osage river. 

"Tuesday, October 16. — This day, the men on their way to St. 
Louis leave us. We are left again feeble-handed, but little can be done 
besides taking care of the family. 

"Wednesday, October 17. — Our family are generally shaken with 
the fever and ague. How easy it is for the Lord to bring down the 
stoutest constitution to the borders of the grave; and it is equally true, 
that He is able to raise it up again. May we trust in Him. 

"Friday, October 19. — This day Brother Newton returned from the 
Missouri, with several hands to assist us in putting up our houses. He 
also agreed with a man to come soon, and put up four or five by the 
job. This begins to cheer our prospects. May we suitably notice the 
good hand of Providence in this event. 

"Saturday, October 20. — Our family still remains feeble, but we 
trust it will do us good to be afflicted. We need chastisement, to pre- 
pare us for our work. 

"Tuesday, October 23. — This evening, met for business. Brother 
Newton reported, in relation to his late jaunt, that he had purchased 
a horse for twenty-five dollars; that he had engaged a number of men 
to assist in erecting our buildings; that he was treated with great hos- 
pitality by the people below, and that his expenses during the ten days 
he was gone, were only seventy-five cents. 

"Wednesday, October 24. — This day one of our houses was fin- 
ished, and Dr. Belcher and wife. Sister Comstock. and Sister Weller, 
all very feeble in health, removed from their tents to the building. 

"Thursday, October 25. — Our family are yet feeble, and Sister 
Montgomery's case seems to be somewhat alarming. The Lord has 
brought us down in sickness, and lopped a tender bud; but in all these, 



yO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

His hand has been gentle. Perhaps we are verging on to more severe 
trials. Oh, may we hear the voice of God, and be humble. 

Death of Mrs. Montgomery and Her Child. 

"Saturday, October 27. — This evening Sister Montgomery was 
delivered of a living child, but it did not survive until morning. She 
appears to be as comfortable as can be expected. 

"Lord's Day, October 28. — Attended public worship as usual. Sister 
Montgomery appeared to be comfortable this morning, until about 
eleven o'clock when her countenance changed, and she fell into a swoon. 
in which she continued till evening, when she expired. Thus fled that 
immortal spirit, which from a youth has had a longing desire to spend 
her life in the missionary field. God. in His providence, suffered her 
to enter it, and took her to Himself. It may be said of her, as it was 
of David, that she did well that she had it in her heart to build God 
an house among the heathen. We have no doubt of her real piety and 
devotedness to God. We believe she has gone to reign witli Christ. 
Oh, that we may all be prepared to follow. 

"Monday. October 29. — This day we follow the remains of our dear 
Sister Montgomery to the grave. Solemn indeed is the reflection, that 
she must be cut down so soon; but it is the will of God, and we would 
not murmur. We rejoice in the consolation, that what is our loss, is 
her gain ; that while we grovel here in the dust a little longer, she is 
rejoicing in the Heavens, where neither sin nor sorrow can ever enter. 

"Tuesday, October 30. — This evening Sister Belcher is delivered 
of a living child. She has been in a low state of health for a long time. 
She is under as favourable circumstances as can reasonably be expected. 
The child is very feeble, and life of each is very precarious. What the 
event will be, time will determine. The doctor himself is very low 
with the fever and ague. Oh. may the Lord bless them, and soon raise 
them all to health, together with all the sick of the mission family. 
But submission is our duty. 

"Wednesday, October 3L — This day four hands arrived from the 
Missouri, to put up some of our cabins. 

Preservation of Their Goods. 

"Friday, November 2. — We have this day examined the principal 
part of our goods in our warehouse. Our provisions, such as hard 
bread, flour, and meat, have saved remarkably well ; and very little of 
our clothing has received any damage. When we open our packages, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7 1 

and find the great abundance of the necessaries of Hfe, which have 
been collected for our use, our hearts are impressed with gratitude to 
our Divine Benefactor, and with thankfulness to our Christian friends 
for the great kindness they have manifested to us for Christ's sake. 
Oh, that we may remember that ours is the responsibility for the 
improvement of these tributes of Christian benevolence. This night 
Dr. Belcher's child expired. 

"Thursday, November 8. — This day another of our buildings is fin- 
ished, in which Brother Jones is accommodated. 

"Saturday, November 10. — Brother Dodge's youngest child, which 
has been sick a number of days, appeared to be extremely low through 
the day, and died in the evening. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken 
away — bless be the name of the Lord. Brother Seeley is attacked with 
a violent pain in his side. 

"Tuesday, November 13. — Brother Seeley's case grows more alarm- 
ing. He has a violent pain in his side, and a severe cough. Dr. Belcher 
and his wife are very low. Brother Bright, and a number of others, 
are feeble. 

"Thursday, Noveml^er 15. — Brother Seeley continues to be very 
sick. He thinks he shall not recover. He stated that he had a note 
against a man in the place from which he came, the avails of which 
he would will to this mission. 

"Friday, November 16. — Brother Seeley's hou'se is finished; but his 
health is such, that it is very doubtful whether he ever enters it. The 
hand of God is upon us, and O, that we may profit by it. 

"Monday, November 19. — We moved Brother Seeley into his house. 
He is very weak, but we hope his symptoms are a little more favourable. 

"Tuesday, November 20. — A house is finished for the accommoda- 
tion of Brother Dodge. Brother Chapman and Brother Requa, from 
Union, arrived this evening at our establishment, and are calculating 
to continue here a few weeks, for the purpose of studying the Indian 
language with Mr. Williams. Brother Pixley joins with them. At a 
meeting for business this evening, it was agreed that we set apart the 
25th day of December next, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer. 

Death of Mr. Seeley. 

"Thursday, November 22. — This morning Brother Seeley seemed 
to be as comfortable as could be expected. At 11 o'clock, he was taken 
out of his bed for the purpose of having it made. He was apparently 



J2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

refreshed by the change ; but in the after part of the day, his counte- 
nance suddenly altered. His eyes were set, and he became speechless, 
and in a short time, gave up his immortal spirit to the God who gave it. 
Thus death is making ravages among us, and lessening our numbers 
for the labours of the mission. 

'"Friday, November 23. — This day we attend the funeral of Brother 
Seeley. How solemn and instructive are the providences of God. 
Although He is afflicting us, yet His mercies are abundant, and entitled 
to our warmest gratitude. May we not be left to repine at the afflic- 
tions which are laid upon us, but may they, through Divine Grace, 
work within us the peaceable fruits of righteousness. 

''Tuesday, November 27. — This evening met for business. Resolved 
that by the consent of Brother Jones, he take our children to his house, 
and school them. Considering the situation of our family, the present 
state of the health of our physician, and the liability that he may be 
sick, as well as others, we therefore Resolved, That Brother Mont- 
gomery turn his attention to the study of physics, as he can find leisure. 

"Wednesday, December 6. — Since the 28th of November, nothing 
material has taken place. Our sick generally are gaining very fast, 
and we hope the family will soon enjoy a comfortable state of health. 
The business of erecting our buildings has gone on very prosperously, 
and we are all comfortably situated in our log cabins." 

The Cemetery. 

Since the foregoing was written we have been enabled to locate and 
visit the Harmony Mission cemetery. It required considerable inquiry 
among the oldest inhal)itants of the vicinity to locate it, so completely 
has it been lost ; and it is known to the few wdio know anything al^out 
it as the "old Indian burying ground." 

The old Mission trail from Harmony north to Ft. Osage and other 
points on the Missouri river is still perfectly plain, and from the site 
of the cabins and school at Harmony it runs a little west of north for 
some distance. The cemetery is situate about fifty yards to the west 
of this trail and about a quarter from the site of Harmony, on a rather 
high, dry roll of the land, now timber land, many of the trees being 
nearly a foot in diameter. It is apparent that this cemetery was located 
on the open timberless prairie ; and that the timber has grown up since. 
Only one grave has any stone or monument at this time, though old 
settlers say there used to be more of them marked. The head stone 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 73 

Stands about two feet out of the ground and the one at the foot only 
about a foot high. Both are just ordinary sand-stone slabs stuck in the 
ground; and on the face and smoother side of the head stone three 
letters, "D A P," are deeply cut, as if by a common chisel. 

The depression of graves was marked and plain, and they were in 
rows about six to eight feet apart, there being several rows north and 
south; and the gentleman with us on our recent visit counted thirty-eight 
depressions or graves. 

It should be recalled that the last entry in the Journal was on Decem- 
ber 6, 1821. It appears from the record that two adults and four chil- 
dren had died and been buried prior to the last Journal entry— Mrs. 
Montgomery and her infant, and the infant of Mrs. Seeley, in October, 
and in November Mr. Seeley, an infant of Mrs. Belcher, and the young- 
est son of Supermtendent Dodge. The initials "D. A. P." can not stand 
for any of these; but just who died of the Mission family during the 
succeecyng ten years the Mission remained is not recorded in any history 
available to us.' From all that we know it is fair to conclude that the 
missionaries and the Osage Indians made this place a common sepulcher, 
and that it was under the control of the missionaries; else why its 
system and regularity? The location of this cemetery tends to show 
that the bodv of the Great Osages lived at that time in that vicinity, 
else there would not have been so many graves: for it must be recalled 
that by the treaty of 1825 the Osages were removed from the boundaries 

of Missouri. 

It seems too bad that so much of historic worth should be permitted 
to perish within a century of the sad and heroic events of Harmony 
Mission. Even vet. it would seem, the story of these devout missionaries 
should appeal to the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch churches so 
strongly that benevolent members would take steps to erect suitable 
monuments to the heroic men and women who sacrificed so much for 
the Master at Harmony. The few acres actually occupied by the cabins 
and other buildings could be cheaply purchased and readily converted 
into a beautiful park, with appropriate memorials, and thus made a sacred 
place in the history of the work of the United Foreign Missionary Society. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE GRAND OSAGE INDIANS. 



GRAND OSAGES AND HARMONY MISSION— HOME OF THE OSAGES — CHARACTER- 
ISTICS — FAILURE OF MISSION — PIKE'S EXPEDITION — LOCATION — RECENT 
OBSERVATIONS — THEIR RELIGION — FIRST MARRIAGE IN OSAGE COUNTRY — 
LAST OF HIS LINE. 

In connection with Harmony ]\tission, the location, character, and 
general conduct of the Grand Osages becomes interesting; and in a 
history of Bates county, something must be said of these original occu- 
pants of this fair country. A\'e have elsewhere shown that when history 
took note of them they occupied the vast territory between the ]\Iis- 
souri and the Arkansas -rivers north and south, and from the mouth 
of the Osage river as far west as the country was knowai to wdiite men. 
But not much was known of them in this section of Missouri until the 
expedition of Gen. Zebulon B. Pike, who visited this section in 1806, one 
hundred and twelve years ago. At that time this was an unexplored 
region except so far as it may have been known to the French-Cana- 
dians, and the half-breed voyageurs, hunters, and trappers. The Osages 
were a restless, vagrant, nomadic people. They lived in temporary 
villages easily moved, or easily rebuilt, after the abandonment of a 
village. They roamed the country over during the hunting season and 
lived in so-called villages in considerable numbers only in the winter 
season. Often when afflicted with contagious disease whole villages 
would suddenly remove to some other locality. From all accounts the 
Osages were among the most intelligent and best developed physically 
of any of the numerous tribes which inhabited this country. They were 
not a fierce and war-like tribe ; yet they were brave and strong in war 
when so engaged with other tribes. So far as white men were con- 
cerned they were not hostile, and always disposed peaceably towards 
the whites. Mentally and morally they never had risen much above 
the average Indian tribe. When the missionary came among them they 
treated them kindly and the chiefs and more elderly among them 
expressed great desire to learn the ways and life of the white people — 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 75 

their methods of agriculture, the making of tools, and farm implements, 
and seemed disposed to adopt the white man's life. But their moral 
darkness was complete, from Our viewpoint, and the Missionaries at 
the numerous stations found it very difficult to make any progress with 
them in a religious or educational way. It cannot be said historically 
that the Mission schools were in any substantial sense successful, though 
they may have done some good. All the evidence obtainable of results 
at Harmony Mission school in this county go to show that the ten years' 
earnest effort that was put forth in their behalf was poorly rewarded. 
Indeed, it may be said that the school was a flat failure. 

When General Pike came up the Osage river in the fall of 1806 
according to his report, he found one of the principal Osage villages 
near the junction of the Marmiton and the Little Osage river, which 
was five or six miles south and four or five miles west of Harmony. 
He never explored what he called the "north fork" of the Osage, or the 
Marais des Cygnes, and did not know whether an Osage village existed 
on the Marais des Cygnes river very near where Harmony station was 
established in 1821, about fifteen years after he passed that way on his 
expedition to the West. It does not seem reasonable that the intelli- 
gent Missionaries seeking to preach the gospel to them and to estab- 
lish a school for their children, would have located Harmony ten or 
twelve, or as some early writers have said, fifteen miles away from the 
principal Osage village. Our best investigation leads to the belief that 
the body of the Grand Osage lived in 1821, on the high lands very 
near the site of Harmony — the principal village being within a mile 
or two of the school. Nor does it seem reasonable that the chiefs, with 
full knowledge of the purposes of the Missionaries would have endorsed 
or acquiesced in the choice of a site made by the Missionaries before 
the arrival of the chiefs and warriors from the hunt, as it seems they 
did if it were twelve or fifteen miles from the principal village of the 
tribe. This view is confirmed by tradition and by the oldest and best 
informed citizens now living, who unite in saying that they always 
understood that the principal Osage village was on the high land just 
north of the present village of Papinsville, and only a mile or two to the 
east of Harmony site. This is fortified by a letter written by Mr. George 
Sibley from Fort Osage, old Ft. Clark, on the Missouri river, dated 
October 1, 1820. less than one year before Harmony was located, (page 
203, Morse's "Report on Indian Affairs") the second paragraph of which 
reads, "The Great Osages, of the Osage river. They live in one village 



76 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

on the Osage river seventy-eight miles (measured) due south from 
Fort Osage. I rate them at about one thousand two hundred souls, three 
hundred and fifty of whom are warriors and hunters, fifty or sixty super- 
annuated, and the rest are women and children." At that time he 
may well have referred to the Marais des Cygnes as the Osage, or a 
continuation of the Osage river, as the name Marais des Cygnes river 
had not appeared upon any explorer's or official map, and did not so 
appear for some years later. Mr. Sibley had been in charge of Ft. 
Osage prior to the War of 1812, when it was abandoned for a time, 
and he returned there when it was re-established. The government 
survey of the Osage nation boundary line, running south from Ft. 
Osage, to the Osage river, was made by a Mr. Brown in 1816, and 
George Sibley, a government officer, doubtless knew what he was talk- 
ing about when he wrote the letter on October 1, 1820, and said the Osage 
village was seventy-eight measured miles directly south from where he 
was then writing. Our investigation shows that seventy-eight miles meas- 
ured directly south from Ft. Osage (now the town of Sibley, in Jackson 
county, Missouri,) will not cross the Osage river at any point but will 
reach as far south as Harmony or possibly a little further; and Rand, 
McNally & Co., the map makers of Chicago, say: "Papinsville is seventy- 
seven and one-half miles from Sibley (old Ft. Osage) in a straight line and 
about two miles above the mouth of the IMarais des Cygnes river where it 
enters the Osage river." 

David W. Eaton, now with the United States Department, a man 
familiar with government surveys, in a letter to the author says that : 
"It is sixty miles from Sibley to the standard line just south of Butler," 
between Mt. Pleasant and Lone Oak townships; and by actual count of 
the sections south of that standard line it confirms the distance stated 
by Rand, McNally & Co. All which goes to prove that the "one Osage 
village" as stated by George Sibley was north of the Osage river in 
1820-21, and within the present limits of Bates county; and this all cor- 
roborates the knowledge of our oldest inhabitants and the traditions 
coming down to us from reasonably trustworthy sources. 

This is historically important because of the prevalent view of 
historians who have written about the Osage. They have all taken 
their cue from Pike's report and map. Even Mr. Coues' notes on 
Pike are at fault in this particular. It is not disputed here that General 
Pike found a Great Osage village where he indicates it on his official 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



77 



map, nor that Chief AMiite Hair resided at a vilhige in that vicinity, 
in 1806 and afterward. But the contention that in 1820-21, and there- 
after, until the Osage moved further west, under the treaty of 1825, 
the "one Osage village" and the body of the tribe, lived north of the 
Osage and northeast of the Marais des Cygnes river, is historically cor- 
rect and sound. 

Recent Observations. 

The author recently visited the site of Harmony Mission in com- 
pany with J. N. Barrows of Rich Hill, who was born within a mile and 
a half of Papinsville in 1847, and who as a boy drank from the great 
well digged by the Missionaries at Harmony, and ate apples from 
the trees they planted there, and w^e walked over the very sites of 
the log cabins and the great school building, all of which he remem- 
bers having seen before destroyed or removed. Nothing remains to 
mark the site except a large sink hole where the well once was, (doubt- 
less still is if cleaned out) and stumps of large black locust trees planted 
by those God-fearing men. Bits of crockery and glass, lie scattered 
about and a few brick-bats. 

The location is all that was described in the "Journal" and in the 
letters of the Missionaries. The soil is not so good about the imme- 
diate location as they thought it, and the stone coal referred to by 
some of them is a very thin stratum of poor coal outcropping at the 
very bottom of the river. The timber to the east and to the west is 
still there in limited quantities. We did not learn where the dead who 
died there lie buried, or whether any stone marks the resting place of 
the faithful who died in that consecrated work. 

Harmony was the first settlement in what is now Bates county. 
Forty-one made up the family that went aboard the keel boats at 
Pittsburg on April 19, 1821, thirty-nine of them arrived at Harmony 
Station August 25th of the same year. After about eleven years of 
habitation, and fruitless labor, the Mission was abandoned and the 
living scattered to the four quarters of the country. Dr. Amasa Jones 
established a home near old Germantown, Henry county, and died ther^ 
at a ripe old age, full of honors and usefulness. Dr. W. C. Requa came 
up from Union Mission and settled in Lone Oak township a few^ miles 
north of Harmony, reared his family and died there in 1886 at the ripe 
old age of ninety-one. But the story of these, and other worthies of the 
pioneer age of our county, will be found elsewhere in this volume. 



78 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

The Religion of the Osages. 

It seems to be generally agreed by the writers that the Osages 
universally believed in a God whom they called the Great Spirit. But 
it seems also that their conception of a God came from the manifestation 
of the forces of Nature as exemplified in the storm and lightning. That 
which they could not understand they attributed to the Great Spirit. 
But there is no evidence that they had any concept of a God of love 
and care. Hence, they feared the Great Spirit, because they recognized 
in it the power to injure and destroy. Their form of worship was 
mdefinite and variant with the customs or whims of the few old men 
who were intrusted with religious secrets. Only a few old men were 
custodians of the religion and traditions of the tribe; and they trans- 
mitted both to younger men only after they had accomplished some 
exploits which, in the opinion of the old men, entitled them to receive 
such instructions. It may be safely said that the Missionaries at their 
several stations, after long years of patient efforts, and faithful teach- 
ing, made little impress on young or old. They were simply incapable 
of comprehending intellectually the teachings of Jesus as presented by 
the Missionaries, and morally they could not be affected by teaching or 
preaching. In fact the Christian God w^as to them unthinkable, and 
the doctrines of the Christ so foreign to every instinct, intuition and 
tradition of the race that it was impossible to make any serious or last- 
ing impression upon the mind and heart of even the young. They 
believed, in a sense, in rewards and punishment beyond this life. It 
is clear they believed in immortality — in a life beyond death here. This 
is shown in the universal custom of burying with the deceased the 
things he owned and loved on earth, so that when he arrived at the 
^'happy hunting ground" — which seemed to be their conception of Heaven 
beyond — he would have all the things necessary to continue the enjoy- 
ment of them over there. This is a very beautiful though child-like 
thought. Washington Irving relates a story of the death of a beautiful 
daughter of a warrior. She was devotedly attached to a pretty pony, 
and when she died the pony was killed and buried with her so that she 
should have her pretty pony over there. It is a touching story and it 
fairly presents their customs and beliefs in the Hereafter. Irving had 
an Indian guide, hunter, and interpreter, whose name was Beatte. and 
we cannot forbear quoting one paragraph from Irving's "Tour of the 
Prairie" : 

"The Osage, with whom Beatte had passed much of his life, retain 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



79 



their superstitious fancies and rites in much of their original force. 
They all believe in the existence of the soul after its separation from 
the body, and that it carries with it all the mortal tastes and habitudes. 
At an Osage village in the neighborhood of Beatte, one of the chief 
w^arriors lost an only child, a beautiful girl, of a very tender age. All 
her playthings were buried with her. Her favorite little horse, also, 
was killed, and laid in the grave beside her, that she might have it to 
ride in the land of spirits." 

Thus we see that their religion was full of the human; that it was 
just what might be expected to prevail among the children of the forest 
and prairie. We have no reason to say they did not get comfort and 
hope from their beliefs, even as we are comforted and made hopeful 
by our beliefs. At least their view of the life of the soul beyond was 
so strong in the Osage that the devoted Missionaries could not shake 
them or get them to accept the Christian view. Hope leads to many 
beliefs, yea, to what we call convictions. The very soul of man hungers 
for a life beyond this. It is the most appealing thought in the world 
to the old — to those who approach the end in sadness and decreptitude. 
Knowing that he is going man rebels at the idea that he is to be blotted 
out. He naturally indulges the story that the boatman on the Styx 
must land him somewhere on the other shore ; and he hopes to continue 
life over there with friends under more pleasurable environment than 
was his lot on this side. And it has always appeared to me that the 
very poor, the lame, the halt, the blind, the unfortunate, on this side, 
must have, in the nature of the mind, a stronger hope and conviction 
and certainty about the matter than those more blessed in this world. 
Hence, the eternal appeal of the Christ doctrine and the Christ promises 
to the poor, the meek and the humble. 

So whatever we may think of the heathen Osages we cannot deny 
to ourselves a certain respect for their religious conceptions and cus- 
toms. They are beautiful, tender and sincere. Who among us is 
competent to say certainly how far or in what respect their customs, 
beliefs and philosophy were wrong? 

In conclusion of this subject we quote the following excerpt from 
a letter of Rev. E. Chapman to the domestic secretary, March 4, 1822 
(from Union), discussing the difficulties of learning the Osage lan- 
guage: "There are no adequate interpreters, the most skillful are ignor- 
ant of it, except so far as relates to trade and common domestic business. 
Nothing, or very little, that relates to their devotion or superstitious 



80 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

notions and practices is understood by the interpreters, or even by most 
of their chiefs, warriors and common people. This knowledge is con- 
fined to two or three old men in each village. These preserve and 
communicate part of their doctrines of religion and traditions from time 
to time to those who can pay sums proportioned to the importance of 
their lessons, after they have performed such a number of exploits as 
will entitle them to this privilege. The language which the interpreters 
have acquired is such as is used by women and the most degraded of 
the community with whom they have associated, and theirs is a different 
dialect from that which is used by the majority, and the most respectable 
part of the nation. I have never been able by the help of an interpreter 
to communicate divine instruction." 

The First Marriage in the Osage Country. 

Although the Missionaries came to Harmony a year after the Mis- 
sionary family was sent up the Arkansas river, to Union, Harmony in 
Bates county, Missouri, is entitled to the credit and honor of the first 
wedding solemnized in all that vast territory known as the Osage 
country, although the groom came from Union station. On the 21st 
of August, Reverend Chapman and Brother Fuller arrived from Union 
Station. This was before all the family had removed from the boats 
on the Osage river to Harmony Station on the Marais des 
Cygnes, and the family was living in tents at Harmony — those 
who had left the boats. On Lord's day, September 19th, the 
annals show that they "held public worship under the shade 
of some oak trees. Brothers Dodge and Prixley preached here, and 
Brother Montgomery at the boats." But on August 25, they had fin- 
ished unloading their boats and all the family had left the boats and 
were dwelling in tents at Harmony. This is the last mention of the 
boats and it is not recorded what disposition was made of them ; but 
the boats never ascended the Marais des Cygnes river to Harmony 
Station, and a reasonable presumption is that they were sold to traders 
and returned to St. Louis. On Lord's Day, August 26, 1821. Brother 
Chapman, of Union, preached at Harmony in the morning and Brother 
Dodge in the afternoon; and at the close of the exercises they were 
visited by a number of Lidians. Nearly everybody was down with the 
fever and ague; and the next day the annal reads; "The chastisement 
of the Lord is upon us." 

Three days later, on September 1st, the announcement of the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8 1 

engagement of Brother Fuller and Sister Howell was recorded in these 
words: "Brothers Chapman and Fuller from the Union Mission are 
still with us. Sister Howell is about to leave us." You will note that 
this is only five days after the removal from the boats, and only ten days 
after the arrival of Brother Fuller. So that it may be concluded that 
their w^ooing in the wild, primeval forests of the Marais des Cygnes 
must have been beautiful, rapid and satisfactory to the love lorn twain. 
And we can conceive of few situations better adapted to stir the heart 
and make its emotions more responsive to earnest words of love. The 
record indicates that the brave groom had come a long journey pony- 
back from Union across the virgin prairie to supply, if he could, the 
much-needed "female" help at Union; and the result shows that he lost 
little time in the pursuit of his object. Miss Howell of Baltimore, edu- 
cated, refined, dominated by the Mission spirit, of uncertain age — at 
least the record does not disclose it; new to her environment in the 
wilderness of the heathen Osage, possibly was touched by a natural 
loneliness born of the forests and became an easy prey to the earnest 
appeals of Brother Fuller for an actual as well as a soulmate, and accepted 
him on the spot — we do not mean the spot where Harmony was meas- 
ured off by the chiefs ; for it may have been at some other spot up or 
down the beautiful Marais des Cygnes or over on the Great Osage, 
miles away, in some sylvan retreat removed some hundreds of miles 
from the hearing of any curious white ears. It requires little imagination 
to see the devoted couple during the brief days of their wooing strolling 
in the forests or out upon the rolling prairies in those early autumn 
days, hand in hand, enjoying the surroundings just as God had made 
them and all unmarred by the trample of human feet, except such 
slight effect as the occasional passing of the stalking or sulking savage 
may have left behind. It must have been ideal for a serious courtship, 
and we indulge the pleasant thought that the cultured Miss Howell sur- 
rendered easily amidst such appealing, prompting scenes. "The groves 
were God's first temples, ere man learned to hew the shaft and lay the 
architrave," and hence Brother Fuller and Sister Howell must have 
spent sweet and tender hours in God's temple and as results seem to 
indicate, with God's approval. 

On the afternoon of September 2, the Lord's Day, Brother Fuller 
and Sister Howell were married. Brother Dodge of^ciating, presumably 
in the presence of the whole Missionary family able to be up on that 

(6) 



82 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

occasion; and on September 11, accompanied by Brother Chapman, they 
departed a-horseback on a honeymoon trip to their future home at 
Union, some hundred and fifty miles away, over a treeless and trackless 
prairie. It must have all been very romantic, and a little wild and weird 
for the accomplished bride so lately from the cultured circles of beautiful 
Baltimore. Her name was Eliza but it does not appear what was the 
Christian name of Brother Fuller. She w^as one of the five ''adult" 
Misses in this interesting family composed of "ten adult males, fifteen 
adult females, and sixteen children." Having left Bates county after so 
short a sojourn we cannot follow her and her mate to other fields of 
labor for the Lord; but it is assumed they lived "happily ever since." 
The historic fact of this first wedding of the then great and unex- 
plored West is important and worthy of record, if for no other reason, 
because it was solemnized and celebrated within the confines of Bates 
county, according to Christian customs, in this, the then heathen land; 
and Brother Dodge, superintendent of the Great Osage Mission, in a 
letter announcing the marriage of the brethren at Union, among other 
things says : "The circumstances of the connection formed between 
Brother Fuller and Sister Howell, may at the first moment surprise 
you, on account of their short acquaintance ; but on a second reflection 
you may view it as one of the features of Missionary enterprise which 
marks the present day. Under all circumstances we all consider it 
the plain dictate of Providence." The "Journal" of the Union Mission 
says: "We would view the hand of Providence in forming this connec- 
tion, and be thankful for some additional female assistance, not doubting 
that the board w^ill approve what has taken place," and we presume 
it did, as we did not find any investigation of the matter recorded in 
the minutes of the next annual meeting of the board. 

The Last of His Line. 

There was a tradition among the Great Osages of a long and ancient 
line of chiefs which was lost by an incident which occurred at Halley's 
BlufT in the remote past. Old Chief No-Horse was the reigning chief 
of all the Grand Osages, and the last of his line, which had come to 
be regarded as a sort of royalty, and the family No-Horse as a sort of 
ruling dynasty. He was a worthy son of his line of Great Chiefs, but 
was getting old and decrepit. He had an only child, a beautiful daughter ; 
many had wooed but none had won her heart. But at last there came 
a-wooing of her the bold and handsome son of a minor chief of the tribe. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 83 

The line of succession must continue through No-wa-tah, this only 
daughter. The old men of the tribe urged her to wife with the hand- 
some He-ta-hah; but No-wa-tah resisted all his Indian blandishments 
for many moons. Finally old No-Horse sickened and was about to die. 
He called No-wa-tah and He-ta-hah into his lodge. He made them kneel 
side by side near him and then with his palsied hands put the hand of 
No-wa-tah in the strong right hand of He-ta-hah in token of his desire 
for their union. No-wa-tah resisted no more. She became the squaw 
of He-ta-hah, according to the customs and ceremonials of the tribe. 
In a few days old No-Horse died, and then she became, so to speak, 
queen of the Grand Osages until such time as an heir to the tribe's 
chiefship should be born unto her. She was happy with her handsome 
warrior-hunter, and they dwelt in .the lodge of her father which was 
situate in the midst of the big hickory and pecan timber belt lying on 
the opposite side of the Osage river, and a little northwest of Halley's 
Bluff. They fished and hunted together up the Marais des Cygnes and 
down the Osage, and out upon the beautiful prairies. By and by, in the 
course of nature, surrounded in their lodge by all the trappings of royalty 
an old aunt could command, one early spring morning a little pappoose 
came to snuggle at No-wa-tah's breast and bring joy to her heart, and 
to the heart of He-ta-hah; for it was a warrior pappoose, heir to the 
chiefship of all the Grand Osages. The event was duly celebrated accord- 
ing to the customs and traditions of the tribe and Little No-Horse took 
his rightful place in the life of the tribe as its future Big Chief. 

The time for the summer hunt was soon at hand, and when the 
warriors and hunters were ready, with such squaws and youngsters as 
desired to go, they were ofif to the prairies and streams of the limitless 
West, not to return till early autumn. A few days after He-ta-hah had 
gone with the rest of the hunters, No-wa-tah and her old aunt, in whose 
care she and the tiny pappoose were left, on a bright warm May morning, 
strolled down to the Osage to fish in the deep waters opposite the 
Bluff. Snugly wrapped in his royal furs they took Little No-horse along 
and laid him gently on the grass beneath a wide-spreading elm on the 
margin of the river directly west of the forbidding and frowning Bluff. 
It was only a few yards from the sleeping pappoose to the edge of the 
river, down a short but rather abrupt bank. Mother and aunt became 
interested in the fine sport. They did not notice that Little No-Horse, 
as the sun came over the Bluff and warmed him, had kicked off his furs 
and lay there cooing to the waving branches and twittering birds above 



84 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

him. Nor had their attention been attracted by a large hole near the 
top of the sheer stone front of Halley's BlufT, where a golden eagle 
had her eyrie full of well-grown, hungry eaglets. Looking out from 
her lofty nest in the solid stone front of the Blufif, possibly annoyed 
and vexed by the cries of her hungry brood, she saw tiny Little No-Horse 
lying almost naked on the other shore. With a suddenness and swift- 
ness for which this wonderful conqueror of the air is famous, the mother 
eagle swooped down and struck her talons into the tender baby flesh 
of Little No-Horse and carried him to her eyrie as food for her hungry 
eaglets. The cries of the pappoose attracted the attention of No-wa-tah 
instantly; but she was helpless; and wild with fright, she saw him dis- 
appearing in the unapproachable hole in the outstanding stone wall in 
front of her. Realizing her powerlessness, and that the mother eagle 
was that very moment rending by hooked beak and tearing talons her 
baby's tender flesh from its bones for food for the eaglets, No-wa-tah 
plunged headlong into the deep waters in frantic agony. She was a 
good swimmer, but for some mysterious reason when the waters closed 
over her head she was lost forever. Her body was never seen after- 
ward. It was the pathetic and tragic ending of the dynasty of Old No- 
Horse, whose ancestors had so long reigned and ruled over the Grand 
Osages. 

The eyrie or hole is still there to be seen by all curious visitors 
to this remarkable Bluff; and it is just as unapproachable now, from 
above or from below, as it was in that remote day when tradition says 
the line of Old No-Horse became extinct on the day when Little No- 
Horse was immolated therein to feed hungry eaglets. A view of the 
cavity from the opposite or west side of the river can but stir the 
emotions of any one who has heard the sad story. It is so plausible 
and so in line with other stories we have all heard or read that we are 
almost ready to accept a mere tradition for an historical fact. 



CHAPTER V. 



MARCHIONESS DEGNINON OF THE OSAGE. 

A ROMANCE OF HARMONY MISSION AND HALLEY'S BLUFF. 

In the spring of 1821 a devoted band of men and women, and some 
children, assembled at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, thence to take a long 
and perilous journey into the West — to the very limit of civilization at 
that time. They were missionaries from Boston, and the New England 
states going out under the auspices of the "American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions." Some time prior to this a delegate 
from the Osage Indians of western Missouri had visited Washington, 
D. C, and it was learned that his people desired the missionaries to 
come among them: and as the spirit of missionary work was intense at 
that time in the New England states volunteers were soon found ready to 
go; and under the direction of the "board" the little band had assembled 
at Pittsburgh. A more heroic, self-sacrificing and devoted congrega- 
tion of fathers, mothers and children than these devout Congregation- 
alists never met in communion. 

They prepared for a long, slow, and laborious journey. They pur- 
chased common keel-boats, stored them with provisions, and when all 
was ready shoved out into the beautiful Ohio river. Friends on shore 
waved them goodbye in tears, and more than one of the occupants of 
those queer old keel-boats wept at what they realized would be a long 
separation from friends and home if indeed, they should be spared to 
return. Down the Ohio, past the villages, towns and cities — to Cairo; 
pleasant enough in the main, but before they reached the mouth of the 
Ohio one of the party, a brave-souled mother, sickened and died; and 
her body was laid to rest on a pretty mound near the shore, there to 
sleep until the last great call. Thence up the Mississippi to the mouth 
of the Missouri — the "Big Muddy," the flood way of the rivulets trick- 
ling down from the snow-capped Rockies on their way to the peaceful 
Gulf of Mexico; thence up to the mouth of the Osage river, the most 
tortuous stream known to the geograph}^ of the nation ; thence up the 
Osage, by slow and laborious man power, the keel-boats with their 
precious cargo of human life and provisions were pushed with long 



86 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

poles day after day, and week after week. But it was a brave band. 
Not a heart grew faint. They had work to do; and not more resoUite 
than they, were the Pilgrim fathers from whose loins they had sprung. 

The journey occupied about six months, and on the 9th day of 
August, 1822, they lashed their boats, side by side, to an over-hanging 
water-birch a few yards from the village of the Osage tribe. This was 
about three miles up the Marais'des Cygnes river from its junction 
with the Osage in the extreme western part of Missouri. 

Here these devoted missionaries established "Harmony Mission," 
and began teaching and preaching; and here they patiently labored for 
the Master until the Mission was abandoned fifteen years later, when 
the Osages, Delawares and Kaws moved out into the limitless prairies 
of the further West. The teachers met with much apparent success 
and the little Indians learned English readily, and many of the older 
ones were converted by the simple preaching of the Word. 

About the time the missionaries left Pittsburgh a young French- 
man left France for New Orleans. United States of America. He was 
a scion of the old nobility — in the prime of life, vigorous, handsome, 
cultured and proud. His splendid physique was remarked by all who 
knew him. He was from southern France, with hair and beard intensely 
black, sharp, penetrating eyes which were a compromise between a lus- 
trous brown and a piercing gray. 

His father had been compelled to fide for his life during the Reign 
of Terror in 1793, when the young man above described was an infant 
in his mother's arms. He had no recollection of a father's face, or a 
father's smile ; nor had the faithful mother ever heard from the father. 
For years she had been persuaded that he was dead — perhaps upon the 
shores of France : else somewhere in the New AVorld. All she knew 
was that he had told her he would try to make his way to America, 
there to remain until the unhappy reign of blood should cease in his 
beloved France. 

Oh, how long that beautiful young wife and mother cherished the 

memory of his last fond embrace, and the tender caresses of the 

dimpled baby boy in her arms, their only child. There was no time for 

planning; flight, immediate escape, was the only course possible to avoid 

certain execution. The fury of the Revolution was at its height, and 

the soil of fair France was drinking up the noblest blood of the Kingdom. 

* * * 

The young Frenchman, whose name was Auguste Letier, had 
exhausted himself trying to get some trace of his father, and had almost 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8/ 

come to the conclusion that he must be dead, as his patient mother 
long since had done. But one day while strolling along the wharf in 
an idle sort of way at Marseilles, he chanced to meet an old "tar," and 
soon learned that he had made repeated voyages to America and always 
touched at New Orleans. Upon inquiry the old tar said he knew one 
of their countrymen in New Orleans by the name of Letier, and that 
he was a fur dealer, and wealthy; but he could not recall his Christian 

name. 

This passing incident reawakened the young man's hopes of find- 
ing his father, and after relating the story of the old tar to his mother 
and getting her approval, he set sail at the first opportunity for America. 
On his arrival in New Orleans he found the establishment just as 
the old tar had told him, but no one answered to the description given 
him by his mother. The place was in charge of his countrymen, and 
without disclosing his own identity he learned that the proprietor, Igna- 
tius Letier, was in truth his father. He learned, also, that he had gone 
up the Mississippi only a few weeks before on one of his annual trips 
to the fur dealers at the settlements along the river, and that he was 
sometimes absent on these trips for months. He usually went as far 
north as St. Genevieve, Missouri, and sometimes as far as St. Louis. 
The method of transportation upon the Mississippi in those days 
was unpleasant ; but in autumn the weather is fine and Auguste set out 
at the earliest moment for St. Genevieve, and upon his arrival there 
learned that his father had gone on to St. Louis. So, after a day of 
rest and real enjoyment in the pretty French village, he started for St. 
Louis with a light heart and pleasing reflections. But at St. Louis, to 
his chagrin, he learned that his father had gone into the interior to 
visit some French fur dealers, and no one could tell just where. Auguste 
went to Jefferson City, and there learned that a man answering the 
description in his inquiries, in company with two others, had gone up 
the Osage river to buy furs at Harmony Mission. 

It was, by this time, late in the season; the Osage was swollen, 
and progress was slow, and on the evening of the first day of January, 
1822 the boat was lashed to a convenient root for the night, and the 
party prepared to camp on shore. For days they had rowed against 
the rapid current through a rough and unbroken wilderness; not a 
human being visible in the endless forests along their solitary journey. 
As they were preparing supper to the great surprise and joy of Auguste 
Letier, a gentleman of his own country visited their camp. After the 
ordinary French civilities mutual inquiries were indulged, and Auguste 



88 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

learned that his visitor's name was Mehcourt Papin, formerly of St. 
Louis, and a settler of several years of that vicinity. Further inquiry 
revealed the fact that Monsieur Ignatius Letier of New Orleans, a fur 
dealer, had arrived upon that very spot — known on the river as "Rapid 
de Kaw"— two weeks before a very sick man; that Monsieur Papin 
had taken him home with him, where he, his good wife, and the Mission 
doctor, had cared for him the best they could. But the fever raged 
without abatement, and on the 25th day of December — Christmas day 
— his spirit returned to Him who gave it. As TVIonsieur Papin paused 
in his sad recital Auguste, though brave hearted and strong burst into 
tears and wept like a child, for some moments no one disturbed him ; 
then he said, "Monsieur Letier was my father. He was compelled to 
fly front France when I was a babe in my mother's arms. I came here 
in search of him." 

Auguste spent a restless night. The blow was so sudden that it 
was a shock. It came at a moment when his brightest anticipations 
were about to be realized as he had dreamed and dreamed. Earl}^ the 
next morning he went to the little log cabin of Melicourt Papin, a rude 
hut in exterior, contrived from trees felled in the immediate forest, but 
within was comfort and happiness; for the deft hands of a cultured 
housewife made amends for the shortage of things usually found in 
the homes of the civilized parts of the country. It was an ideal pioneer 
home, in a forest so dense and magnificent that the Dryads might have 
envied a residence there. After a wholesome breakfast on corn-bread 
and wild meat, and rare rich milk, Melicourt and Auguste visited the 
grave of Ignatius Letier. It was situated on a beautiful knoll some dis- 
tance from the fretful Osage and above its wildest floods. Here in 
the solemn and voiceless woods, beside his father's grave, Auguste told 
Melicourt the story of his long and fruitless journey to recover a lost 
father; and somewhat of his history. 

The two men were ever after friends, and Auguste was an honored 
guest at the comfortable home of Monsieur Papin. 

The companions of Auguste returned in a few days to St. Louis. 
It was now mid-winter in that western country, and the hope and life 
had gone out of the young man. But he concluded to await the coming 
of spring to start on his return voyage to France, via New Orleans, and 
at the earnest solicitations of Monsieur Papin made his home with him. 
For days and weeks he sorrowed for his father, becoming more and 
more despondent. But one fine winter day Monsieur Papin prevailed 
upon him to go with him on some business with the good missionaries 
to Harmony Mission, only two or three miles up the Marais des Cygnes 
river, near the mouth of "Mission branch." The Marais des Cygnes 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 89 

and Little Osage rivers form a junction about a mile from the home 
of Melicourt Papin and here is the head of the Osage river proper. 
From its junction with the Little Osage the Marais des Cygnes marks 
a tortuous route to the northw^est, and has its origin aw^ay out in the 
prairies of the then uncivilized Territory of Kansas. 

They spent a pleasant day with the missionaries and their families 
in and about their rude pioneer homes ; and on their way and while in 
the Osage village Auguste had his first introduction to the red men 
of the forests and of the plains; for while the Osage tribe had for ages 
made their homes in the forests along the rivers, there were in this 
village quite a number of Kaws and Pottawatomies who had come 
down from treeless and trackless Kansas. He, also, met here French 
fur traders who had trafficked with the Indians for years, making sev- 
eral trips up and down the Osage and Missouri to and from St. Louis, 
which was then, as now, the great metropolis of the Mississippi valley. 
Some of them had homes among the peaceful Osages, and history fails 
to tell just when the first French fur dealers settled among the Osage 
tribe. 

Game abounded in the splendid forests along the rivers. Deer, 
antelope, coons, squirrels, turkeys and prairie chickens were all within 
easy reach on the land, and on the waters wild geese and ducks of every 
variety known to the hunter. Monsieur Papin had two faithful, intelli- 
gent dogs, and was provided with guns and ammunition in abundance, 
a regular frontier outfit for that day and generation; and in order 
to divert Auguste's mind from his great sorrow they spent much of 
the pleasant winter weather hunting. 

Under this sort of wild and exhilerating sport Auguste soon l^ecame 
himself again and enjoyed life to its utmost ; but in the midst of his 
new experiences he never forgot his father, and that his solitary resting 
place might not be forgotten, nor obliterated, he found time to quarry, 
cut and erect, as best he could with the rude tools at his command, a 
stone monument at his grave. The inscriptions were few but they were 
cut so deep and plain they can be easily read today. On the front and 
smoother side of the stone, which stands about six feet high, may 
be read — 

"Ignatius Letier, Marquis. 

Born in Marseilles, France, 1770. 

Died on the head-waters of the Osage river, near Harmony Mission, 

State of Missouri, U. S. A. 

December 25, 182L 

Erected by his son, Auguste Letier." 



90 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

The winter passed. The early spring work of Melicourt Papin, 
who was engaged in a sort of agricultural life, demanded more and 
more of his time and attention: so that Auguste was left more and 
more on his own resources for amusement. Time began to hang a 
little heavy, and he began to talk of his departure; but the cheerful 
wife of Monsieur Papin urged him not to hurry, assuring him that the 
voyage would be much pleasanter later. The picturesque scenery on 
the journey down the Osage would then be really delightful; the full 
leafed forests, and the warm, soothing sun-rays in May or June this 
latitude would, she urged, make an otherwise forbidding voyage a real 
pleasure. 

No w^ord had reached him from his mother, nor could he tell 
whether any of his letters had reached her. That, when he thought of 
it, worried him a great deal. But he hesitated and lingered. The wild 
fowls had abandoned their haunts on the lakes and rivers and the sea- 
son for game was over. But he had learned from Monsieur Papin that 
the Osage and Marais des Cygnes abounded in game and fish. So on 
a beautiful warm day in May he took his gun and rod and strolled down 
to the river, thence up its shaded shore a mile or two to a point opposite 
some immense and picturesque cliffs which rose from the water's edge, 
nearly perpendicular, about two hundred feet. It was an inspiring 
scene and he wondered why Melicourt had never spoken of it, nor 
taken him to see it. The Osage at this point was and is very narrow 
and deep, apparently having cut its way into the very roots of this 
gigantic stone barricade on its short and fretful sweep around this unex- 
pected obstacle. Nothing but the chirping of birds and the solemn 
hush of the forest disturbed his meditations as he sat for some time on 
an old pecan log, waiting for some member of the finny tribe to excite 
his attention by a "nibble." He studied the scene before him in a 
pleased and lazy sort of manner, and became more and more anxious 
to cross the river and explore some of the cave-like places and recesses 
he could see from his position ; wdien suddenly, quietly, there appeared 
around the cliiT and beneath its awful over-hanging stones, a striking 
female figure — a young Osage "squaw," as he finally concluded; but 
at the moment he was distracted by an ugly pull on his rod, and by the 
time he had successfully landed a ten pound "Buffalo," and got his 
breath, the "squaw" had disappeared. 

Auguste returned to the Papin home, having enjoyed a pleasant 
day and with much talk for Madame Papin. The momentary glimpse 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 9I 

of the beautiful "squaw" had photographed her face and figure on his 
mind and these would not be put away. That night he saw her in his 
dreams. He talked a great deal to Madame Papin about the Indians, 
recurring again and again to the "squaws" as they were called. He 
visited the village day after day for some time, and he liked to hear 
Madame Papin tell of the young "squaws," and dilate upon their brav- 
ery, strength, and social habits, if indeed they could, in a state of nature, 
be said to have any "social" quality. 

But Auguste never told Madame Papin of the fleeting vision up 
at "Halley's Bluffs," nor of the form and figure that haunted his slum- 
bers night after night. 

Auguste, Melicourt and Madame Papin often sat, in the warm 
spring evenings on rude benches contrived beneath the stately pecans 
and wide spreading elms, whose dense foliage was a real comfort in 
summer and a protection to their humble home when the rude blasts 
of winter swept down upon them from the treeless prairies of the North- 
west. These great kings of the primeval forests were from four to 
five feet in diameter, and stood more than one hundred feet high. They 
struck their roots deep into the richest soil to be found in the world. 
Plenty of moisture from below and rain and sun light from above, dur- 
ing years and ages past, had developed along these rivers a race of 
majestic pecans, elms, walnuts, sycamores, hickories, hackberries, and 
birches. All these varieties stood in stately grandeur about the home 
of the Papins. These trees spoke their own language to these children 
of France and they were loved and enjoyed by those who had made 
their home beneath their protecting branches. Here they enjoyed to 
the uttermost the undisturbed expression of Nature as she towered 
above them, reflecting the lights and shadows of the setting sun in 
May,- or as she lay spread out before them along the Osage and the 
Marais des Cygnes, and on the limitless prairies to the northwest. Here 
they talked of France — of the cruel days of '93, of Robespierre, Danton, 
Mirabeau, and the great Napoleon Bonaparte ; and here they talked 
of the missionaries and the children of the Osages, whom the good 
missionaries had left comfortable New England homes to rescue from 
ignorance and sin. Melicourt Papin was a student of the Indian char- 
acter and habits. From him, in these delightful evening chats, Auguste 
learned that chastity and social virtue were not among the striking and 
admirable characteristics of the females or "squaws." But the squaws 
of the Osage tribe were industrious, patient, heroic, of splendid 



92 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

physique, and more regular featured than the other tribes in that sec- 
tion of the West. They were straight as an arrow and as graceful as 
the wild swans on the waters of the Marais des Cygnes, from which, by 
the way, the river takes its name, Marais des Cygnes, meaning in Span- 
ish, the river of swans or more literally a river of V\^hite swans. Unlike 
the Kaws and some of the other tribes who had dwelt upon the open, 
sun beat prairies for uncounted generations, their houses being in the 
dense forests along the rivers, the Osages were not so dark and swarthy 
in complexion, not so weather worn in appearance as the prairie tribe. 
And this characteristic of their appearance was much more marked 
in the "squaws" than in the "bucks" or male members of the tribe. 

From Madame Papin^ Auguste had learned that there were some 
half breeds among them, sons and daughters of French fur traders, 
and that half breed "squaws" were strangely beautiful, having inher- 
ited much of the complexion, character and sprightliness of their 
French fathers. For years past the young scions of old and respectable 
French families of St. Louis had visited the Osages to trade and buy 
furs. On one of these trips a handsome young Frenchman, with plenty 
of idle time, spent months at the Osage village hunting. This was 
in the autumn of 1805, soon after the Louisiana purchase from Napoleon, 
by which all the French and foreign settlements in that vast territory 
became a part of the United States of America. During his stay among 
the peaceful Osages he was attracted by a comely young squaw who 
had become the wife of an old "medicine man" of the Kaws only a 
short time before, and by the usages of the tribe she was accorded 
many liberties. The old medicine man had gone on a visit to his old 
tribe away out on the plains of Kansas, to arrest if he could some con- 
tagious disease that was decimating that tribe. In his absence his 
squaw or wife and the handsome young Frenchman had become great 
friends and often hunted and trapped together. The old medicine man 
did not return as soon as expected and it was learned in a few weeks 
thereafter from some young Kaw bucks camped near Rapid de Kaw 
on the Osage that the old medicine man had gone among the tribe, 
ministering unto the afflicted without fear, until at last he was stricken 
with the contagion, supposed to have been what we now know as small- 
pox, and he died and was buried according to the rites of his own 
people. 

The friendship between the medicine man's squaw, now his widow, 
and the handsome young French gallan.t soon grew into attachment. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



93 



and the devotion and the evident admiration of the voting- widowed 
squaw was pleasing to the young hunter. He came to love her, not 
as he would have loved one of his own beautiful dark eyed country 
women in St. Louis, but as a child of the forest — a product of Nature, 
and the longer he remained at the village the more her presence and 
admirable devotion seemed necessary to his life and happiness. So, with 
the approval of the chief, in lieu of that of a father long since departed 
to the "happy hunting grounds" and according to the simple cere- 
monies of the tribe he took her "to be his squaw," and she promised 
"to work for him." For a few weeks' they lived much as the rest of 
the tribe, and the squaw-wife's care of "her hunter" was constant and 
beautiful. Life to the exuberant young Frenchman was like a day 
dream in a forest, or a play day amidst the wild flowers on the sunny 
prairies. Like all good Frenchmen he was an enthusiast, and he had 
about made up his mind never to return to St. Louis, or the white man's 
civilization, so rapturous was his life among the Osages; and he had 
become so fond of his patient, devoted squaw. 

But before his Indian "honeymoon" had passed, peremptory orders 
from his wealthy father, who had received an inkling of the young 
man's pranks among the Osages from a returned fur trader, caused 
him to suddenly change his mind. It awoke him from a long, sweet 
dream. It was a rude shock. He thought hard, and said nothing. It 
ripped up his charming life. To disobey meant disaster — of that he 
was sure. So the first opportunity he slipped away, promising- and hop- 
ing" to return, and was off down the Osage for St. Louis. 

He never returned. 

No pen can picture adequately the distress of the squaw wife when 
she realized that her "handsome hunter" had abandoned her. Not by 
outward signs and lamentations did she show her unspeakable grief; 
for it was one of the peculiarities of the squaws not to complain. Their 
philosophy, if they can be said to have had a philosophy of sorrow, 
was of the Stoic order. But the quiet smile, which she was want to 
bestow upon "her hunter" when she accompanied him on his hunts, 
or with which she greeted him on his return at night-fall was no longer 
a light on her countenance, and the piercing, sparkling black eyes were 
careless and sad. She went in and out among her people doing good 
to the sick and the helpless old, and tenderly assisting mother squaws 
in the care of their little "pappooses." She hoped against hope: she 
longed in silence for the return of her hunter for weeks and months. 



94 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

She seemed specially kind to the little pappooses, and by and by, while 
fondling one new-born, the bright but quiet smile of other days would 
steal over her sorrowful face, and the gleam of an anticipated joy was 
visible in her eyes. The reason for all this became apparent a short 
time afterward when she lay upon a bed of skins beneath a covering 
of furs, in her solitary wigwam, and at her breast, so cozy and snug, 
she held a tiny squaw pappoose. She gazed into its wondrous eyes 
and fondled its little feet and hands; and the old light came back to 
her eyes, and a quiet, sweet smile played upon her face. Her long 
dream w^as over, but it was as if her handsome "hunter" had sent her 
a precious gift in memory of his promise, alas! never to be fulfilled. 

The little pappoose was named Degninon (pronounced Danino) 
from some fancy of its mother, and it grew into girlhood under her 
devoted care much like the other pappooses did. But Degninon became 
a great favorite in the village both with the Indians and the French 
fur traders. Her father's handsome face, his carriage and poise, were 
striking in the child: indeed, so far had his personal characteristics been 
transmitted to the little one that the Osage features and complexion 
were quite absent. There was that about her that suggested a Medi- 
terranean origin. 

She passed into womanhood strong, well developed, beautiful. She 
was fond of hunting, trapping and fishing. She and her mother provided 
for their wants by these methods; and when the French fur traders would 
come, Degninon was always ready with her furs to drive an advan- 
tageous bargam with the stranger ; and so by and by Degninon pos- 
sessed the rarest assortment of valuable jewelry, necklaces and other 
personal ornaments to be found in the village. She seemed to have 
inherited this characteristic of her tribe, but it was supplemented by 
an instinct that told her, of all the sundry offerings of the fur traders, 
which were really valuable. 

bne was an expert with the bow and arrow, and could handle an 
old-fashioned flintlock with skill and effect. But her chief delight was 
with the rod during the seasons for fishing on the Marais des Cygnes 
and the Osage. On pleasant days she would wander for miles up and 
down these rivers as fancy moved her, all alone, fearless of harm, exult- 
ing in the beauties of nature, and in the enjoyment of buoyant health. 
She had never known sickness ; care was a stranger; she loved her mother 
and the big forests and the rivers, and she learned music of the wild 
song-birds about her. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 95 

There is something fascinating about a mere glimpse of a pleas- 
ing object when a second glance is impossible. The impression is made, 
but no opportunity is permitted to scrutinize the object, the picture 
or "vision" which has momentarily arrested attention. Auguste Letier 
had experienced the exasperating effects of this principle when fishing 
that pleasant day in May opposite Halley's BlufTs. But in the inter- 
vening weeks, in his rambles about the country and among the Indians 
of the village, or the missionaries at "Harmony" he had been unable 
to see any female face and form that answered to his impression of 
the face and form of her who had so suddenly stood before him on 
the jutting ledge of rock on the opposite shore, and as suddenly disap- 
peared while he struggled with the fish. One evening Madame Papin 
in a careless sort of way had spoken about a "most beautiful squaw 
at the village whose father was an early French fur trader;" but 
Auguste said nothing about his adventure at Halley's Bluffs; nor had 
he seen any squaw about the village that answered to Madame's 
description or to his impressions of the face and form that confronted 
him that May day. Unwilling to permit such a trifle to annoy, yet he 
could not put it entirely away from himself; and he felt himself urged 
from within to revisit the Bluffs. 

So one bright morning in June, shouldering his gun with which, 
perchance, to kill a mess of young squirrels for Madame Papin, and 
with rod in hand he started out, as he said, for a day of quiet sport. 
He concluded to cross the river and stroll up to the Bluffs along the 
opposite shore. It so happened, instinctively or by unconscious design, 
if that be not contradictory, that he followed a sort of natural path- 
way upon a ledge of stone near the water and beneath the over-hanging 
stones of the towering cliffs. He followed around the Bluffs some dis- 
tance before he came to a position from -which he could see the big 
pecan log upon which he sat and fished some weeks before. As he 
strolled quietly along he became interested in the striking evidences 
of man's handiwork on the face and in the sides of the massive rocks, 
which seemed builded by the Creator as a fortress against the mad 
waters of the Osage. While momentarily studying one of the many 
pre-historic caricatures deftly chiseled into the face of the solid stone 
his reverie was dispelled and his attention arrested by the sudden swish 
of a line and splashing of a five pound bass, snatched from its play- 
bouts in the swift running waters of the Osage by the dextrous hands 
of a young squaw. She had risen to her feet in her effort to land this 
beautiful game fish, and at the same moment, she became conscious of 



96 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the presence of the stranger. There stood the "vision" of Auguste, 
only a few feet from him and a little nearer the water's edge, smiling 
at her success and the frantic struggling of this gamey fish. He hesi- 
tated a moment, and then addressing his "vision" as "Mademoiselle" 
he stepped forward and offered to release the fine bass and "string" 
it for her. With a good natured smile Degninon accepted his polite 
overture, and Auguste realized that she was the "vision" made mani- 
fest on the former occasion. They stood face to face with but the 
cliffs, the waters, and the forests to witness their mutual "first impres- 
sions." Dressed in the skins of animals from waist to the ankles, with 
a red and yellow striped, loosely fitted woolen blouse making up th< 
balance of her apparel — bare-footed and bare-headed, except a striking 
variety of wild flowers interwoven with her long, black, loosely flow- 
ing hair; features as regular as those of the best bred women of France; 
— flushed with native modesty, and her wondrous, speaking eyes look- 
ing him fairly and steadily in the face, is it any wonder that Auguste 
Letier, an enthusiastic child of southern France, the son and heir of 
a Marcjuis, should feel the spell of her presence and the enchantment 
of this "beautiful squaw" of Madame Papin's description, now stand- 
ing unembarrassed before him? In a perfectly natural manner Deg- 
ninon looked into his eyes, and then measured him from head to foot, 
as she would have done any ol:)ject of nature of sudden interest to 
her. She had no sense of fear and was less abashed than Auguste by 
this sudden meeting. They were both pleased by first impressions and 
Auguste, addressing her in his native tongue, was delighted to discover 
that she could understand and speak French readily. He told her of 
his fondness for fishing and explained that that was the object of his com- 
ing to that place. She confessed her delight in the sport. So their 
acquaintance began, without, conventionalities, and under rather roman- 
tic circumstances" and amidst pleasing scenes. It was plain from her 
manner that he was a welcome companion in the sport; and so he 
unwound his line, baited both hooks, and finding a comfortable seat 
near hers, they flung out their lines, and sat down to fish and chat. In 
the interims of disengaging the black bass from the hooks Degninon 
talked of her life and adventures along the rivers and in the forests. 
They had a great run of luck, and before the mid-day sun reached their 
position and made it uncomfortably warm on the bare and unshadp 
rocks, they had "strung" all the fish they cared to carry to the village 
some three miles distant. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 97 

Aiignste, at the suggestion of Madame Papin, had taken with him 
a large hinch prepared according to French methods by the skilled 
hands of the good Madame.^ But as Degninon was used to fasting on 
her long jaunts from breakfast until supper she had nothing for a 
mid-day lunch ; and when Auguste insisted that she should share his she 
declined, but under his entreaties, and as she said, "to please Monsieur," 
she finally consented. It was a warm day and a drink of water with 
their lunch was desirable; but along the bluffs which extended up and 
down the river about a quarter of a mile in either direction from where 
they were there was no available water except the river. But Degninon 
was familiar with all the springs, as well as other interesting places 
for miles around, and she led the way to find water for their luncheon. 
Taking her course up the river they kept close to the water's edge 
until they had passed the base of the higher cliffs and there they came 
up into the timber on to a beautiful, level, moss-grown, flower-bedecked, 
park-like place. In the midst of this natural park a sparkling spring 
of refreshing mineral waters gurgled unceasingly; and here they found 
rude stone seats contrived by "bucks" and "squaws" who had visited 
this life-giving spring some time during the ages they had inhabited 
the surrounding forests and plains. 

Here they lunched, and here they rested during the heated hours 
of the day beneath the protecting foliage of an unbroken forest. They 
talked, like children, of themselves: and unrestrained by any sense of 
impropriety Degninon told Auguste the story of her life to that moment 
as she had it from her mother, and as it has been told in these pages. 

As the sun declined and the shadows lengthened a refreshing 
zephyr from off the prairies stirred the foliage, and made this real scene 
dream like and fairy. 

They retraced their steps for the "string" of fish, their rods and 
Auguste's gun. He was not sure of the interest he hoped he had 
awakened in Degninon's heart; and lest she might disappear forever on 
reaching the village he asked her to return the next day and show him 
the many curious sights and ancient heiroglyphics about the Bluffs, of 
which she had told him; and to make sure of her return, in a bantering 
way, he suggested that they hide their rods beneath some obscuring 
rocks as a pledge to meet there on the morrow. She hesitated, but 
his eager eyes won and she agreed to do so. With a light heart Auguste 
arranged the string of bass so they could be carried and Degninon 

(7) 



98 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

shouldered his gun, like the experienced hunter she was, and they were 
soon drifting down the rapid Osage in her canoe. 

The sun was setting in a clear sky, and no sylvan scene was ever 
more beautiful, soothing and seductive than that about them. Lang- 
uage can not give it even a pardonable picture to the mind ; nor can 
any pen untouched by the divine spirit of love, peace and joy convey 
to the reader the tender emotions of their hearts, now thoroughly 
aflame with the restless passions of a holy first love. Soon they had 
reached the birch-bark canoe in which Auguste had crossed the river 
in the morning and rounding to he lightly leaped into it, loosened its 
mooring, and with a few deft strokes of the paddles he landed against 
the opposite shore where he could get it the next day; and by this time 
Degninon had come along side so that as soon as Auguste had secured 
his canoe he stepped into Degninon's and in an incredibly short time, 
by her strength and skill, against a vigorous current, she shot the 
canoe into a secluded haven a short distance below the "BlufYs," and 
having secured it to the shore, with fish and gun through a pathless 
forest, Degninon leading the way, they were ofT for the Osage village 
at "Harmony." It was a long, sweet walk in spite of the luxuriant 
grass, tangled vines and under-brush. 

A short distance from her mother's wigwam Degninon exchanged 
the gun for the string of bass, hesitated a moment, and was ofT without 
a word of parting. All that Auguste could say, as he watched her 
retreating form, was — "Tomorrow!" and either Degninon or the echo- 
ing trees replied — "Tomorrow !" 

It was now Late. The full moon was up, and Auguste was soon 
at home with Monsieur and Madame Papin. A kindly w^elcome greeted 
him; but so full was Auguste's mind and heart of other emotions that 
he scarcely replied to the motherly solicitude of good Madame Papin. 
He dreamed in sleep and slept in dreams that night ; and Madame Papin 
noted an indefinable change in his eyes, an uneasy, inexpressible some- 
thing in his manner the next morning at breakfast when he told lier 
that he had become interested in the scenes about Halley's Bluffs and 
so had forgotten his fishing rod and tackle, and that he must return 
and get them. But she said nothing about what she had noted to 
IVIonsieur Papin. So eager was Auguste to get off that he slipped away 
to the river before she could wrap him a mid-day lunch. 

The distance from Degninon's wigwam to the river opposite the 
Bluffs was double the distance from the home of Melicourt Papin to 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 99 

the same point. But, Auguste was so eager and so fearful that Deg- 
ninon would not keep her promise that he was early at the haven in 
which they had left her canoe; there it rested just as they had left it, 
swaying to and fro upon the waters; but a dreadful hush pervaded the 
forest and seemed to rest even upon the waters; the sun was just ris- 
ing over the picturesque Bluffs; but, the scene did not appeal to Auguste 
as it once did. He could hear his heart throb. He had never experi- 
enced such emotions before; fear — that she would not come — hopeful 
expectancy, — alternated in his mind. In this condition of mental agony 
he stood motionless, peering through the forest in the direction he 
thought she must come, but oblivious to all about him, and mistaken in 
the "points of the compass," the sudden snap of a dry branch directly at 
his back so startled him that he felt for the moment a real terror. Turn- 
ing instantly, tremulous in every fiber of his being, he was face to face 
with Degninon, who smiled at his evident surprise. She suffered him to 
grasp her hands in both of his for the moments it required him to 
express in voluble French his extreme happiness and rapture. She 
had kept her pledge. He was in ecstacies. And she accepted his gal- 
lant care and assistance into the canoe with a graceful courtesy that 
w^as reassuring. It was a pleasant morning in the shadows of Halley's 
Bluffs and they at once began to look the curious old place over. They 
soon reached a height about one hundred feet above the water and above 
which the massive cliffs were perpendicular. At the point they had 
reached a great notch had been cut in the solid stone front as if by the 
ceaseless threshing of a fretful sea during prehistoric ages. This pas- 
sage way, some ten feet wide and easily traversible. ran the whole dis- 
tance around the Bluffs. Nature and the ancient waters, which had 
evidentl}^ spread out miles and miles beyond the confines of the river 
as it lay beneath them, and covered all the valley and low lands round 
about, had worn into the face of this stone fortress great rooms, some 
of them dark and uncanny. 

All this must have happened long before human foot had trodden 
or human eye explored the country. And Degninon said the traditions 
of her tribe described the natural conditions of the Bluffs much as they 
were then and are now. They went into all the beautiful and curious 
places wrought out by the forces of nature. Auguste was often startled 
by the unsightly, weird and meaningless signs and figures of men and 
beasts cut into the sides of the stone. Many of these Degninon said, 
according to the ancient traditions of the Osages, were cut there by the 



lOO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

servants of the ''Great Spirit" in the ages long past. She said the tra- 
ditions of her people taught that the figures of men in sitting posture 
were intended to teach obedience and subjection to the will and power 
of the Great Spirit. The caricatures of animals everywhere visible 
were intended, she explained, to remind the tribes of the good times to 
come in the "happy hunting grounds" beyond this life. 

This was the significance — this the philosophy of the prehistoric 
inhabitants of the country, and it had been handed down from genera- 
tion to generation and it was an accepted tradition of her people. 

So they talked as they passed on and on, examining every curious 
nook and cranny, every grotto and cataract, and overhanging flower; 
and suddenly, at the extreme point and bulge of the clifTs to the north- 
west where the "Bluff" stood out over them to its utmost, over the very 
river below, they came upon a series of wonderful pits or wells chiseled 
straight down into the solid stone. They were directly round, about 
five feet in diameter, and varied in depth from fifteen to thirty feet. 
They had evidently been cut with sharp tools of some kind, but tradi- 
tion failed, Degninon said, to tell how it was accomplished. These wells 
were only two or three feet apart, back so close to the clifTs and so 
far under the overhanging bluff that no drop of water ever found its 
way into them. They were blackened on the inside as if fires had some 
time been builded in them, and being pressed to account for these really 
wonderful achievements of a race apparently long since perished from 
the earth, Degninon said she had heard her mother say that the 
old people of the tribe believed that these wells were digged out, by 
those who did it, for the purpose of curing and preserving the meat of 
animals taken in the chase; that when the meat was dressed it was 
hung by stout thongs tied to heavy cross-poles down in these stone holes 
to prevent wolves, bear and other carnivorous wild animals from get- 
ting it. This, she said, explained why the wells were blackened, for it 
was often necessary to smoke and cure it for use when on a long jour- 
ney, or when fresh meat was unwholesome. This was all that tradition 
or story offered then, or has since offered, to account for these wonder- 
ful stone wells at Halley's Bluffs. 

A pardonable digression may be indulged at this point. The writer 
recently visited Halley's Bluffs and examined those marvelous prehis- 
toric wells and found eight or ten of them just as described in the fore- 
going. Nothing has ever developed to the writer's knowledge, to show 
when, by whom, how or for what purpose they were digged. No student 




ON THE SUMMIT OF HALLEY'S BLUFF. 



* H 4«'te|*. 



Is 



h' 



"^«iN*. 




-V 



jP*" . — 



V 4 







THE MYSTERIOUS CACHES OR WELLS UNDER THE LEDGES AT HALLEY'S 

BLUFF. 

These wells have never been explained by scientist nor historian. The Indians had 
no knowledge of how or by whom these holes were dug in the solid rock. The author 
counted twenty-five, including some surface indications of where wells had been, but 
much of the rock had been worn away by erosion. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY lOl 

oi ethnology has ever been able to advance a more plausible story than 
the tradition related by Degninon. 

By the time Auguste and Degninon had visited all the curious places, 
admired the mosses, ferns and delicate wild flowers clinging here and 
there, as lovers have done many times since, and the stalactite forma- 
tions hanging from the roofs of the caves and grottoes it was high noon; 
but as Auguste had no lunch he said nothing. He had noticed a flat- 
like willow basket, evidently the work of her own hands, hanging from 
Degninon's shoulder, but he did not suspect it was a lunch basket. 
Such, in truth, it was. And it was well filled with some of the black bass 
they had carried home the evening before, together with other equally 
tempting things to a hungry man. Degninon's offer to share her lunch 
with him met with instant acceptance. Such is the fraility of man! 
So they clambered around and up a sort of natural stairway until they 
reached the very summit of the Bluffs. Here beneath a century-old 
white oak near the edge of the perpendicular cliffs where they could 
look out upon a beautiful scene as far as human vision could reach Deg- 
ninon unpacked her willow basket and spread its contents. 

All through luncheon Auguste talked in a delightful, easy manner 
of his pleasant, sunny France and told Degninon of his good, heart- 
broken mother, mentioning here and there, as they occurred to him, 
many incidents of his own life. 

All this had the eager attention of Degninon. 

The passion that bounded in her simple, innocent heart, was thrill- 
ing the heart of Auguste. And before the fragments of the lunch had 
been gathered up, and really without premeditation, urged on by every 
hope in his soul, forgetful of the indescribably beautiful scene stretched 
out before him, oblivious to all else earthy, Auguste gave expression to 
the secrets of his heart and laid before Degninon the hope of his life — 
that she would become his wife and go with him to his mother in 
southern France and there be with him son and daughter to her in 
the disappointments and sorrows of her old age. No word escaped 
Degninon's lips. Her heart was throbbing. She felt for the first time 
the tumult of passion. Her simple, natural love had been awakened. 
She was radiant with the exaltation of the purest sentiments known 
to the human heart. And Auguste gazing into the depths of her 
speaking eyes knew the "beautiful squaw" of whom Madame Papin had 
spoken — his "vision" of Halley's Bluffs — was his forever. 

No cruel doubt, no disquieting fear came into Degninon's heart. 



I02 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

The response of her soul was so complete that nothing could have con- 
vinced or persuaded her that her love was not in accord with the wishes 
of the Great Spirit of her mother's people. 

That night, in their wigwam, Degninon sat close beside her mother 
and frankly, innocently told her all. Her mother wept as she realized 
what it all meant to herself. The memory of Degninon's father was 
fresh in her soul. And her unfaltering love for the "handsome hunter" 
who had gone from her never to return was pleading in behalf of sweet 
Degninon then and there. She caressed and fondled Degninon as if she 
were indeed a little pappoose again in her arms. She gave a mother's 
blessing and Degninon dreamed that night in her mother's arms, in 
fact, as when a pappoose, and oh ! such sweet, peaceful sleep came to 
rest her surcharged soul. 

Underneath the stately trees near the dwelling of the Papins, with 
the flecking moonlight all about them. Auguste had a long son-like 
talk with Madame Papin, and the next day while on their way to visit 
a sick neighbor some distance down the Osage she told Melicourt the 
story of Auguste and Degninon. On their return he congratulated 
Auguste and offered his services in Iniilding the boat for his return 
voyage to France, now determined upon. For the next ten days Meli- 
court and Auguste were very busy men; but Auguste found time to 
spend his evenings with Degninon at her wigwam or at the hospitable 
home of the Papins. These delightful evenings are passed without 
comment. The reader is left to fill in the story at this point. It was 
merely the re-enactment of the old, old story. 

By and by the boat for their voyage down the Osage, the Mis- 
souri, out into the Mississippi, thence to New Orleans, was ready, 
good and stout. 

Auguste had secured the necessary proofs of the death of the Mar- 
quis, his father, and the day for the wedding and departure was settled. 
Melicourt had spoken to the Rev. William B. Montgomery, one of the 
good missionary preachers at the "Mission." 

At the appointed time Auguste and Degninon stood within the 
rude walls of the first school house erected by the missionaries at Har- 
mony, and there in the presence of the Papins, the mother of Degninon, 
a few Osage "squaws," and all that little band of devoted missionary 
workers the Rev. Montgomery repeated the simple words and took 
the responses that made them one forever in life and love and in the 
laws of God and man. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY IO3 

It did more than that — it made Degninon a Marchioness of France : 
for upon the death of Ignatius Letier his only child, Auguste, succeeded 
to the father's estate and title. 

The marriage of a Marquis of France to beautiful Degninon, was 
a great event in the annals of Harmony Mission and it has its place 
in the history of one of the first efforts to Christianize and civilize the 
Indians on the western frontier. 

We shall not follow the Marquis and Marchioness Letier on their 
romantic bridal tour down the rivers to New Orleans, thence to the 
far-away sunny France. Our story is told. It may be said in passing 
that they reached their home in France in due time, where they were 
received by the good mother as lost, loved children returned, and where 
they lived to a ripe age, as devoted to each other as when their hearts 
were united on that day in June beneath the great white oak on the 
summit of picturesque and eternal Halley's Bluffs and that today there 
flows in the veins of some of the greatest and grandest men and women 
of Republican France the blood of Madame Papin's "beautiful squaw." 



CHAPTER VI. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



TECHNICAL, DISCUSSION UNCALLED FOR— SOIL SURVEY — HON. JAMES WILSON — 
HON. DAVID A. DE ARMOND — SURVEYORS — LOCATION, ELEVATION, AND 
EXTENT OF TERRACES — EROSION — RANGE IN ELEVATION— ALTITUDE- 
CHANNELS — STREAMS — UNDERSTANDING OF RIVERS OF IMPORTANCE — 
DRAINAGE. 

An elaborate and technical discussion of the topography of Bates 
county is not called for in a work of this kind ; but a brief review of its 
principal features will not be out of place. In 1908, a soil survey of this 
county was made under authority of Congress by the Bureau of Soils, 
Department of Agriculture. Milton Whitney, chief of bureau, in his 
letter transmitting the manuscript report and map to Hon. James Wil- 
son, Secretary of Agriculture, says : 

"U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
"Bureau of Soils. 
"Washington, D. C, January 25, 1910. 

"Sir: Work in the state of Missouri was continued during the 
field season of 1908 by the survey of Bates county. The selection of 
this area was urged by the late Hon. D. A. De Armond. 

"Soil survey work in Missouri is being carried on in co-operation 
with the State Experiment Station, which concurred in the importance 
of selecting Bates county for survey at this time." 

This was among the first surveys made in Missouri, and we are 
indebted to Hon. David A. DeArmond, who represented us in Con- 
gress at the time the survey was made, for the selection of Bates county 
among the very first to be surveyed in Missouri, although the report 
was not made until some time after his unfortunate death in the fire 
which destroyed his home in Butler, November 23, 1909. This survey 
was made by Charley J. Mann, Allen L. Higgins. and Lawrence A. 
Kolbe, and it is the best and most complete authority available on the 
subject ; and we make free use of it so far as seems of general interest 
to the average citizen. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY IO5 

"Topographically, Bates county consists of three terraces, each of 
which is more or less dissected by valleys. The lowest terrace is in 
the southeastern part of the county and the highest in the northwestern 
part. The average elevation of the low^est is about 650 to 700 feet, the 
middle one about 800 to 850 feet, and the upper one about 1,000 feet 
above sea level. The highest one has the smallest extent and the middle 
one the greatest. In fact, by far the larger part of the county is 
included in the latter. Its eastern boundary runs from Rich Hill nearly 
eastward to a point tw^o and a half miles south of Pleasant Gap, thence 
northeastward to the offset in the county line at the southwestern corner 
of Henry county. Its western boundary runs from the Kansas line 
near Amsterdam northward to Merwin, thence about eastward to near 
Adrian, thence northwestward to the northern boundary of the county, 
about six miles east of the northwest corner. At its eastern boundary 
this terrace drops rather abruptly about 150 feet to the lowest terrace, 
and its western boundary is the abrupt rise of about 150 feet to the 
highest terrace. The eastern border of this middle terrace is much 
dissected by deep valleys of streams that flow from it out into the 
lower terrace. The cut is much deeper into it than into the lower 
terrace, because it is so much higher than the latter. Westward and 
northwestward from the eastern boundary the valleys are more and 
more shallow, until along the northwestern border of the terrace there 
is a belt that is barely cut by valleys at all. In fact, there are consider- 
able areas along it that are not well drained. 

"Only the northwestern part of the lower terrace lies in Bates 
county, the rest of it lying to the eastward. The wdiole of this area 
is therefore smooth. Its valleys are very shallow, even that of the 
Marais des Cygnes river it is a gently undulating plain. Only the east- 
ern border of the third terrace lies in this county. The most of it is 
a high dissected plateau. It is like the eastern border of the middle 
terrace in roughness, but is higher. 

"As there has been no faulting or folding of the rocks, the surface 
features of Bates county are the direct result of erosion. This has 
acted in proportion to the relative resistance of the interbedded shales, 
sandstones, and limestones composing the region and has left low, well- 
marked terrace lines and mounds which form the only prominent 
topographic features of the area. Except for an occasional sandy knoll 
or low ridge, the numerous and extensive shale horizons are charac- 
terized by level or undulating topography, which gives way to more 



I06 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

rolling relief where the underlying limestone has been exposed. Along 
the streams, particularly in the limestone region, the land is usually 
quite broken and rough, though there are occasional long gentle slopes 
in which it is frequently difficult to determine the limit of overflowed 
land. 

"There is a total range in elevation of over 300 feet. The lowest 
point where the Marais des Cygnes river leaves the county at the south- 
east corner is less than 700 feet and the highest, which is in the north- 
west corner, is over 1,000 feet above sea level. 

"This western prairie region is noted for its many stream channels. 
The greater part of the drainage of the county is carried by Miami 
creek, wdiich rises in the northwest corner and flowing southeast empties 
into the Marais des Cygnes river in the south-central part of the county. 
This river enters the county three miles south of the middle of the 
west county line and receives nearly all the drainage of the south- 
western third of the county. Two and one-half miles south of Papins-. 
ville it is joined by the Little Osage river.". 

From the confluence of these two rivers eastward it is the Osage 
river, sometimes called the Big Osage to distinguish it from the Little 
Osage, and it is the line between Bates and Vernon counties from the 
junction of the east lines of said counties. The Marmiton branch flows 
into the Little Osage river some four or five miles above the conflux 
of the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes, and nowhere touches 
Bates county. The Marmiton comes out of Kansas from the south- 
west, coming near Fort Scott in its course. The Little Osage comes 
out of Kansas, its general course being nearly straight east to its junc- 
tion with the Marais des Cygnes, which latter river comes down from 
north-central Kansas in a general southeast course. So it should be 
stated that the head of the Osage river is at that point on the south 
county line where the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes unite, 
and thus form it. There is no Osage river in Bates county, and never 
was, notwithstanding the statements of alleged history and the show- 
ing of both old and new map-makers. A proper understanding about 
these rivers will become vital in our chapter on early settlements 
of the county. Most of the northern part of the county is drained by 
Mormon Fork creek, a tributary of the Grand river which forms part 
of the north county line. The east-central part is drained by Deep- 
water, North Deepwater, and South Deepwater creeks and their many 
tributaries. 



CHAPTER VII. 



SOILS. 

MEANING OF TERMS — NON-GLACIATED PORTION— RESIDUAL yPLAND SOIL — ROCKS 
— SHALE, LIMESTONE, SANDSTONE— HORIZONTAL STRATA— EROSION— TOPOG- 
RAPHY— SOIL SERIES— RESIDUAL SOILS— SOIL TYPES— OSWEGO SILT LOAM 
— SUMMIT SILT LOAM— BATES SILT LOAM— CRAWFORD SILT LOAM— BATES 
LOAM — BOONE FINE SANDY LOAM — OSAGE CLAY — OSAGE SILT LOAM. 

The term soil as here used means the "top stratum of the earth's 
crust, whence plants derive their mineral food. It also contains a 
certain proportion of humus substances derived from the decayed 
organic matter of plants which have grown on it." There is no pur- 
pose to discuss the geology of the county in this chapter or under this 
subhead. But in order to understand somewhat about our soil it is 
necessary to keep the meaning of the word "soil" and the word "silt" 
clearly in mind. "Silt" means "a fine mixture or deposit of clay and 
sand from running or standing water; or fine soil deposited from water 
— mud, slime, sediment." With these definitions of soil and silt you 
may intelligently follow the experts on soil as they have found it in 
Bates county. The glacial forces which moved and deposited soils over 
wide territories to the north of us barely crossed the Missouri river, 
but did not reach this county. But that is the story of geology. 

Bates county lies within the non-glaciated part of the Western prai- 
rie region. Its upland soil is therefore residual, or derived from the imme- 
diately underlying rock. The rocks of this region belong to the Penn- 
sylvania division of the Carboniferous age and consist of interbedded 
shale, sandstone and limestone. Shale is the predominating rock and may 
vary from argillaceous to arenaceous in the different beds or even in 
the same stratum, while the layers of limestone and sandstone are com- 
paratively thin and uniform. Faulting or folding of these rocks is 
nowhere in evidence, the strata lying nearly horizontal, with only a 
slight dip to the northwest. It is apparent that were the present sur- 
face level the soil would be practically the same all over the county. 
Such a condition, however, has been prevented by erosion, the result 
being that with the differences in elevation the different strata of rock 



I08 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

have been exposed to the processes of weathering and soil formation. 
As the different kinds of rock give rise to widely varying soils, it is 
easily seen that topography is a very important factor in the location 
of any particular kind of soil. 

Soils of different texture — that is, composed of different propor- 
tions of sand, silt, clay, etc., but closely related through source of 
material, method of formation, coloration, and other characteristics — 
constitute a soil series. Some of the soils of the area are of rather local 
occurrence and of questionable relationship and are given local names. 

A distinction is made between the residual soils, according as they 
are derived from shales and sandstone or from limestone. The shale 
and sandstone have entered more largely into the soils of the county 
than the limestone and have given rise to soils of three series and to 
one miscellaneous type more or less closely related thereto. The 
Boone silt loam and the Boone fine sandy loam are characterized by 
very light gray surface soils, the Bates silt loam and Bates loam by 
gray surface soils, and the Summit silt loam and Summit clay by dark- 
gray or nearly black surface soils. The distinguishing feature of the 
Oswego silt loam is the presence of a so-called hard-pan in the subsoil. 
The limestone gives rise to the Crawford silt loam previously mapped 
in Kansas. 

The colluvial class of soils is represented by the Sedgwick black 
clay loam, which in its material is closely related to the Summit soils. 

The bottom land or alluvial soils are related to each other in the 
source of their material and the manner of their formation, but differ 
in respect to color, position, and elevation in the bottoms. 

The Osage silt loam occupies the creek bottoms and higher eleva- 
tions along the larger streams, while the Osage clay occupies the depres- 
sion in the wider bottoms and belongs tO a series characterized by the 
dark color of the soils. Very little sandy material or loam was found in 
these alluvial deposits and the loam type was not recognized, though 
certain phases of the Osage silt loam approximated a soil of lighter 
texture. There are along some of the streams areas locally called sec- 
ond bottom. There is every reason to believe, however, that the 
materials here are not of alluvial origin and the soils are therefore 
grouped with the upland types. Along some of the smaller streams 
there exist a few areas of true terrace deposits, but these were so limited 
that they could not be shown in the map of the scale used. 

The reader's attention is here called to the evident fact that the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY IO9 

soil experts or surveyors referred to the river Marais des Cygnes and 
its bottoms rather than to the Osage river proper, which river forms 
only about ten miles of the south line of Bates county. What is said 
by them doubtless applies to the bottom soil on the north side of the 
Osage river in Bates county as well as to the bottoms of the Marais 
des Cygnes, which they apparently treated as the Osage, or the con- 
tinuation of it. With this explanation you can understand what is 
meant by ''Osage silt." 

The following table gives the name and extent of each of the types 
of soil found in Bates county: 

Soil Acres Per Cent. 

Oswego silt loam 200,192 36.1 

Summit silt loam 152,512 27.5 

Osage silt loam 71,808 12.9 

Bates silt loam 50,880 9.3 

Osage clay 23,232 4.2 

Bates loam 21,888 3.9 

Summit clay 14,976 2.7 

Crawford silt loam 11,072 2.0 

Sedgwick black clay loam 2,496 .5 

Rough stony land 2,240 .4 

Boone silt loam 1,984 .3 

Boone fine sandy loam 960 .2 

Total 554.240 

Oswego silt loam. — The characteristics by which the Oswego silt 
loam is easily distinguished from the other types of the area are its 
prairie vegetation, gray color, ashy feel, level surface, and the sharp line of 
demarcation between soil and subsoil. The surface soil consists of eight 
to ten inches of dark-gray, rather loose structural silt loam, which when 
wet becomes a very dark gray or almost black but when dry is 
very much lighter colored. It is locally known as "white ashy land." 
The subsurface soil from ten to eighteen inches is always lighter colored, 
contains very much less organic matter, and has a slightly higher clay 
content than the surface soil and as a consequence tends to clod consider- 
ably. It also becomes quite compact and hard when dry. Immediately 
below this material lies the heavy, compact, somewhat tenacious silty clay 
subsoil which extends to a depth of thirty-six inches where it becomes 



no HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

friable and crumbly, decreasing in clay content. From eighteen to twenty- 
eight inches this material is usually much darker than the overlying soil, 
frequently being almost black, and rapidly changes to a grayish yellow 
with a faint greenish tinge. 

The soil type consists of tw^o distinct phases that are universally 
recognized not only by the student of soils but by the farmers who 
occupy it. The difference between the two phases is one of structure 
rather than texture, yet it is one of great importance in the agricultural 
utilization of the soil. One phase is the fiat-land phase and the other 
the rolling-land phase. In both the surface soil is a gray silt, and in 
both this is underlain by a darker, tougher, more clayey substance. In 
the flat-land phase, however, the boundary between the surface and sub- 
surface is a very sharp one; in the other it is more indefinite. In the 
former the subsurface is a hard, tough, dark brownish-clay with some red 
mottlings. In the latter it is a dark brownish-gray silty clay, usually 
without the red mottling and usually neither so hard nor so tough as 
the former. In the former the subsoil is a yellowish-gray to bluish-gray 
silty clay, with a yellowish to brownish mottling, but considerably less 
tough than the subsurface. In the latter the subsoil is a yellowish-gray 
silty clay much more nearly uniform in color than that of the former 
phase. 

The rolling-land phase has much better surface drainage than the 
other and its underground drainage is also better. Its color also is 
usually somewhat darker. 

The rolling-land phase constitutes much the larger area of this type 
in the county. Practically all of the type in the southwestern corner of 
the county belongs in it and all the eastern part of the great area of this 
soil that lies west and northwest of Butler. 

The main flat-land areas are in a belt running northeast and south- 
west through Adrian, along the foot of the third terrace, in the south- 
eastern corner of the county: 

The farmers will admit that the flat-land phase is "hard-pan" land, 
but they will not admit that the rolling-land phase can be correctly desig- 
nated by that term. 

The Oswego silt loam is the most extensive soil type in Bates county, 
occurring in every township. It is the predominating type in the north- 
western two-thirds, where it occupies many entire sections. It also 
occurs extensively in the southwestern and southeastern townships. The 
area, of its least development lies from Pleasant Gap northward to the 
county line. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY III 

The type is intimately associated with level or undulating topog- 
raphy and is always limited by a rolling surface whether that surface 
lies above or below the general level of a given area. It occupies the 
wider divides, gentle slopes, and the rather low-lying so-called "second 
bottoms" along the rivers. The last named position is the lowest level 
at which the type is developed and includes elevations in the uplands 
from below seven hundred fifty feet to something over eight hundred 
feet. Its highest elevation reaches more than one thousand feet in the 
northwest corner, and the remainder of the type from a little below 
eight hundred fifty feet to more than nine hundred feet above sea level. 

Though perfectly flat areas are not frequent and there is apparently 
fall enough to afford good surface drainage, the damage done to crops 
by excess of moisture is very great. The heavy subsoil is to some extent 
accountable for this, as it greatly retards the downward movement of 
drainage waters. This trouble can be largely relieved by tile drains, 
which, though results might not be immediate, would ultimately break 
up the close structure of this material naturally loose and crumbly when 
exposed to the air. Narrow, open ditches or even furrows would be 
effective in draining many of the small depressions in which corn is a 
failure in wet seasons. There is sufTficient fall in almost every case for 
the proper construction of drainage systems. In a few instances where 
tile drains have been installed they have given good results. 

The formation of the Oswego silt loam is not clearly understood 
in its details. It is evidently connected with shale formations, as it is 
underlain at greater depth by silt shale rock and it would seem that the 
subsoil at least was derived therefrom. But the formation of the eight- 
een inches of light soil can hardly be explained by residual processes 
alone, because of the great difference between it and the underlying sub- 
soil and the sharp line of demarcation between the two. The dark color 
in the upper portion of the subsoil suggests that it may be due to an 
accumulation of organic matter at a time when it was the surface soil 
and that the overlying material is a later deposit. But the differences 
in elevations at which the type is found would preclude the theory of 
water deposit and the material is somewhat different from that hereto- 
fore recognized as loess or windblown. It is possible to account for it 
by translocation or gradual movement of the finer particles from the 
surface to the subsoil, though the sudden change in material almost 
refutes that theory. That the subsoil is largely residue material from 
the underlying shale seems fairly certain but that there has been some 



112 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Other process involved in the surface and subsurface soil is also plain, 
but what it is is still a matter of conjecture. 

The original vegetation of this type was prairie grass, which grew 
very rank. Timber growth was probably prevented by prairie fires. All 
the general crops of the area are grown extensively on this soil. Corn 
is the leading crop, and more white corn is grown than yellow, it being 
the general impression that white corn will yield better than yellow on 
the "thinner" soils. 

Besides drainage, two main factors controlling crop production on 
this soil are the maintenance of a supply of organic matter and the con- 
servation of moisture. When the prairie sod was first broken an abun- 
dance of organic matter had accumulated from the roots of the prairie 
grass. The soil was then loose and open, but through many years of 
constant cultivation the original supply of humus has been largely 
depleted, and, as a consequence, the soil particles have become more or 
less compact, thus indicating rapid capillarity and the loss of soil mois- 
ture at a time when it is most needed. The deficiency of humus is also 
largely responsible for the cold, soggy condition sometimes found in 
the type. In other ways, the loss of humus has been detrimental to 
crop production, and the addition of vegetable matter will do much 
toward improving this type. The humus content can best be increased 
by applying stable manure or by plowing under cowpeas, clover, manure 
or any green manuring crop. The deeper this can be incorporated in 
the white subsurface soil the better will be the results. Because of its 
effect upon the soil drainage, the heavy subsoil is usually regarded as a 
detriment, but it may really be advantageous in that it prevents leach- 
ing. An examination has been made of a field which had been fallowed 
and a dust mulch constantly maintained, and during the driest part of 
the summer, when the crops were suffering for moisture, it was found 
that the soil and subsoil were so moist that the change from subsurface 
to subsoil was scarcely discernable. In this connection it is strongly 
recommended that the cultivation of corn be continued with one-horse 
shallow cultivators beyond the time when it is usually "laid by" and 
well into the season, thereby conserving moisture for the crop at a time 
when it needs much and usually gets little. 

The Summit silt loam is one of the most important soil types of 
the area. The surface soil is uniformly very dark gray or black, rather 
heavy silt loam which may vary in depth from six to twenty inches, 
though averaging about ten inches deep. A distinguishing character- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY II3 

istic of this material is its constant tendency to granulate or break up 
into small aggregates, with the result that it does not run together, pack, 
bake, or crack. The subsoil is quite variable. Immediately below the 
surface soil, usually at about ten inches, the material becomes lighter 
colored and slightly heavier, though maintaining the granular structure 
to about twenty inches, at which point granulation usually disappears 
and the clay content increases rapidly with depth, the deeper portion 
being a yellowish or greenish tinged, gray silty clay, or clay loam very 
similar to the deep subsoil of the Oswego silt loam. An extensive phase 
of the subsoil occurs in which the material is not heavier than a clay 
loam and the color a yellowish-gray mottled with reddish brown or 
brownish red. The granular structure is maintained to some extent in 
this phase throughout the soil profile. Outcrops of limestone rock are 
frequently found and small, rounded chert gravel are locally dissemi- 
nated through the subsoil. Small iron concretions also frequently occur 
and are largely responsible for the mottled condition of the phase. 

Though there is no township in which some of this type does not 
occur, the most extensive areas lie to the south and east of Butler and 
in the northeast part of the county. 

The topography is generally rolling, the type occupying narrow 
ridges and slopes and higher mounds. It occasionally continues over 
rather fiat areas lying between ridges, and flat areas also occur on the 
type of the higher elevations. The prevailing topography insures fairly 
thorough natural drainage, but the character of the soil is such that 
water does not penetrate it as rapidly as is often desired, and in many 
places tile drainage would be very beneficial, not only in removing sur- 
plus water, but in aerating the soil. 

The greater part of the type occurs in the breaks of streams, where 
the elevations are from eight hundred fifty to nine hundred feet or below 
that of the greater part of the Oswego silt loam, though the areas in 
the northwest corner and around the mounds lie above the greater part 
of the latter type, the elevations there being from nine hundred fifty to 
one thousand feet. 

Locally, the Summit silt loam is known as "black limestone land" 
implying that it is derived from limestone rock, which, however, is not 
the case. It is a residual soil formed from strata of shale, above and 
below which occur thin strata of limestone which frequently outcrop 
and give the type its local name. The limestone has probably con- 

(8) 



114 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

tributed some material to the soil, but the proportion of such material 
is relatively small. The uniformly dark or black color of the soil is 
probably due more or less to the thin layer of black shale which imme- 
diately underlies the limestone. In low spots on some of the more level 
areas of this type a white crust was seen closely resembling alkali, but 
these areas were small and of little consequence. 

This is the best upland corn soil in the county and is usually so 
regarded. The mellow surface, good drainage, and heavy subsoil fit 
it especially for this crop. By many it is considered the best wheat soil 
of the area also, but if Oswego silt loam is properly handled it will prob- 
ably outrank this soil in the quality and yield of wheat. 

That portion of the type originally timbered produces good tobacco. 
Just what influence the timber has had is not understood, but the fact 
remains that where timber has stood the soil will produce good tobacco, 
while the prairie will not. 

Bates silt loam. — The soil of the Bates silt loam is a loose, mellow silt 
loam of a dark-gray color to a depth of eight to ten inches, at which 
depth it becomes a yellowish-gray, mellow silt loam. When wet this 
material has a peculiar mushy feel, but when puddled and allowed to dry 
it becomes very hard and compact. The deeper portion of the surface 
soil, which apparently contains less organic matter than the overlying 
material, has a tendency to run together. There is frequently a rapid 
graduation between the subsurface soil and the subsoil which is found 
at a depth of twenty to thirty-six inches. It is a yellow and red mottled 
clay which becomes slightly heavier with depth, and is seldom plastic 
or sticky though frequently somewhat tenacious. When dry it becomes 
quite hard and impenetrable. The heaviest phase approaches closely 
the mottled subsoil phase of the Summit silt loam and in places where 
a part of the surface soil has been removed by erosion the land is likely 
to be confused with the Boone silt loam. The largest area of Bates 
silt loam lies in the vicinity of Hudson, in the southeastern part of the 
county. It occurs, however, in all parts of the county associated with 
the Oswego silt loam. It lies both immediately above and below that 
type, particularly in its lowest lying areas, and is separated from it by 
rather distinct boundaries. It is also frequently associated with the 
Bates loam, areas too small to be shown on the map being quite com- 
monly developed in that type. 

Areas of this soil form hill slopes, narrow ridges, and low eleva- 
tions, along the breaks and streams, and in low places in the main body 
of the Oswego silt loam. While its topography for the most part favors 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY II5 

thorough drainage, along the boundaries with the Oswego silt loam it 
is very frequently wet and soggy, owing to the accumulation of seepage 
waters which flow out of the latter soil along the surface of the com- 
pacted subsoil. The same conditions are found where water is obstructed 
in its downward course by shale and sandstone strata in the subsoil 
of the Bates loam. So far but little effort has been made to tile drain 
these seepy areas, though this would be entirely feasible. 

The Bates silt loam is a residual soil formed by the disintegration 
of soft shale which immediately underlies it. The material is closely 
allied to the Oswego silt loam, but being modified by drainage condi- 
tions has developed its characteristic differences. Much of this soil was 
originally timbered, though some was also in prairie. Most of it has 
been cleared, but along the streams some hickory, sycamore, and oak 
still remain. 

The ease with which the soil can be cultivated, its rather heavy 
subsoil, and ability to hold fertilizers make it a popular and valuable 
soil for general farming. 

The Crawford silt loam, locally known as "red land," consists of 
about ten inches of dark brownish gray to dark-brown silt loam, under- 
lain by a rather dark brownish-red subsoil, which becomes heavier and 
more intense in color with depth until at thirty-six inches it is a nearly 
red, somewhat plastic and sticky clay. Except for the slight brownish 
cast the soil closely resembles that of Summit silt loam, being granular 
and mellow, which makes it easily tilled. It is usually well supplied 
with organic matter. 

The subsoil is underlain with limestone rock which is frequently 
struck in boring at from twenty-four to thirty-six inches. The type 
is frequently found in isolated areas within bodies of the Summit silt 
loam, particularly in the region north of Pleasant Gap and in the north- 
w^est part of the county. 

Stratigraphically the most of the type is developed immediately 
above the shale which gives rise to the Summit silt loam and belov/ 
the shale from which the Bates loam and the Oswego silt loam are 
derived. It is found on gentle slopes and narrow ridges and has a level 
to undulating topography and good natural drainage. The subsoil is 
no doubt true limestone material derived from the underlying rock, but 
the soil represents a mixture of shale material washed from, or the rem- 
nants of, the Summit silt loam or Oswego silt loam, with material of 
limestone origin. 

The type is now practically all under cultivation or in pasture or 



Il6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

mowing. It has all the essential characteristics of a corn soil and is 
considered by many as the best corn-producing soil of the area. The 
yields are about the same as on the Summit silt loam. Corn yields 
thirty-five to forty bushels, wheat twelve to eighteen bushels, oats fif- 
teen to twenty bushels, and hay one to one and one-half tons to the acre. 

The Bates loam is more or less variable in its texture and color 
as well as in depth. The typical soil consists of about eight inches of 
loose structured light loam, which is brown when moist, but becomes 
a light gray when thoroughly dry. though often the color is a very dark 
gray to almost black. The texture is often very fine, closely resembling 
the Bates silt loam and also the Boone fine sandy loam, and areas too 
small to map of both of these types occur within the boundaries of the 
Bates loam. The soil is usually mellow and easily tilled, but after heavy 
rains there is a tendency to form a surface crust which, however, is easily 
broken up. 

The subsoil is usually a solid buiTf color, though areas with mottled 
red and yellow occur. The texture is usually a fine sandy clay loam or 
clayey loam, quite gritty from its sand content and yet made sticky by 
clay. The percentage of silt is relatively low. Arenaceous shale 
reseml)ling in color the subsoil is encountered at depths ranging from 
eighteen to forty-eight inches. This material is soft and appears very 
sandy, but on crumbling and rolling l^etween the fingers becomes very 
fine. 

The largest areas of the Bates loam lie east of Butler, around 
Sprague and in the vicinity of Foster. It is also extensively developed 
in the northeast corner. It usually occupies ridges and knolls and in the 
rougher sections occurs as a distinct terrace. It is found to a slight 
extent on slopes and in fiat areas near the base of hills. 

Stratigraphically in the hilly regions it lies immediately above the 
limestone soil if. developed, otherwise, it is found above the Summit 
clay. It is usually the highest soil, though areas of Bates silt loam and 
Oswego silt loam sometimes lie at a higher level. Because of its topo- 
graphic position and texture the natural drainage is nearly everywhere 
good, and on this account it outyields the other types in wet years. 

The Bates loam is derived from the disintegration of arenaceous 
shale and sandstone strata in the main shale formation, and the varia- 
tions in the type are largely due to variations in the contributing 
material augmented by washing and drainage. 

Originally areas of this soil formed a part of the prairie. It is now 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY II7 

devoted to general farm crops and market gardening. Corn yields from 
thirty to thirty-five bushels, wheat ten to fifteen bushels, flax six to 
eight bushels, and oats ten to twenty bushels per acre. Considerable 
trucking is done, and the soil is admirably adapted to that purpose. 
Watermelons are produced at considerable profit. 

The supply of organic matter over most of the type is deficient. The 
supply of humus and organic matter should be incorporated with the 
soil as rapidly as possible. This wilf increase crop production by con- 
serving moisture, an important matter, as the crops are likely to be 
injured by drought. The use of commercial fertilizers, especially in the 
growing of truck, has been found beneficial. 

The soil is usually regarded as acid, and quite a sharp reaction 
was obtained in both soil and subsoil with litmus paper, indicating 
that rather heavy applications of lime should be made. 

The Boone fine sandy loam consists of about eight inches of gray, 
loose structured, and rather incoherent fine sandy loam, underlain after 
a rapid gradation by a clayey loam or fine sandy clay loam the upper 
portion of which is mottled gray and bufif rapidly changing to red with 
depth. Sandstone or arenaceous shale rock underlies the subsoil at 
from ten to thirty inches. Mica flakes and some sandstone and shale 
fragments occur in both soil and subsoil, and the latter occasionally on 
the surface. Owing to its friable porous texture this soil can be worked 
under a wide range of moisture conditions. Only a limited area of this 
type of soil occurs in Bates county. The largest area is found south 
of Butler and west of Peru. A few areas too small to be indicated on 
the soil map are included with the Bates loam. 

The type occupies narrow ridges and rather abrupt slopes and con- 
sequently has very thorough drainage. It is derived from a micaceous, 
arenaceous shale and sandstone which are quite soft and easily crumbled. 
On the slopes, which are usually quite sandy, washing has probably 
removed some of the finer material and left the sand. 

The quantity of organic matter is even less in this soil than in the 
Bates loam and must be greatly increased to secure the best results. 
In order to grow clover it will be necessary to give the fields heavy 
applications of lime to correct acidity, as litmus-paper tests showed the 
soil to be decidedly acid. 

Our readers will understand that every reference in the following 
to the Osage river bottoms should be read Marais des Cygnes. The 
soil surveyors mapped it as the Osage river. And it should be remem- 



Il8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

bered that the survey from which we are quoting liberally was made 
in 1908, ten years ago. 

The Osage clay consists of about eighteen inches of black, heavy, 
silty clay or clay which grades into a bluish-drab clay subsoil. There is 
frequently but little change from the soil to the subsoil, both being very 
plastic, sticky and tenacious when wet. When dry the surface becomes 
quite granular and mellow. In the vicinity of old lake beds the sub- 
soil is slightly mottled with brown and is not quite so heavy as over 
the greater part of the type. 

This is a bottom-land soil found in the wide bottoms of the Osage 
river, in the narrow bottoms of the Grand river along the northeast 
boundary of the county, and in two small areas in the Miami creek 
bottoms. It occupies the lowest levels in the county and the topography 
is flat. The areas are usually lower near the bluffs and higher near 
the streams, from which they are separated by a narrow band of Osage 
silt loam. The soil has been formed by the deposition of the finer sedi- 
ments carried by the several streams along which it is found. Its black 
color is due to the accumulation of relatively large quantities of decay- 
ing vegetable remains, mostly the stems and roots of coarse grasses. 

The greater part of the Osage clay is now covered with a rank 
growth of prairie grass, which is usually cut. Some parts support for- 
ests of water-loving oaks and pecan. In the timbered areas the soil is 
somewhat looser in structure, and the surface is usually gullied. Such 
areas if cleared would be difficult to cultivate. 

Underdrainage, although expensive on account of the need of run- 
ning the drains at close intervals, is particularly advantageous in having 
the close structural characteristic of the Osage clay, as it tends to make 
the soil more open and friable. 

This is a typical corn soil. Though not much corn has yet been 
produced on it, with thorough drainage yields of seventy-five to one 
hundred bushels per acre may be expected. Unless it is found that 
wheat makes too rank a growth the land should also produce large 
yields of that grain. It will probably be difficult to make it suitable 
for alfalfa. Some broom corn is produced on the type but it is too 
coarse to be of first quality. 

The Osage silt loam is the most variable type of soil in the county. 
The surface soil is usually a light gray, slightly compact, silt loam rang- 
ing in depth from eight to twenty-four inches. This material in most 
instances grades into a heavy silt loam subsoil of somewhat darker 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 19 

color, though it may be underlain by a drab clay loam or in some cases 
by a black clay. The areas of any one phase are so small that separa- 
tion seemed impossible, and characteristics other than being a light- 
colored silt loam on the surface were ignored in mapping. Some small 
spots of loam were found, but their total area was so small that a 
separation was not made. 

The type occurs in all the stream bottoms and is broken in the wider 
bottoms only by the Osage clay. Along the Grand and Osage rivers 
it occupies the slightly elevated land next to the stream channels. It 
is largely alluvial material deposited in times of overflow, but some 
areas adjoining the upland probably contain material which has been 
washed down over the Osage clay and now forms the subsoil. Alfalfa 
should do particularly well. Some of the type would be benefited by 
tile drainage and by incorporating vegetable matter in the soil. 

Twelve types of soil were mapped in the county. Most of these 
were residual, or derived from underlying rock formation. The others 
were alluvial soils, forming the bottoms along the streams. 

The Oswego silt loam, locally known as "white ashy clay" is the 
predominant type, and occupies level or undulating uplands. It is well 
adapted to wheat, oats and hay. The type is deficient in organic matter, 
and the drainage should be improved. 

The Summit silt loam, called "black limestone land," is not a lime- 
stone soil, but is derived from shale. It is a typical corn soil, and wheat 
also yields well. The Crawford silt loam is a reddish limestone soil 
with good drainage. It is an excellent corn soil. 

The Bates loam and the Boone fine sandy loam, locally called "sandy 
soils," are adapted to market gardening and are so used. 

The Summit clay is a heavy black soil of relative small extent and 
is mostly timbered. 

The Bates silt loam is a brownish-gray soil with a mottled sub- 
soil. It occurs along slopes near streams and is a- good grass and gen- 
eral farming soil. 

The Sedgwick black clay loam would be a corn soil if well drained. 

The Boone silt loam is of relatively small importance, occurring 
as timbered land along streams. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



RESOURCES OF BATES COUNTY. 



TIMBER— CHANGE OF OPINION — "THE PRAIRIE"— STRIP COAL MINING — UNCULTI- 
VATED LAND— BLUEGRASS— "SCRUB STOCK"— STOCK PRODUCTION — FERTIL- 
IZERS—HORTICULTURE—WILD FRUITS— NUTS— WATER — FISH — BUILDING 
MATERIALS— CLAYS — KAOLIN— COAL — ASPHALTUM, ROCK OIL, AND GAS- 
IRON ORE— PAINT BOULDERS— POULTRY— CORN. 

Many of the early pioneer settlers of Bates county probably crossed 
the Missouri river in their "prairie schooners" on the old ferry boat 
at Boonville, and began to feel quite joyful as they were nearing the 
"promised land," their future home, and we can imagine they started 
singing an improvised song; possibly one commencing like this: 

Old Missouri's muddy stream, 
We've just now crossed it o'er, 
To find a home beyond its banks. 
And gather friends of yore. 

Many of them came from V^irginia. Kentucky, Tennessee. Ohio, 
Indiana and other timbered states and naturally settled along the rivers 
and other timbered streams not only for the convenience of timber for 
building purposes and fuel, but because they believed the timbered lands 
had richer and deeper soil and would produce more bountiful crops, 
superior to the prairie lands. The county was classed as a prairie 
county, most of the timber lands lying along the streams; the occa- 
sional upland timber being mostly "scrub oak," growing less dense, 
hence more limbs than body and naturally was tabooed by the pioneer 
as being "shallow land," but is recognized today as the most valuable 
fruit land in the county. 

As the settlement of the county increased the prairie lands were 
reduced to farms, generally, with most satisfactory results. It is true, 
in some localities the soil was thin, thought not to contain sufTficient 
loam to produce bountiful harvests, and in fact did not respond to the 
crude cultivation then given to it. Yet these same lands, with modern 
farm machinery, subsoiling, rotation of crops, and other up-to-date 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 121 

improvements in the science of agriculture, gained through our State 
Agricultural College, experimental farms and practical information 
regarding the chemical constituents of the soil and its special adapta- 
tion to certain cereals and grasses and the kinds of fertilizers to be 
used, have, under the management of thorough-going farmers, men who 
own these lands and are in Bates county to make their homes and farm- 
ing and stock raising a business and a success, become the most val- 
uable lands we have. 

The great change of opinion regarding the prairie lands and their 
.value for agricultural and horticultural purposes can be no better 
expressed than in the poetic language of Eastwood, on 

"The Prairie." 

"All its story who can tell? 

To the pioneer 
It was but a barren hell 

And a place to fear. 
Then a promise — and again 

Rippling round my feet 
Rise the zones of dancing grain, 

Fields of nodding wheat. 

"All its colors who can tell? 

Jasper fields of May 
Into gold of harvest swell 

On another day; 
Rose and gray and violet 

Blend in autumn glow, 
And in winter's coverlet 

Shifting, drifting snow. 

r • , 

"All its riches who can tell? 
On the purple haze 
^ Which the sun and winds dispell 
Stand the ranks of maize ; 
Pastures broad their verdure yield 

For the well fed kine, 
And I reap from dark earth's field 
"^ Food for me and mine." 



122 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

In the strip coal mining districts of southern Bates county where 
the earth has been turned topsy-turvey to the depth of from five to 
ten and fifteen feet, melon vines have been knowai to produce melons 
from ten to forty pounds in w^eight, volunteers at that, and no cultiva- 
tion. What might squashes and pumpkins, or any vegetable or cereal 
with cultivation produce on lands turned up to the frosts of winter and 
sun and rains of the spring and summer through deep plowing and 
subsoiling, and thereby allowing it to evaporate any deleterious 
chemical contents and at the same time gathering in the needed chemi- 
cal fertilizers that the atmosphere is known to have in store and 
ever ready to part with when conditions are made susceptible? Our 
thrifty farmers are rapidly taking advantage of the knowledge of these 
methods and means of knowledge gained through valuable farm 
journals and state and federal bulletins. 

"You can really have no notion of how successful they will be 
When the farmer digs up the earth, sows the seed, and plants the tree. 
Post up; get down to modern farming, do every thing you can 
To plant and reap in season and hustle the hired man." 

There is today but very little uncultivated land in the county; 
every square yard of which, under proper, modern intensive farming 
will produce an abundant return in any and all the ordinary crops of 
this latitude. 

Blue grass pastures of luxuriant growth, here and there in every 
section of the county the homes of the dairy farmers, and pure bred 
cattle breeders are found. In a drive over any portion of the county 
during the pasturing season fine herds of the various breeds of cattle, 
according to the peculiar fancy of the owners, can be seen grazing 
and lying in the shade of the forest trees. "Scrub stock" is really a 
thing of the past; so thoroughly has been the reformation that Bates 
county is making among the leading counties of the state in fine stock. 
Not only in cattle is the county taking first rank but in horses, mules, 
sheep and sw^ine. 

While for many past years, forty and fifty bushels of corn ; fifteen 
and thirty bushels of wheat; and fifty to sixty bushels of oats per 
acre, were considered good yields, today many farmers with better 
knowledge and more scientific farming are increasing this yield from 
twenty-five to fifty per cent, in some instances by the use of fertilizers. 
While for many years the early settlers failed to plant orchards, today 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 23 

orchards abound throughout the county. The many varieties of apples, 
cherries, pears and plum trees make rapid growths and yield heavily; 
w^hile peaches and apricots bear fine fruits, the average yield, however, 
is only every other year. It is seldom a failure on account of the severe 
winters but rather the warm days of February starting the sap upwards, 
sw^elling the buds, and then later heavy frosts. There is no more 
certain success in the entire country for the production of small fruits; 
blackberries, red and black raspberries of all varieties, stand the win- 
ter and bear abundantly, also gooseberries, while strawberries are not 
made a specialty, as in the counties farther south yet those who have 
taken an interest in strawberry cultivation both in the clay and sandy 
loam soils have met with entire success. Grapes never fail. There 
are many gardens also where red and white currants are raised suc- 
cessfully but this fruit is really a more northern shrub, and requires 
in this latitude, some little protection from the summer sun and should 
be planted where partly protected by buildings, trees or other shrub- 
bery to insure success. 

Bates county has indeed taken the blue' ribbon at many pomologi- 
cal exhibitions and state fairs, and made most excellent showings in 
apples in size, beauty and varieties at several of the world's fairs, as 
part of the state's exhibit. 

With an ample market so close at hand, and a remunerative price 
insured, the fruit yield of the county in both large and small fruits 
should be rapidly increased. General farming and stock raising has 
been considered principally all that was required to be a successful 
farmer, while horticulture has had a "back seat" or viewed from the 
gallery, yet, as a matter of fact, it is one of the most congenial pur- 
suits and should form a part of farm life if for no other purpose than 
the pleasure and comfort and luxuries thereby secured. 

The study of horticulture has been neglected ; the general public 
has given to this very interesting feature of farm and town life but 
little study or attention. Fruit, fruit, and more fruit, is the crying call 
from the cities. It is no longer considered simply a luxury, but a neces- 
sity, healthful, appetizing and one of Nature's greatest boons to man, 
even if it did originally cause all the sin mankind has been heir to for 
six thousand years. But just give the boys of today a chance and 
they will do the same as Adam and Eve and enjoy it regardless of 
consequences. The acids of the various kinds of fruit assimilate with 
the blood and enrich it. To be successful in fruit production, either 



124 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

large or small fruit, in this day of insect life of voracious appetites and 
pests of many kinds, one must give to horticulture the same study and 
consideration he is required to give successful general farming and 
stock raising. While we can gain much from books and farm and 
horticultural journals of how to handle the orchard and the fruit gar- 
den, how to meet and defeat the destructive insect life that prey upon 
the tree, plant and fruit alike, yet practical knowledge of our own 
and the experience of our neighbors is quite as requisite, and for this 
reason local horticultural societies should be encouraged. If one has 
but a few "back-lot" fruit trees or is raising small fruit for the family 
use, he should become a member of such an organization and thereby 
gain the necessary practical knowledge requisite to success in this 
particular locality. 

The large holdings of land, the increase in tenanted farms, and 
a prevailing idea that the production of fruit is a specialty not belong- 
ing to legitimate farming, has been detrimental to this industry. Instead 
of fruits and flowers that should adorn every dining table at least in 
season, it has been too much "corn bread and bacon" or "hog and 
hominy" as the saying is. Every home should be surrounded by groves 
of nut and fruit bearing trees. Every farmer should have his garden 
of small fruit; blackberries, red and black raspberries, gooseberries, 
currants and strawberries. Hillhouse has aptly expressed the idea . 
"I would not waste my spring of youth in idle dalliance; I would 
plant rich seeds to blossom in my manhood, and bear fruit when I am 
old." One often hears the older settlers remark, "I wish I had planted 
a grove of nut bearing trees, walnuts and pecans, twenty or thirty 
years ago. I would now be enjoying a rich harvest of nuts." Another 
says, "I made a serious mistake in not planting an orchard when I first 
started out farming." Why not begin now? There is no time like 
the present to plant a nut or fruit bearing tree. No greater Christian 
labor can be performed even if it be the last work of one's life than 
plant a tree that another may reap the fruit and bless the one who 
planted it. Civilization is gauged more perhaps, by horticulture than 
any other branch of industry in utilizing the land, and the luxuries 
enjoyed thereby can only be measured or appreciated by home culture. 

In some of the farming communities throughout the county can 
be seen thrifty, tidy homes surrounded by fruits, flowers and vines, 
and at once we realize these people are civilized, and know how to 
enjoy country life. The freshly painted house, the tasty garden fence. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 25 

the white-washed fruit trees, cultivated garden, blooming roses and 
the fragrant honey-suckle — it is thus known the occupants own their 
own home, have "come to stay" and are devoted to Christian influ- 
ences. So it is, horticulture lies at the the foundation of home com- 
fort and family enjoyment and is a sure mark of progress and stability. 

"Man, through all ages of revolving time, 
Unchanging man, in every varying clime, 
Deems his own land of every land the pride 
Beloved by heaven o'er all the world beside: 
His home, the spot supremely blest, 
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest." 

What one has accomplished, all can. What a contrast there is 
when one drives past these tenanted farms or one where the owner 
persists in not keeping up with the twentieth century civilization — the 
house and out-buildings unpainted, shingles curled up and ragged from 
age, porches falling down, rail fence in front and bars to let down to 
gain entrance, with thorns, and thistles growing broader and higher, 
and jimpson, bull-thistles and cockle burrs ready to cling to your 
clothes if you attempt to enter or to learn if the premises are inhabited 
or a coroner is wanted. It is a pleasure to know, however, that but 
few farms in the county outside the tenements, are lacking in thrift 
and not up-to-date in modern methods and improvements and even 
some of the landlords have not lost all their pride and supervision, for: 

"Order is heaven's first law: and this confessed. 
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest." 

As a voucher that Bates county is one of Nature's homes for the 
cultivation of fruit; one has only to observe the wild fruits of all the 
species known in this latitude abound throughout the county; wild 
plums, crab apples, persimmons, high bush huckleberry, grapes, black 
cherries, mulberries, paw paws, raspberries, blackberries, straw- 
berries, etc. 

Along the rivers and streams walnuts, pecans and hickory nuts 
abound and the most afford nutritious food for swine during the fall 
and early winter months. Grand river and the Marais des Cygnes, 
tributaries of the Osage, passing through the county from northwest 
to southeast, together with the Deepwater, Mormon Fork, Mulberry, 
Panther, Walnut, Miami, Muddy and streams of lesser note, with their 
numerous branches, furnish an abundant water supply for live stock. 



126 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Many lakes and springs of limpid water of more or less medicinal value 
are found throughout the county, while water from wells can be had 
for the digging or drilling anywhere. The streams and lakes abound in 
excellent fish, perch, bass, buffalo and catfish being among the varie- 
ties of the finny tribe, while the Government-State Fish Commission 
of Missouri has been liberal in stocking these lakes and streams wath 
Qther kinds of food fish. 

Besides the evergrowing timber supply along the streams, aver- 
aging in width from one-quarter of a mile to three miles, sandstone 
and limestone for building material exist in all sections of the county; 
in fact, there is not a township but shows evidence of their existence, 
cropping out along the bluffs and by excavating a few feet can be 
quarried to advantage, being in stratas one on top of the other, varving 
in thickness from three to eighteen inches. The sandstone is of fine 
grain and texture and is said to be superior to the famous white rock 
of Carroll county, and more easily worked for building purposes. The 
front of the Rich Hill Bank building at Rich Hill, is faced with sand- 
stone quarried on the town site, while the quarries in the southeastern 
portion of the county have been worked remuneratively for many years. 
During Sedalia's boom, in the hope of securing the state capital, scores 
of cars of sandstone were shipped over the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
railroad to Sedalia for sidewalks, street crossings, curbing, and build- 
ing purposes. Much of this sandstone north of Rockville is handsomely 
variegated, streaked with red. purple, and blue from the ochers and 
iron ore that permeates the soil or exists in the numerous boulders 
found in the vicinity. The front of the fine residence of Doctor Mun- 
ford, editor of the "Kansas City Times," built in the eighties, was con- 
structed with variegated sandstone from these quarries. 

Shale, sand and blue clay and fire clay for brick making, are found 
in inexhaustible quantities in various localities. . In some sections, espe- 
cially in excavations made for surface coal around Rich Hill and in 
New Home township, a very high grade of kaolin for fine crockery 
and delft ware is found above and below the coal stratas. Fire clay 
brick pressed in standard moulds and burned in the retorts of the Rich 
Hill Gas Works took the blue ribbon at the last state fair in Kansas 
City in competition with the brick from the celebrated fire-clay brick 
works at St. Louis, being heavier in weight, the bricks being of like 
dimensions. 

The wealth of coal existing in Osage, New Home, and \\'alnut 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



127 



townships is too well known to need any extended remarks concern- 
ing the same ; millions of tons have been mined and shipped out over 
the Missouri Pacific, the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf branch 
to Rich Hill, and later over the Kansas City & Southern and the Empo- 
ria branch from Butler. While shipments in not so large a measure 
are still going on, both from shaft and surface mines, the coal supply 
from these localities, at least for all local purposes, w'ill be ample 
for many future generations, as new mines are constantly being 
developed and the older ones are still producing satisfactorily. 

The coal measures, however, in Hudson, Pleasant Gap, and Prairie 
townships, in the southeastern part of the county, have not been equally 
developed for the want of adequate railroad facilities for transportation, 
but quite sufficient to show that a vein of superior quality of soft coal 
from three and one-half to five feet in thickness covers a large area of 
these three townships, and mines are in operation continuously for local 
purposes and some shipmen.ts over the "Katy" are made. That a branch 
line of road from the M. K. & T. or an extension of the "Frisco" to 
these coal fields is only a question of time, is probable ; for this coal 
has good roofing and is susceptible to large mining for commercial 
purposes at a good profit. 

Writing of the development of the coal veins in Osage township, 
years ago. Professor Broadhead, state geologist, had this to say: "More 
general prospecting in southern Bates, in and through the lower tier 
of townships, reveals the fact that the coal area of this section is 
vastly greater than has been supposed and beyond even our present 
conception." It is hardly questionable but that future development of 
the countv on a scientific basis will reveal not only the wealth in coal 
as predicted by Professor Broadhead, but that there existed valuable 
deposits of asphaltum, rock oil, and natural gas in quantity to be of 
commercial value. Iron ore and paint boulders are known to exist near 
the border of Vernon county in the southeastern township. The sand- 
stone rock is so permeated with a sort of gummy oil that it burns like 
coal for a time leaving fine white sandstone. WHien the Craig brothers 
were making brick in Rich Hill years ago, by the old-fashioned method, 
when the fires had gotten under full headway under the kilns and the 
pressed raw bricks had become sufficiently heated, a blue blaze per- 
meated through the entire kilns and had all the appearance that the 
very brick was burning up, so saturated had been the clay, sand and 
shale with this oily substance and no further firing was necessary. 



128 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Crude oil, or rock oil, as it is called, is known to rise out of the earth. 
It never is infused into the soil or sand rock from above. It must rise 
from an oil producing or oil holding sand far below^ the surface. This 
oil is found in considerable quantities at Mormon Fork in Boone town- 
ship and other numerous places in the western tjer of townships and 
in the southeastern portion of the county. Some day prospecting will 
be undertaken with sufficient capital and determination to use it in 
making a thorough test for oil and gas in this county and undoubtedly 
will meet with the same success as has been had* in the section of. 
country southwest in Kansas and Oklahoma. There never has been 
any deep borings in the county. In reaching the gas.^and oil sand strata 
in some of the fields in Kansas. Oklahoma and Texas, borings to the 
depth of three thousand feet and more are made and recjuired to rea«h, 
the best producing oil and gas stratas. There's no telling what a 
thorough investigation in those localities might reveal. 

"Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt ; 
Nothing's so hard but search will find it out." 

Bates county has a most successful poultry organization. This 
industry has had a most wonderful and successful growth within the 
last decade, not only generally among the farmers and town and vil- 
lage inhabitants, but has been made^'a specialty by those, -who thoroughly 
understand the poultry business and the profits arising, therefrom. No 

very great outlay of capital is'recjuired to start in this business and 

■'' . ¥ 

no end to the demand at your very door, for the various products 

of the industry; whether it be turkevs, s^eese, ducks;* fancy ^chickens 

or the old-fashioned barn-yard fowls, great profits are assured. Fresh 

eggs are ever in demand and at prices cjuite sufficient to not* require 

the government to intervene. If you are short on business,or long* on 

inactivity, start a poultry farm. No landed estate is necessary. Any 

old acreage answers the purpose. Down inUhe Ozarks.. turkeys roost 

in the trees and get most of their ^rub in the fields and forests. Make 

a pond for the ducks and geese and watch thenig swim with all the 

grace of a mermaid, and listen to the squawking of the geese and the 

quacking of the ducks and 'keenjgjn mind they all lay the "golden ^%%.'' 

The present officers of the Bates Comity Poultry Association for 1918 

are: Miss Elva Church, president; L. C. Culbertson, vice-president; 

George M. Hatrick, secretary. Directors: Mrs. Hardin, Mrs. J. H. Baker, 

Mrs. J. R. Baum, and Mrs. Maggie Poffenbarger. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I29 

Corn In Missouri. 

(By Lucien Green, Hudson, Missouri, from 1915 "Year Book.") 

According to the forty-sixth annual report of the State Board of 
Agriculture of Missouri, corn raised in Bates county in 1913 was 
1,144,469 bushels from 162,067 acres, an average of seven bushels an 
acre. Assuming that the acreage is the same this year and the average 
is a little less than twenty-five bushels an acre, the amount raised is 
about 4,000,000 bushels. 

Indian corn was the gift of the Indians to American civilization. 
They taught the Pilgrim fathers how to raise it. how to pound it into 
meal and how to bake it into bread. Corn meal was the basis of Whit- 
tier's "Samp and Milk" and mush and milk and hasty pudding of people 
living west of the Alleghanies. 

Corn meal is made into corn bread, corn pone, corndodgers, corn 
gems and a hundred other kinds of bread, "and all very good." 

Corn meal mixed with rye flour and baked on the hearth in a spider 
or bake kettle into loaves weighing fifteen or thirty pounds are appe- 
tizing and gives the rail splitter more energy than any other bread. 

Fried mush sweetened with maple molasses, accompanied by fresh 
pork sausage — the result of corn and hog — will keep the boy on the 
farm — as long as the molasses and sausage lasts, and perhaps longer! 

We are told that three-fifths of the world's production of corn is 
raised in the United States. Much corn is raised in the Argentine 
Republic and in the region near the Black sea. Corn is raised with 
more or less success in all countries that are free of frost for ninety 
days. Corn specialists have bred varieties of corn that do well in 
Minnesota and other Northern states. 

The average yield of corn in our county is about twenty-eight 
bushels per acre. The record yield on one acre is 256 bushels in North 
Carolina. One hundred twenty ears of average Missouri corn is called 
a bushel. Sixty ears of good seed corn weighs about one bushel. An 
average ear of seed corn consists of about 900 grains. The cobs from 
seventy pounds of good St. Charles white corn weigh about nine pounds. 
Corn cobs boiled in water and sweetened with brown sugar give the 
molasses a maple flavor and it is sold in the fall by wholesale merchants 
as fresh maple syrup. The early settlers of the West frequently sold 
corn for eight to ten cents a bushel. The farmers of the treeless regions 
of the West usually shell their corn and save the cobs for fuel. Corn is of 

(9) 



130 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

many colors and varieties: white, red. yellow, black, blue, calico, bloody 
butcher and a mixture of all. 

A choice ear of sweet corn, well lubricated with butter and eaten 
from the cob — hog fashion — pleases the palate beyond the ability of 
words to explain. The science of corn breeding, selection of seed corn 
and making our soil richer and more resistant to drouth and insects is 
in its infancy, and no doubt will continue to be studied until the average 
yield in Missouri is forty or fifty or more bushels per acre. 

The wrong use of corn has brought millions of our people to poverty 
and broken up many homes. The right use of corn has paid oft more 
mortgages, built more happy homes, more schcHDl houses, churches 
and palaces for the rich than all of our minerals. Fortunate is the young 
farmer who takes pride in raising good corn and in improving the soil ! 



CHAPTER IX. 



COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 
(By Judge Charles A. Denton.) 



NATIONAL, TERRITORIAL, STATE, AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS— FRENCH POSSES- 
SION—SPANISH POSSESSION— PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA— ACT OF MARCH 26, 
1804— ACT OF MARCH 31, 1805— ACT OF JULY 4, 1812— MISSOURI ADMITTED 
— TREATY OF NOVEMBER 10, 1808 — LEGISLATIVE ACTS. 

We deem a re-capitnlation of the different national, territorial, state 
and county governments, under which the territory now within the 
present boundary lines of Bates county has been, would be of interest 
and profit to those who are interested in the history of the government 
of the county. 

It was of the French possessions up to 1763, then of Spanish pos- 
session until 1800 when it again came under the control of the French 
government, and so continued up to April 30, 1803, when France ceded 
the Province of Louisiana to the United States of which it was a part. 

On March 26, 1804, by act of Congress it became a part of "Dis- 
trict of Louisiana," and was placed under the jurisdiction of what was 
then known as "Indian Territory." On March 3, 1805, it became a 
part of the "Territory of Louisiana." and so continued until July 4, 
1812, when the Territory of Missouri was organized, Missouri being 
admitted as a state on August 10, 1821, it has therefore been under its 
jurisdiction since that time. 

November 10, 1808, at a place or fort called at that time Fort Clark 
which was located on the Missouri river, at or near what is now the 
town of Sibley in Jackson county, a treaty was entered into by the United 
States with the Great and Little Osage Indians, by which the said 
Indians relinquished to the United States all claim or right to the land 
lying east of a line commencing at said Fort Clark and running due 
south to the Arkansas river. From data and information gathered 
from the general land office at Washington, it appears that this boundary 
line so agreed upon as separating the lands to be thereafter claimed 
and used by the Osage Indians for their home and hunting ground, 



132 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

entered this present territory at a point on the south bank of the Grand 
river at or near the center of section 14, of Grand River township and 
continuing south until the township of Pleasant Gap is reached, when 
its location would be about, or on the line between sections 3 and 4 of 
said township, and would therefore as it continued south pass on the 
east line of the town of Papinsville or about one-half mile east of the 
bank of the Marais des Cygnes river. All that part of the present terri- 
tory lying west of that line continued to be under the jurisdiction and 
control of the Osage Indians until the treaty of the United States with 
said Indians on June 22, 1825, by which treaty the Osage Indians relin- 
quished all their right or claim to lands lying within the State of Mis- 
souri. 

That part of the present territory of the county lying east of said 
Osage boundary line, or a strip about seven and one-half miles of the 
present territory, first came under the jurisdiction of county organiza- 
tion, by act of the Legislature, Laws of 1813 and 1814, in the organiz- 
ing of St. Louis county. By an act of the territorial Legislature of 
January 2Z, 1816, that part of now Bates county lying east of the Osage 
boundary line became a part of Howard county. This same territory 
was made a part of Cooper county, Territorial Laws 1818. act December 
17, 1818. 

By act of the Legislature of November 16, 1820 all that part of now 
Bates county lying north of the middle of the main channel of the Osage 
river to the w^est boundary line of the state, was organized with other 
territory into a county named Lillard. 

From the fact that at that time what is now called the Marais des 
Cygnes, was then probably called the Osage river, that the said south- 
ern line of Lillard county was to west line of the state, understood and 
intended to be the main channel of the now Marais des Cygnes river. 

By act of Legislature February 16, 1825. all that part of the present 
territory of Bates county lying west of the middle line of Mingo, Spruce, 
Deepwater. Hudson, Rockville townships, and north of a line starting 
at a point where the above said line crosses the middle of the channel 
of the Osage river and thence west to the state line, was organized into 
a county named Jackson. This south boundary line was about three- 
fourths of a mile south of the present southern boundary line of Bates 
county. 

That part lying east of the middle line of Mingo township and the 
other townships south of it, was organized February 16, 1825, as a 
part of a county named Lafayette. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 33 

That part of the present territory of the county lying north of a 
line starting at the northeast corner of Hudson township and running- 
west to the state line was by act of the Legislature of January 16, 1833. 
made a part of a county called Van Buren and that part lying south of 
this line with attached territory was organized into a county called 
Bates. It appears that the territory of both the said counties of Van 
Buren and Bates were attached to the county of Jackson, for all civil 
and .military purposes until they should be established and organized as 
separate counties by law. It appears that the southern boundary of said 
Jackson county was by this act fixed at about its present boundary line. 

On the 29th day of January, 1841, by act of the Legislature, Bates 
county w^as organized for civil and military purposes and included with 
other territory lying south of it, only that part of the present territory 
lying south of the line, commencing at the northeast corner of Hudson 
township and running thence west to the state line. By law March 28, 
1845, the north boundary line of Bates county was moved six miles 
further north so that its northern boundary was a line commencing at 
the southeast corner of tow^iship 41, range 29, (Spruce township) thence 
west to the state line. 

By act of the Legislature, 1849, the name of Van Buren county 
was changed to Cass county, consequently all that part of what is now 
Bates county lying north of the line above described as being the north 
line of Bates county was from that time a part of Cass county. 

By act of the Legislature February 17, 1851, all that part of the 
present county from what is now its northern boundary line south to a 
line for a southern boundary, which commenced on the state line at 
the northwest corner of section 18, running thence east to the 
line now dividing Bates and St. Clair counties, was organized into 
a county named Vernon. It will be noted that this line, with reference 
to the following towns as now located, would pass through the town 
of Hume, just south of Rich Hill, through Prairie City and strike tlie 
northern boundary line of Rockville. It was about three-fourths of a 
mile north of Papinsville, which was at that time the county seat of 
Bates county. 

The said act organizing Vernon county provided, however that 
there should be an election held within its prescribed boundary line, on 
the first Monday of August. 1851, and if a majority of the voters in the 
said new county did not vote therefor then the act should be void and 
inoperative. The election was so held, and a majority of the votes cast 
was for the orsfanization. 



134 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

One Samuel Scott was by the governor appointed sheriff, with other 
county officers, of the new county of Vernon. On October 8, 1851, in 
the circuit court, begun and held in the town of Papinsville, Samuel 
Sawyer, circuit attorney, filed an information in the nature of a quo 
warranto at the relation of George Douglass against the said Samuel 
Scott and other county officers, charging that the county of Vernon 
had not been legally organized and therefore the said Scott and others 
were unlawfully exercising authority as such officers. 

A change of venue was taken from the said court to Henry county 
circuit court, where it was tried before Hon. Waldo P. Johnson as 
judge of that circuit. At the November term, 1852, Judge Johnson 
held that the act 'establishing the said Vernon county was unconsti- 
tutional. 

An appeal was taken to the supreme court and the supreme court 
January term, 1853, affirmed the holding of Judge Johnson. This of 
course disorganized the said county of Vernon and that part of Cass 
and Bates counties that had l^een within the boundary of the pro- 
posed county of Vernon was again under the jurisdiction of the said 
counties respectively. 

By act of- the Legislature of February 22, 1855 the present northern 
boundary line of Bates county was established, thus making the two 
northern tiers of townships in Bates county as they are now. 

By act of the Legislature, February 27, 1855, the present county 
of Vernon was organized with its northern boundary line the same as 
it is at this time. This resulted in fixing the boundary lines of Bates 
county as they are now. 

It is novel, if not interesting, to note that had not the act of Febru- 
ary 17, 1851, organizing Vernon county been declared unconstitutional, 
Butler would have been the county seat of Vernon county, while Nevada 
would have been the countv seat of Bates countv. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE BORDER WARFARE. 



"KANSAS WAR"— PRO-SLAVERY SETTLERS VS. "FREE STATE MEN"— THE AGI- 
TATED, EXCITED PUBLIC MIND— FACTS BETWEEN LINCOLN'S ELECTION AND 
INAUGURATION — BORDER LAND INFLAMED — WAR REPORTS — OSAWATOMIE 
JOHN BROWN. 

The condition which prevailed on both sides of the line between 
Missouri and Kansas Territory, beginning in 1854 and lasting through 
1858, or say about five years, is what is referred to when the "border 
troubles" are mentioned. It was sometimes spoken of as the "Kansas 
War." But later the expression "Border Warfare" came to mean not 
only that, but included the warfare carried on along the line after the 
Civil Wa.!' had broken out, for two or three years. The original trouble 
grew out of the slavery question almost wholly. The pro-slavery set- 
tlers in Kansas Territory were determined to make Kansas Territory 
into a slave state ; and in this they had the earnest support of the pro- 
slavery men in western Missouri; and substantially all Missourians in 
this part of the state were pro-slavery. But the vigilant "free state 
men" who had settled in the Territory were equally resolute to make 
Kansas free. The excitement grew and conditions became worse and 
worse until neither person nor property was safe anywhere along the 
border from Westport to Ft. Scott. Marauders, thieves and murderers 
developed ; outrages were perpetrated by both sides. There seemed to 
be no responsible government anywhere. Blood flow^ed freely. Crimes 
were avenged, retaliation indulged, and many harmless and innocent 
citizens injured and ruined, if not killed. 

During all this time the war spirit was growing all over the nation 
and the issues joined in Kansas over the slavery question intensified 
and inflamed the minds of the people everywhere. Secession, disunion, 
began to be discussed seriously in the halls of Congress, in the news- 
papers, and from every stump in every political campaign. The leaders 
of the South, in Congress and out, held and believed that the states had 
a right under the Constitution to peaceably secede from the Union and 



136 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

organize a new nation. This was denied by the Unionists of the North, 
and so the public mind 1)ecame wonderfully agitated and excited. 

Lincoln was elected in November, 1860. South Carolina seceded 
December 20th; then followed Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 
Louisiana, and Texas, in January and February, 1862. The Southern 
Confederacy was formed at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 1862; 
and when Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1862, he found seven states 
already out of the Union so far as forms of civil procedure could put 
them out; on April 13th, Ft. Sumpter was surrendered by Major Ander- 
son; and on the 15th, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers. From that 
date the Civil War was on. On January 29. 1859, Kansas was admitted 
to the Union with a constitution prohibiting slavery. These were the 
outstanding facts which had occurred between Lincoln's election in 
November and his inauguration the following March. 

No part of the country had been more inflamed than this border 
land up and down the state line, of which section Bates county was 
near the center. The population of this county was overwhelmingly 
pro-slavery and for secession, disunion and the formation of the South- 
ern Confederacy. It l)ecame the rendezvous and hiding place of bush- 
wdiackers, marauders and irresponsible, lawless gangs who perpetrated 
all manner of outrages upon peaceable citizens and their property. 
Gangs, largely of the same general character, from Kansas, invaded 
this county either in retaliation or merely to plunder our citizens. The 
feeling was intense on both sides — the result of about six years of 
struggle over the Kansas free state question. Conditions were such that 
these bushwhackers and lawless bands could neither be controlled nor 
punished by the armies in the field; so after fruitless marchings to 
and fro by Union commands, in less or larger units, without being 
able to catch or kill or run out of the county this disloyal and treas- 
onable element, as a last resort and after mature consideration. General 
Thomas Ewing issued his celebrated "Order No. 11" in 1863, four 
days after Ouantrill's sack of Lawrence, and the brutal murder of 
unoffending and unarmed citizens. It used to be popular to refer to 
this only as "Ewing's infamous order." History has approved it as 
wise and proper, and salutary as a war measure. The necessity was 
urgent and the results beneficient. 

Not desiring to go into a discussion of details, possibly involving 
matters of opinion, it is deemed proper to give extended authentic war 
records from both sides touching this order, and showing conditions 
in Bates county during the Civil War. This generation, and the pres- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 37 

ent citizenship of Bates county are free from the passions of that un- 
happy strife; and yet few have an opportunity to read this interesting- 
history of or touching our county, and in order to make the official 
"War Reports" available to the readers of this history, we have gath- 
ered together from the official reports printed by the government the 
following: 

Headquarters Department of the Missouri, 
Saint Louis, August 25. 1863. 
Brigadier-General Ewing, Commanding District of the Border, 
Kansas City, Missouri: 

General : I inclose a draught of an order which I propose to issue 
in due time. I send it to you in order that you may make the necessary 
preparations for it. Such a measure will, of course, produce retaliation 
upon such loyal people as may be exposed to it, and they should, as 
far as possible, be removed to places of safety before the execution of 
the order is commenced or the purpose to execute it is made public. 
Also, it is necessary to be quite certain that you have the power to 
put down the Rebel bands, and prevent retaliation like that recently 
inflicted upon Lawrence, if, indeed, that can 1)e regarded or was intended 
as an act of retaliation. My information relative to that distressing 
affair is too imperfect to enable me to judge accurately on this point. 
But it occurs to me as at least probable that the massacre and burning 
at Lawrence was the immediate consequence of the inauguration of 
the policy of removing from the l)order counties the slaves of rebels 
and the families of J^ushwhackers. If this is true, it would seem a 
strong argument against the wisdom of such policy. You are in posi- 
tion to judge of all this better than I can. At all events. I am pretty 
much convinced that the mode of carrying on the war on the border 
during the past two years has produced such a state of feeling that noth- 
ing short of total devastation of the districts which are made the haunts 
of guerrillas will be sufficient to put a stop to the evil. Please consider 
the matter fully and carefully, and give me your views in regard to the 
necessity for the application of such severe remedy, and of the wisdom 
of the method proposed. I will be guided mainly by your judgment 
in regard to it. If you desire the order to be issued as I have written it, 
or with any modifications which you may suggest, please inform me 
when you are ready for it. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. 



138 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

(Inclosure.) 

A band of robbers and murderers, under the notorious Ouantrill, has 
been for a long time harbored and fed by the disloyal people of Jackson, 
Cass, and Bates counties, Missouri, and have driven out or murdered 
nearly all the loyal people of those counties; and, finally on the 

of the present month these brigands, issuing suddenly from their 

hiding places, made a descent upon the town of Law^rence, in Kan- 
sas, and in the most inhuman manner sacked and burned the town, 
and murdered in cold blood a large number of loyal and unoffending 
citizens. It is manifest that all ordinary means have failed to subdue 
the rebellious spirit of the people of the counties named, and that they 
are determined to harbor and encourage a band of scoundrels whose 
every object is plunder and murder. This state of things cannot be 
permitted longer to exist, and nothing less than the most radical remedy 
will be sufficient to remove the evil. It is therefore ordered that the 
disloyal people of Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties will be given until 

the day of to remove from those counties, with such 

of their personal property as they may choose to carry away. At the end 
of the time named all houses, barns, provisions, and other property 
belonging to such disloyal persons, and which can be used to shelter, 
protect, or support the bands of robbers and murderers which infest 
those counties, will be destroyed or seized and appropriated to the use 
of the government. Property situated at or near military posts, and 
in or near towns which can be protected by troops so as not to be used 
by the bands of robbers will not be destroyed, but will be appropriated 
to the use of such loyal or innocent persons as may be made homeless 
by the acts of guerrillas or by the execution of this order. The com- 
manding general is aware that some innocent persons must suffer from 
these extreme measures, but such suffering is unavoidable, and will be 
made as light as possible. A district or county inhabited almost solely 
by Rebels cannot be permitted to l)e made a hiding place for robbers 
and murderers, from which to sally forth on their errands of rapine 
and death. It is sincely hoped that it will not be necessary to apply 
this remedy to any other portion of Missouri. But if the people of 
disloyal districts wish to avoid it, they must unite to prevent its neces- 
sity, which is clearly in their power to do. 

This order will be executed by Brigadier-General Ewing, com- 
manding District of the Border, and such officers as he may specially 
detail for the purpose. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I39 

Headquarters District of the Border, 
Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863. 
Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, 
St. Louis, Mo. : 

Sir: I got in late yesterday afternoon. I send in inclosed paper 
General Orders No. 11, which I found it necessary to issue at once, 
or I would have first consulted you. The excitement in Kansas is 
great, and there is (or was before this order) great danger of a raid of 
citizens for the purpose of destroying the towns along the border. My 
political enemies are fanning the flames, and wish me for a burnt- 
ofifering to satisfy the just passion of the people. 

If you think it best, please consider me as applying for a court of 
inquiry. It should be appointed by the General-in-Chief, or the Secre- 
tary of War. General Deitzler, of Lawrence, is the only of^cer of rank 
I think in Kansas who would be regarded as perfectly impartial. He 
is at Lawrence now on sick furlough, but is well enough for such duty, 
and knows the district. 

I do not make unconditional application for the court, because 1 
have seen no censure of any one act of mine, or omission even, except 
my absence from headquarters. It is all mere mob clamor, and all at 
Leavenworth. Besides. I do not, with my want of familiarit}' with the 
custom of the service in such matters and with the horrors of the massa- 
cre distressing me, feel confidence in my judgment as to the matter. I 
therefore ask your friendly advice and action, with the statement that 
if a full clearance of me, by the court, is worth anything to you, or 
me. or the service, I would like to have the court. 

I left my headquarters to go to Leavenworth the day before the 
massacre, on public business. I have never taken an hour of ease or 
rest with anything undone which I thought necessary for the protec- 
tion of the border. No man, woman, or child ever suggested the idea 
of stationing troops permanently at Lawrence. The whole border has 
been patrolled night and day for 90 miles, and all the troops under my 
command posted and employed as well as I know how to do it. I 
have not the slightest doubt tha-t any fair court would not only acquit 
me of all suspicion of negligence, but also give, me credit for great pre- 
caution and some skill in my adjustment of troops. I assure you. gen- 
eral, I would quit the service at once if I were accused, after candid 



J 



140 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

investigation, of the slightest negligence or of a want of average skill 
in the comm-and of the forces you have given me. 

I ani, general, very respectfully, your obedient servent, 

THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General. 
(Inclosure.) 
General Orders No. 11. Headquarters District of the Border. 

Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863. 

1. All persons living in Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, Missouri, 
and in that part of Vernon included in this district, except those living 
within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman Mills, Pleasant 
Hill, and Harrisonville, and except those in that part of Kaw township, 
Jackson county, north of Brush creek and west of the Big Blue, are 
hereby ordered to remove from their present places of residence within 
fifteen days from the date hereof. Those wdio, within that time, estab- 
lished their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of 
the military station nearest their present places of residence will receive 
from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty, and the names 
of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive such cer- 
tificates will be permitted to remove to any military station in this 
district, or to any part of the state of Kansas, except the counties on 
the eastern border of the state. All others shall remove out of this dis- 
trict. Officers commanding companies and detachments serving in the 
counties named will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed. 

2. All grain and hay in the field or under shelter in the district 
from which the inhabitants are required to remove \Vithin reach of mili- 
tary stations after the 9th day of September next will l)e taken to such 
stations and turned over to the proper officers there, and report of the 
amount so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the 
names of all loyal owners and the amount of such produce taken from 
them. All grain and hay found in such district after the 9th day of 
September next not convenient to such stations will be destroyed. 

3. The provisions of General Orders No. 10, from these headquar- 
ters will be at once vigorously executed by officers commanding in the 
parts of the district and at all the stations not subject to the operation 
of paragraph 1 of this order, and especially in the towns of Independence, 
Westport, and Kansas City. 

4. Paragraph 3, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to all who 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I4I 

have borne arms against the government in this district since the 21st 
day of August, 1863. 

By order of Brigadier-General Ewing. 

H. HANNAHS, 
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 



Leavenworth, Kansas, August 26, 1863. 
His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, 
President of the United States: 

The result of the massacre at Lawrence has excited feeling amongst 
our people which make a collision between them and the military prob- 
able. The imbecility and incapacity of Schofield is most deplorable. Our 
people unanimously demand the removal of Schofield, whose policy has 
opened Kansas to invasion and butchery.* 

A. C. WILDER, 
J. H. LANE. 
* See Lincoln to Schofield, August 27, p. 142, and reply. August 28, 
p. 144. 



Saint Louis, Mo., August 26, 1863. 
Brigadier-General Ewing, Kansas City: 

I wrote you yesterday about measures to be taken in the border 
counties of Missouri. Do not permit irresponsible parties to enter Mis- 
souri for retaliation; whatever of that is to be done must be by your 
troops, acting under your own orders. 

J. M. SCHOFIELD. 

Major-General. 



Kansas City, Mo., August 26. 1863. 
Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, 

Saint Louis, Mo. : 

I shall not permit any unauthorized expedition into Missouri. No 
citizens are in now, and none went in except with my troops. I do not 
much apprehend any attempt of the kind, except, perhaps, secret efTorts 
of incendiaries to destroy Independence. Westpoft, or Kansas City, 
although the people of Kansas are mortified and exasperated, and those 
of the border considerably alarmed. I will have to clear out a good 



142 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

many Rebels in Independence, Westport, and Kansas City. I need 
Lieutenant-Colonel Van Horn, Twenty-fifth Missouri, to command this 
post. Please detail him, if you can. He is now at Saint Louis. 

THOMAS EWING, JR., 

Brigadier-General. 



Kansas City, Mo., August 26, 1863. 
Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield. 

Commanding Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo.: 
My troops are still in pursuit, Ouantrill's men are scattered, the 
worst having gone out of the border counties. At last reports we have 
killed from 50 to 60. I have ordered all families out of the border coun- 
ties of Missouri in fifteen days, allowing Union men to remain at or 
come to military stations or go to the interior of Kansas, and compelling 
all the rest to leave the district. I will destroy or take to stations all 
forage and substance left in those counties after date fixed for removal. 
I have written you the reason for issuing the order; I am sure you 
would approve if here. This raid has made it impossible to save any 
families in those counties away from the stations, for they are practically 
the servants and supporters of the guerrillas. I anticipate the collection 
on the border of a large part of the guerillas of southwestern Missouri to 
resist or revenge the execution of this measure. If you can send me 
more troops, please do so. I can use the Twenty-fifth Missouri or the 
Tenth Kansas to good advantage garrisoning the posts. There has 
been no failure to exert every possible effort to catch Ouantrill, except 
at Paola, Friday night, when a great occasion was lost. I will see that 
the censure for that falls where it belongs. The charges set afloat from 
Leavenworth are false and malignant, so far as they apply to me and 
Major Plumb, and are instigated and paid f*or by political Ouantrills. 

THOMAS EWING, JR., 

Brigadier-General. 



Washington, D. C, August 27, 1863, 8:30 a. m. 
General Schofield, Saint Louis: 

I have just received the dispatch which follows from two very influ- 
ential citizens of Kansas, whose names I omit.* The severe blow they 
have received naturally enough makes them intemperate even without 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I43 

there being any just cause for blame. Please do your utmost to give 
them future security and to punish their invaders. 

A. LINCOLN. 
* See Wilder and Lane to Lincoln, August 26, p. 14L 



Washington, D. C, August 27, 1863, 8:30 a. m. 
Hon. A. C. W^ilder, Hon, J. H. Lane, 

Leavenworth, Kansas: 

Notice of your demand for the removal of General Schofield is 
hereby acknowledged. A. LINCOLN. 



Kansas City, Mo., August 27, 1863. 
Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, 

Saint Louis, Mo. : 

Quantrill's men are scattered in their fastness throughout the border 
counties, and are still being hunted by all available troops from all parts 
of the district. Many of them have abandoned their worn-out horses 
and gone to the brush afoot. They were all remounted at Lawrence, 
with horses they captured there, and they led their own horses back, 
packing the plundered goods. The led horses and stolen goods were 
nearly all abandoned in the chase before they got far into Missouri ; 
300 horses have already been taken by our troops, including some of 
those taken at Lawrence. Most of the goods and much of the money 
stolen have been retaken, and will, as far as possible be restored. Reports 
received since my dispatch of yesterday of 21 killed, making in all about 
80. I think it will largely exceed 100 before any considerable part of 
our troops withdraw from the pursuit. No prisoners have been taken 
and none will be. All the houses in which Lawrence goods have been 
found have been destroyed, as well as all the houses of known guerrillas, 
wherever our troops have gone. I intend to destroy the houses of all 
persons in the border counties, outside of military stations, who do not 
remove, in obedience to my last general order, by the 9th day of Sep- 
tember next. THOMAS EWING, JR., 

Brigadier-General. 



Kansas City, Missouri, August 27. 1863. 
Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield: 

Reports reach me from Leavenworth that Major Anthony is endeav- 
oring to get up expedition into Missouri. Uncertain whether expedition 



144 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

is to cross the Missouri river or enter southern borders, I have notified 
Governor Carney, whom, I have reason to know, has done nothing to 
quiet the excitement, warning him that I would resist such an invasion 
of Missouri. I have notified General Guitar and commanding ofificers 
at Liberty, and ordered provost-marshal at Leavenworth to keep com- 
manding officers at Westoji advised. I do not apprehend serious trouble. 
My dispatch this morningshould have read "150 horses." 

THOMAS EWING, JR., 

Brisradier-General. 



Headcjuarters Department of the Missouri, 
Saint Louis, August 28, 1863. 
Abraham Lincoln, President of the LInited States, 

Washington, D. C. : 

Mr. President: In reply to your telegram of the 27th, transmitting 
copy of one received from two influential citizens of Kansas, I beg leave 
to state some of the facts connected with the horrible massacre at Law- 
rence, and also relative to the assaults made upon me by a certain 
class of influential politicians. 

Since the capture of Vicksburg a considerable portion of the Rebel 
army in the Mississippi valley has disbanded, and large numbers of 
men have come back to Missouri — many of them, doubtless, in the 
hope of being permitted to remain at their former homes in peace, while 
some have come under instructions to carry on a guerrilla warfare, and 
others, men of the worst character, become marauders on their own 
account, caring nothing for the Union nor for the Rebellion, except as 
the latter affords them a cloak for their brigandage. 

Under instructions from the Rebel authorities, as I am informed and 
believe, considerable bands, called "Border Guards," were organized in 
the counties of Missouri bordering on Kansas, for the ostensible pur- 
pose of protecting those counties from inroads from Kansas, and pre- 
venting slaves of Rebels from escaping from Missouri into Kansas. These 
bands were unquestionably encouraged, fed, and harbored by a very 
considerable portion of the people in those border counties. Many of 
those people were in fact the families of these bushwhackers, who are 
brigands of the worst type. Upon the representation of General Ewing 
and others familiar with the facts, I became satisfied there could be no 
cure for the evil short of the removal from those counties of all slaves 
entitled to their freedom, and of the families of all men known to belong 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I45 

to these bands, and others who were known to sympathize with them. 
Accordingly I directed General Ewing to adopt and carry out the policy 
he had indicated, warning him, however, of the retaliation which might 
be attempted, and that he must be fully prepared to prevent it before 
commencing such severe measures. 

Almost immediately after it became known that such policy had 
been adopted, Quantrill secretly assembled from several of the border 
counties of Missouri about 300 of his men. They met at a preconcerted 
place of rendezvous, near the Kansas line, at about sunset, and imme- 
diately marched for LawTence, which place they reached at daylight the 
next morning. They sacked and burned the town and murdered the 
citizens in the most barbarous manner. 

It is easy to see that any unguarded town in a country where such 
a number of outlaws can be assembled is liable to a similar fate, if the 
villains are willing to risk retribution wdiich must follow. In this case 
100 of them have already been slain, and the remainder are hotly pur- 
sued in all directions. If there was any fault on the part of General 
Ewing, it appears to have been in not guarding Lawrence. But of this 
it was not my purpose to speak. General Ewing and the governor of 
Kansas have asked for a court of inquiry, and I have sent to the War- 
Department a request that one may be appointed, and I do not wish to 
anticipate the result of a full investigation I believe, beyond doubt, that 
the terrible disaster at Lawrence was the immediate consequence of 
the "radical" measures to which I have alluded. Although these meas- 
ures are far behind what many, at least, of the radical leaders demand, 
they surely cannot attribute the sad result to "conservative policy." 

Had these measures been adopted last winter, when the state was 
easily controlled, because the absence of leaves from the brush rendered 
it impossible for the bushwhackers to hide from the troops, and there 
was a large force in the state lying idle, they might have been carried 
out without injury to the loyal people. The larger part of my troops 
having been called off for service in Arkansas and down the Mississippi, 
and the summer being favorable for guerrilla operations, it may have 
been unwise to adopt such measures at this time. If so, they have no 
right to complain who have been continually clamoring for such meas- 
ures, and who couple their denunciations of me with demands for more 
radical measures still, and hold up by w^ay of contrast, as their model, 
the general who did not see fit to adopt such measures when they could 

(lO) 



146 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

have been carried out with perfect ease and security. You will, per- 
haps, remember that while in command of Missouri, in 1862, I adopted 
and enforced certain very severe and radical measures towards those 
in open rebellion and their sympathizers. I believed at the time, and 
still believe, that those measures were wise and necessary at the time 
they were adopted, and they seemed to meet with the hearty approval 
of at least the ultra-Union people of Missouri. After I was relieved 
by General Curtis, these measures were all abandoned. None of them 
were revised by him during his administration except that of banish- 
ment of Rebel sympathizers, and no other of like radical character adopted 
by him, except that, perhaps, of* granting "free papers" to slaves, and 
confiscation of property without any form of trial known to any law, 
either civil or military. The banishment of Rebels I have continued, 
and I have conformed to the laws as nearly as possible in reference to 
slaves and property subject to confiscation. 

I have revised my former severe mode of dealing with guerrillas, 
robbers, and murderers which General Curtis had abandoned, and have 
treated with some severity, though of a far milder form, those law- 
breakers who profess to be Union men. Among the latter were several^ 
provost marshals and members of commissions whom I have been com- 
pelled to arrest and punish for enormous frauds and extortions. They 
are, of course, loud-mouthed radicals. 

I have permitted those who have been in rebellion, and who volun- 
tarily surrender themselves and their arms, to take the oath of alle- 
giance and give bonds for their future good conduct, and release them 
upon condition that they reside in such portion of the State as I shall 
direct. For this I am most bitterly assailed by the radicals, who demand 
that every man who has been in rebellion or in any way aided shall be 
exterminated or driven from the state. There are thousands of such 
criminals, and no man can fail to see that such a course would light 
the flames of a war such as Missouri has never yet seen. Their leaders 
know it, but it is necessary to their ascendacy, and they scruple at noth- 
ing to accomplish that end. 

I am officially informed that a large meeting has been held at Leaven- 
worth, in which a resolution was adopted to the effect that the people 
would assemble at a certain place on the border, on the 8th of Sep- 
tember, for the purpose of entering Missouri to search for their stolen 
property. Efforts have been made by the mayor of Leavenworth to 
get possession of the ferry at that place for the purpose of crossing 
armed parties of citizens into northern Missouri. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I47 

I have strong reasons for believing that the authors of the telegram 
to you are among those who introduced and obtained the adoption 
of the Leavenworth resolution, and who are endeavoring to organize 
a force for the purpose of general retaliation upon Missouri. Those 
who so deplore my "imbecility and incapacity" are the very men who 
are endeavoring to bring about a collision between the people of Kansas 
and the troops under General Ewing's command. I have not the "capa- 
city" to see the wisdom or justice of permitting an irresponsible mob 
to enter Missouri for the purpose of retaliation even for so grievous 
a wrong as that which Lawrence has suffered. 

I have increased the force upon the border as far as possible, and 
no effort has been or will be spared to punish the invaders of Kansas 
and to prevent such acts in future. The force there has been all the 
time far larger than in any other portion of my department except on 
the advanced line in Arkansas and the Indian Territory. 

I deem it proper to remark here that the allusions to my prede- 
cessor are in no wise intended as a reflection upon him or his official 
acts, but merely because those who so bitterly assail me hold him up 
as their model. 

Please accept my apologies, Mr. President, for the length of this 
letter. I could hardly, in justice to myself or to truth, make it shorter. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. M. SCHOFIELD, 

Major-General. 



Hon. Edward Bates, Saint Louis, August 28, 1863. 

Attorney-General United States: 

My Dear Sir: I regret extremely the necessity which compels me 
to write you at this time, but the sad condition of the western coun- 
ties of our state prompts me to do so, and I certainly know of no one 
to whom Missourians can appeal with a greater certainty of being 
favorably listened to. At the earnest request of many of our citizens, 
who fear that the recent outrages in Kansas would be visited upon 
our own section of the state. I came down to see General Schofield, and 
to ascertain, if possible, what policy he proposed to adopt. I find, on 
conversation with him, that he is greatly excited, and seems entirely 
disposed to offer no obstruction to the contemplated invasion of our 
state by the people of Kansas indeed, he expressed a wish that such 
might be the case. 

Now, sir, at the same time that no one would strive harder or risk 



148 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

more to l:)ring those lawless murderers to justice than I would, I cannot 
see the propriety of adopting a policy wdiich is to involve the innocent 
and the guilty in common ruin, and General Schofield's duty, under the 
circumstances is rather to throw himself into the breach, and to withstand 
the wild popular excitement of the moment, than, yielding to its influence, 
to add a thousand-fold to the miseries under which the country is already 
suffering. I can well imagine how General Schofield. situated as he is, 
would be reluctant to pursue any course which would bring down upon 
him the increased displeasure of the radical party in Missouri but it is 
not less his duty, and as the military commander of the department he 
ought to discharge his duty regardless of consequences. It is a fact 
well known to me that hundreds of the people of Jackson and Casb 
counties are true and loyal men; they have already been robbed of their 
property, insulted, and in many instances murdered by these troops from 
Kansas. The policy pursued has caused hundreds of good men to leave 
their homes and fly to the l)ushes for protection, while others have 
actually joined the guerillas as a measure of safety, believing that they 
would be less liable to danger there than at their homes. These are 
generally men of little intelligence, who do not take consequences into 
consideration, and are not prompted by a very high order of patriotism ; 
they act from motives of present interest, and for the temporary safety 
of their persons have been induced to commit a great crime against 
their country. Others, I regret to say, who in the beginning were dis- 
loyal, have under the various proclamations of the President and the 
Governor, returned to their homes, and, after doing so, have been ruth- 
lessly shot and hung by the soldiery. The good faith of the Govern- 
ment has been broken in so many cases that the people have become 
reluctant to return, believing that it would be violated towards them. 
The Government is not to blame for this, Init the officers in command 
are, for failing to punish their soldiers for such acts of faithlessness 
and brutality. Our population, loyal as well as disloyal, are unarmed, 
by order of the military authorities of the state, and in that helpless 
condition, T understand General Schofield to say, that it will meet his 
approbation for them to be invaded by the people of Kansas — not by 
an organized force but an iwesponsible mob, already excited and 
enraged, and who, even before the commission of these outrages by 
Quantrill, were ready at all times to seize on any pretext which would 
justify the pillage of our state and the indiscriminate murder of our 
citizens. The absence of the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor is at 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I49 

this time a misfortune ; they might successfully and with propriety 
appeal to General Schofielcl to act differently from what he proposes 
to do. Mr. Glover, in whose assistance and advice I have at all times 
relied witlr confidence, is also absent and sick in the northern part of 
the state. I have conversed with Colonel Broadhead, and find him fully 
coinciding with me in the policy which, in my opinion, should be adopted, 
and which I humbly beg to suggest. The great mistake was annexing 
a part of our state to the Military District of Kansas, and the next 
great error was in placing but a soldier, a man who has no purpose to 
subserve and no popularity to gain, by permitting one state to be robbed 
to enrich the people of another, and who would rigidly and fearlessly 
discharge his duties. A firm, just policy is what will give peace to the 
country, and nothing else will. 

I have no motive other than the good of our state and people. I 
desire to see the country at peace once more, and peace can and will 
follow a judicious administration upon the border. Inclosed is a memo- 
rial addressed to the President, which I have been requested to forward 
to you, begging that you will present it. Mr. Henderson is in Wash- 
ington, and would, I have no doubt, co-operate with you in any way 
you might wish. 

I am, sir, most faithfully, your friend, 

RICH'D C. VAUGHAN. 
(Inclosure) , 

His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, 

President of the United States: 

Your memorialists would respectfully state that they are loyal citi- 
zens of the United States and of the State of Missouri, and, having 
been such at all times, they regard it as their right and di,ity to represent 
to Your Excellency the unhappy condition of aiTairs now existing along 
the western border of their state, and to pray Your Excellency's inter- 
position in behalf of a sufTering people. Your memorialists feel that 
justice and humanity demand at least this much at their hands. They 
therefore beg Your Excellency's attention to the facts hereinafter 
appearing. 

For more than two years past our western border has been the 
theater of strife and bloodshed, and has been overrun 1)y lawless bands 
of desperadoes, who. with a reckless and unrestrained soldierv. have 
rioted upon the substance of the people and have wantonly destroyed 
their property and trampled upon their most sacred rights. Theft, 



150 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

robbery, house-burning, and other crimes have been perpetrated with 
impunity, and to such an extent has this system of plunder and vandal- 
ism prevailed that it has impoverished and almost depopulated one of 
the fairest and most wealthy and prosperous parts of our state, and, 
unless arrested, it will certainly involve in similar ruin many other sec- 
tions of the state that have hitherto, -in a measure, escaped its ravages. 

During the past month theft, robbery, arson, and murder have been 
of almost daily occurence, and the fearful threat that the border shall 
be made a desolation, it appears, is about to be executed. During the 
past fortnight these evils have existed in a most fearful and intensitied 
form, and but little has been done to arrest them. Why they should 
be allowed your memorialist cannot perceive. They had their origin 
as far back as the fall of 1861, in the burning of Osceola and other 
small villages along the border, and from that time to the present they 
have gradually increased, and the horrible barbarities that have uni- 
formly attended them have at last become as appalling as those which 
characterized savage warfare in the early history of this country. The 
lives of the people and the material wealth of the country have been 
wantonly and wickedly destroyed in a manner and to an extent that 
have been hitherto unknown and unheard of among a civilized 
people. That which cannot be carried away is committed to the flames, 
and thus helpless and defenseless women and children are left destitute 
of food, raiment, or shelter, and without the means of escape from 
suffering and ruin. 

These evils have produced a degree of consternation that language 
cannot describe, and which none can comprehend save those who have 
witnessed it ; yet it is the natural result of the retaliatory warfare and 
of the unrestrained lawlessness that have existed in western Missouri 
for the last two years, which, if not speedily checked, will involve in 
ruin by far the greater parts of this state and Kansas, and will be pro- 
ductive of other evils the magnitude of which no one can now estimate. 
Your memorialists greatly fear that the recent outrages perpetrated 
in both Missouri and Kansas but faintly foreshadowing the future his- 
tory of these states if some means cannot be adopted to allay the excite- 
ment and arrest the lawless violence now prevailing along the border. 
Whatever may have been the errors of many of our citizens in the 
beginning of this terrible rebellion, your memorialists entertain no kind 
of doubt that an overwhelming majority of the masses are now sin- 
cerely determined to support the Government of the United States 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I5I 

and the provisional government of Missouri, nor the least doubt that 
they, in good faith, accept the ordinance of emancipation adopted by 
the late convention as a final and complete settlement of the question 
of slavery in this state. There can be no question of these facts, nor 
have your memorialists a shadow of a doubt that a firm and just policy 
in the future conduct of the military affairs of this state will prove more 
conducive to her peace and to the interests of the Federal Government 
than any other that can possibly be adopted. It will do more in thirty 
days, if honestly carried out and rigidly enforced, to restore our state 
to her wonted condition of peace and prosperity than the system of 
pillage and burning, now enforced, will accomplish in as many years. 

Your memorialists further beg leave to say that one of the most 
fruitful sources of trouble in western Missouri is the attachment of a 
part of her territory to the District of the Border. This arrangement, 
however well intended, your memorialists fear will, while it is con- 
tinued, occasion incessant trouble, and will greatly hinder the restora- 
tion of law and order, no matter what policy may be adopted or who 
may be placed in command. Old animosities existing between the peo- 
ple of Missouri and Kansas, imbittered and intensified by the recent 
barbarous acts of a guerrilla band perpetrated upon the citizens of 
Lawrence, in the latter state, will develop themselves, and will seek 
gratification in retaliatory acts upon the citizens of the former, although 
they are, with rare exceptions, as sincerely opposed to those infamous 
outlaws as the people of Kansas ever have been. But this late and 
atrocious outrage has furnished a pretext for future and greater and 
infinitely more unjust acts of retaliation upon our people than any from 
which they have hitherto suffered. 

The following telegram, published in the "Missouri Democrat," of 
this city, speaks volumes on this point. The statement that there were 
citizens of Missouri engaged in the raid, except such as have nearly 
two years been regarded as outlaws, is not worthy of credit. It is 
made for effect and to palliate acts of retaliation. 



(Special dispatch to the "Missouri Democrat.") 

Leavenworth, August 2f 
General Lane has returned to Lawrence. A meeting was held on 
his return. Lane said the citizens had killed 41 of Ouantrill's men. 
Majors Clark and Plumb were denounced. The people of Baldwin dis- 
puted Ouantrill in passing a ford, and say if Plumb had done his duty 



152 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

they could have whipped the Rebels. Lane is organizing forces, and 
says he will go into Missouri on the 9th of September. He left Gen- 
eral Ewing only on a pledge that Ewing would issue an order directing 
all the citizens of Jackson, Cass, Bates and part of Vernon counties, 
except those in Kansas City, Westport, Harrisonville, and Indepen- 
dence, to leave the county within fifteen days. Ewing has issued the 
order, and the people of Kansas are going into Missouri to see the 
order executed. The people have demanded the order issued by the 
general commanding, and the people will see it executed. They say 
they will have no more of the Scholield-Ewing orders. Ewing is fright- 
ened, and in the chase after Ouantrill was in a complete quandary. He 
is looked upon as being a general without a heart and brains. About 
50 of the most noted secesh of Platte county have subscribed from $1 
to $10 each for the Lawrence fund. By so doing they expect to escape 
the anticipated devastation of western Missouri. 

General Ewing has returned to Kansas City. Quantrill had with 
him Sam. Hays, brother of Up. Hays, Dick Yeager, Holt, George Todd, 
and Younger, with 150 men, on whom they could depend in a fight, 
with about 150 more of the citizens of Platte, Clay. La Fayette, Jack- 
son, Cass, and Bates counties, not over 300 in all. One thousand Kan- 
sas men will be in Missouri this week. 

LTp to this morning 183 bodies were buried in Lawrence. The 
remains of 7 more bodies are found. One hundred and eighty-two 
buildings were burned ; 80 of them were brick ; 65 of them were on 
Massachusetts street. There are 85 widows and 240 orphans made by 
Ouantrill's raid. Lane has commenced rebuilding his house. Three 
men have subscribed $100,000 to rebuild the Free State Hotel, known 
as the Eldridge Hotel. Several merchants have commenced rebuild- 
ing. All the laboring men in town will set to work to-morrow to clear 
off the ruins. In spite of the terrible calamity, the people are in good 
spirits. All the towns in the state have sent in large sums of money. 
Even the men burned out on Ouantrill's retreat have sent in loads of 
vegetables, and provisions. 

A man was to-day tried in Lawrence, and found guilty of being a 
spy for Ouantrill, and was hung. 

The chiefs of the civilized Indians of the Delawares and Sacs and 
Foxes offered their services to Lane. 

Reports just in say the buildings in Cass county, Missouri are on 
fire, and over 100 of the sympathizers are killed. A fearful retri1:)Ution 
no doubt awaits Missouri. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 53 

In view of these facts, your memorialists respectfully, but most 
earnestly, pray Your Excellency to rescind the order by which a part 
of Missouri is attached to the District of the Border, and to order that 
it be reattached to the Central District of Missouri, or to any other 
district in our state. 

All that your memorialists desire in the premises, aside from the 
change above indicated, is that some tried and faithful ofificer may be 
placed in command over the soldiers and people in the counties of the 
border — some ofificer whose sense of duty and of love to his country 
rises far above his political aspirations and party ties and prejudices, 
and whose sole desire and efforts will be to guard and foster the inter- 
ests of the Government in that region, and to bring law and order out 
of the chaos that now prevails. 

This is all that the masses of the people desire, and for this your 
memorialists will ever pray, &c. 

A. A. KING. 
R. C. VAUGHAN. 
A. COMINGO. 
(Indorsement.) 

It is not improbable that retaliation for the recent great outrage 
at Lawrence, in Kansas, may extend to indiscriminate slaughter on the 
Missouri border, unless averted by very judicious action. I shall be 
obliged if the General-in-Chief can make any suggestions to General 
Schofield upon the subject. A. LINCOLN. 

August 31, 1863. 



Leavenworth. Kansas, August 24, 1863. 
Major-General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo. : 

Sir: Disaster has again fallen on our state. Lawrence is in ashes. 
Millions of property have been destroyed, and, worse yet. nearly 200 
lives of our best citizens have been sacrificed. No fiends in human 
shape could have acted with more savage barbarity than did Ouantrill 
and his band in their last successful raid. I must hold Missouri respon- 
sible for this fearful, fiendish raid. No body of men large as that com- 
manded by Ouantrill could have gathered together without the people 
residing in western Missouri knowing everything about it. Such peo- 
ple cannot be considered loyal, and should not be treated as loyal citi- 
zens ; for, while they conceal the movements of desperadoes like Ouan- 
trill and his followers, they are in the worst sense of the word their 
aiders and abettors, and should be held equally guilty. 



154 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

There is no way of reaching these armed ruffians while the civiHan 
is permitted to cloak him. There can be no peace in Missouri — there 
will be utter desolation in Kansas — unless both are made to feel promptly 
the rigor of military law. The peace of both states and the safety of 
the Republic demand alike this resolute course of action. I urge upon 
you, therefor, the adoption of this policy as the only policy which can 
save both western Missouri and Kansas, for if this policy be not imme- 
diately adopted, the people themselves, acting upon the common prin- 
ciple of self-defense, will take the matter in their own hands and avenge 
their own wrongs. You will not misunderstand me. I do not use, or 
intend to use, any threats. I tell you only what our people, to a man 
almost, feel. The excitement over the success of Ouantrill is intense 
— intense all over the state — and I do not see how I can hesitate to 
demand, or how you can refuse to grant, a court of inquiry by which 
the cause of that fatal success may be fully investigated and all the 
facts laid before the public. I go even further: I demand that this court 
of inquiry shall have power to investigate all matters touching mili- 
tary wrong-doing in Kansas; and I do this most earnestly to guarantee 
alike our present and future safety. 

As regards arms, we are destitute. There are none at the fort and 
none in the state. I telegraphed the Secretary of War this fact, asking 
him to turn over to me here arms in sufficient quantity to meet our 
wants. He ordered it done, and replied further, that anything the Gov- 
ernment could do to aid Kansas should be done. This being so, will 
you not express to me arms for cavalry and infantry sufficient to arm 
the regiments? I enclose the copy of the dispatch of the Secretary of 
War to me,* that you may see its purport and understand its spirit. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

THOMAS CARNEY. 

Governor. 

*See p. 170. • 



Kansas City. Missouri, August 28, \S63. 
Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.: 

At the meeting last night, in Leavenworth, Land had a resolution 
passed proposing a meeting of citizens of Kan.«;as at Paola, on the 8th 
of September, to search for their stolen property in Missouri. It was 
intended partly, I think, to scare the people in the border counties into 
a prompt compliance with my order, and partly for political capital. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 55 

He telegraphed me this morning that they would place themselves 
under my orders. I have but little doubt I will be able to control mat- 
ters so as to prevent any considerable acts of retaliation. 

The provost-marshal at Leavenworth has been threatened by 
Anthony to make him (release) control of the ferry and tiat boats 
at Leavenworth for a raid into Platte county, but I do not think he will 
attempt to carry the threat into execution. Captain Joy will prevent 
(the crossing) I feel sure. You may rely on my doing everything to 
prevent a collision with citizens of Kansas; but if one must occur, my 
soldiers will do their duty. 

THOMAS EWING, JR., 

Brigadier-General. 



Headquarters Department of the Missouri, 

Saint Louis, August 29, 1863. 
His Excellency Thomas Carney, 
Governor of Kansas : 

Governor: I have forwarded a copy of your letter of the 24th to 
the War Department, and requested the President to appoint a court 
of inquiry, with full powers to investigate all matters touching military 
affairs in Kansas, and have urged it strongly. I have no doubt the 
court will be appointed, and that the responsibility of the sad calamity 
which has befallen Lawrence will be placed where it properly belongs. 
Be assured that nothing in my power shall be omitted to visit just 
vengeance upon all who are in any way guilty of the horrible crime, 
and to secure Kansas against anything of the kind in future. Mean- 
while let me urge upon you the importance of mollifying the just anger 
by your leaving it to the United States troops to execute the vengeance 
which they so justly demand. It needs no argument to convince you 
of the necessity of this course ; without it there would be no end of 
retaliation on either side, and utter desolation on both sides of the 
border would be the result. 

Anything you may require in the way of arms for your militia and 
complete outfit for your new regiment of volunteers shall be furnished 
at once. Liimediately upon the receipt of your letter I ordered three 
thousand stands of arms to be shipped to you' at once, and to-day have 
ordered some horses for the Fifteenth Regiment. The arms are not 
of the best class, but are the very best I have, and are perfectly ser- 
viceable. 



156 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Permit me to suggest that your militia should be thoroughly organ- 
ized throughout the state, and that every town should have arms in 
store, under a small guard, sufficient to arm the militia of the town. 
The arms can be easily supplied by the General Government. Without 
such organization, no town in Missouri or Kansas near the border is 
safe unless it be occupied by United States troops, and to occupy them 
all you will perceive is utterly impossible with the force under my com- 
mand. To entirely prevent the assemblage of such bands of desperate 
outlaws as that under Quantrill, in the summer season, is simply impos- 
sible without five times my present force. In a state like Kansas, 
wdiere everybody is loyal, such a state of things could not exist;, but 
when half or more of the people are disloyal, of all shades, as in west- 
ern Missouri, and consequently cannot be permitted to carry arms, 
whether willingly or unwillingly, they are the servants of these brigands 
and are entirely at their mercy. If they resist their demands or inform 
upon them, it is at the peril of their lives. I do not wish to extenuate 
in any degree the crimes of those wdio are responsible for these inhuman 
acts; they shall sufTer the fullest penalty; but I simply state what at a 
moment's reflection will convince you are facts, to show the necessity 
for full preparation on your part to assist me in preventing the recur- 
rence of any calamity like that which befell Lawrence. 

I am informed that a meeting was held in Leavenworth a few days 
ago, in which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, 
on the 8th of September, for the purpose of entering Missouri, to 
recover their stolen property. If this was the only result of such expe- 
dition, or if their vengeance could be limited to those who are actually 
guilty, there would be no ol)jection to it ; but it is a simple matter of 
course that the action of such an irresponsil)le organization of enraged 
citizens would be indiscriminate retaliation upon innocent and guilty 
alike. You cannot expect me to permit anything of this sort; my pres- 
ent duty requires me to prevent it at all hazards and by all the means 
in my power. But I hope a few days of reflection will show the popular 
leaders in Kansas the folly and wickedness of such retaliation, and 
cause them to be abandoned. I shall confidently rely upon your power- 
ful influence to prevent any such action on the part of the people of 
Kansas as will force me into the painful position of having to oppose 
tliem in any degree, particularly by force. 

P>e assured, Governor, of my earnest desire to do all in my power 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY J 57 

to promote the peace and security of Kansas. I shall be glad at all 
times to know your views and wishes touching your state. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. M. SCHOFIELD, 

Major-General. 

May 3-11, 1863. — Scout in Cass and Bates Counties, Mo. Report of Col. 
Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry. 

Paola, May 11, 1863. 
Sir: I have the honor to report that, on the 3d instant, I left camp 
with small detachments from Companies A, D, E, F, and K, of this 
regiment, for a scout in Cass and Bates counties, Missouri. I scoured 
Cass county and found no enemy; then returned into Bates county, 
and when about 10 miles north of Butler received your letters of instruc- 
tions, dated Fort Leavenworth, , 1863; also your 

letter dated Fort Lea\'enworth, May 5, directing Company D, Captain 
(Charles F. ) Coleman, to move his company from Rockville to Butler, 
Mo., which was immediately complied with. I moved on to the Osage, 
intending to cross to Hog Island, l)ut found the rixer too high, and 
did not cross; then turned east, and on the morning of the 8th, on 
Double Branches, found a gang of Bushwhackers, under Jackman and 
Marchbanks, Quantrill having left on the night of the 6th instant for 
Henry county, Missouri, with 40 men. We found Jackman and March- 
banks with about 20 men, who fled l^y ones and twos, and then escaped, 
except 7, who were reported killed by my soldiers. I found county 
rapidly filling up 1)y l)ushwhackers" families, who are returning from 
the South under the impression that Price is coming up, and had again 
taken possession, with their stock. This stream, called the Double 
Branches, is their rendezvous, and has been since the outbreak of this 
rebellion; but four loyal families live on it, and they are doubtful. About 
fifty or sixty families inhabit that country bordering on that stream. 
I notified them to leave and go south of the Arkansas river. A great 
part of them positively refused. I burned eleven houses inhabited by 
bushwhackers' families, and drove off all the stock except that belong- 
ing to the reported loyal persons. We broke up four camps of bush 
whackers and pursued them to the eastern side of Bates county. I 
think for the present no danger need be apprehended from that quar- 
ter. I will keep a close watch, for I am satisfied they intend to organize 



158 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

a force somewhere in that country; I think in Henry county. About 
24 persons were wounded. 

Since the fall of Vicksburg, and the breaking up of large parts of 
Price's and Marmaduke's armies, great numbers of Rebel soldiers, whose 
families live in western Missouri, have returned, and being unable or 
unwilling to live at home, have joined the bands of guerrillas infesting 
the border. Companies which before this summer mustered but 20 or 
30 have now grown to 50 or 100. All the people of the country, through 
fear or favor, feed them, and rarely any give information about them, 
thus practically their friends, and being familiar with fastnesses of a 
country wonderfully adapted by nature to guerrilla warfare, they have 
been generally able to elude the most energetic pursuit. When assem- 
bled in a body of several hundred, they scattered before an inferior 
force; and when our troops scattered in pursuit, they reassembled to fall 
on an exposed squad, or a weakened post, or defenseless strip of the 
border. I have had seven stations on the line from which patrols have 
each day traversed every foot of the border for 90 miles. The troops 
you have been able to spare me out of the small forces withheld by you 
from the armies of Generals Grant, Steele, and Blunt, numbering less 
than 3,000 officers and men for duty, and having over twenty-five sep- 
arate stations or fields of operation throughout the district, have worked 
hard and (until this raid) successfully in hunting down the guerrilla 
and protecting the stations and the border. They have killed more than 
100 of them in petty skirmishes and engagements between the 18th of 
June and the 20 instant. 

On the 25th instant I issued an order* requiring all residents of 
the counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and that part of Vernon included 
in this district, except those within one mile of the limits of the military 
stations and the garrisoned towns, and those north of Brush creek and 
west of Big Blue, to remove from their present places of residence 
within fifteen days from that date; those who prove their loyalty to 
be allowed to move out of the district or to any military station in it, 
or to any part of Kansas west of the border counties; all others to move 
out of the district. When the war broke out. the district to which this 
order applies was peopled by a community three-fourths of whom were 
intensely disloyal. The avowed loyalists have been driven from their 
f^rms long since, and their houses and improvements generally de- 
stroyed. They are living in Kansas, and at military stations in Mis- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



^59 



soiiri, unable to return to their homes. None remain on their farms 
but Rebels and neutral families; and practically the conditions of their 
tenure is that they shall feed, clothe, and shelter the guerrillas, furnish 
them information, and deceive or withhold information from us. The 
exceptions are few, perhaps twenty families in those parts of the coun- 
ties to which the order applies. Two-thirds of those who left their 
families on the border and went to the Rebel armies have returned. 
They dared not stay at home, and no matter what terms of amnesty 
may be granted, they can never live in the country except as brigands ; 
and so long as their families and associates remain, they will stay until 
the last man is killed, to ravage every neighborhood of the border. 
With your approval, I was about adopting, before this raid, measures 
for the removal of the families of the guerrillas and of known Rebels, 
under which two-thirds of the families affected by this order would 
have been compelled to go. That order would have been most difficult 
of execution, and not half so effectual as this. Though this measure 
may seem too severe, I believe it will prove not inhuman, but merciful, 
to the noncombatants affected by it. Those who prove their loyalty 
will find houses enough at the stations and will not be allowed to suffer 
for want of food. Among them are but few dissatisfied with the order, 
notwithstanding the present hardship it imposes. Among the Union 
refugees it is regarded as the best assurance they have ever had of a 
return to their homes and permanent peace there. To obtain the full 
military advantages of this removal of the people. I have ordered the 
destruction of all grain and hay, in shed or in the field, not near enough 
to military stations for removal there. I have also ordered from the 
towns occupied as military stations a large number of persons, either 
openly or secretly disloyal, to prevent the guerrillas getting informa- 
tion of the townspeople, which they will no longer be able to get of the 
farmers. The execution of these orders will possibly lead to a still 
fiercer and more active struggle, requiring the best use of the addi- 
tional troops the general commanding has sent me. but will soon result, 
though with much unmerited loss and suffering, in putting an end to 
this savage border war. 

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

THOMAS EWING, JR., 

Brigadier-General. 

* See Ewing to Schofield August 25, 1863, Part II. pp. 139, 140. 



l60 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

September 27-28, 1863 — Scout in Bates County, Mo. Report of Col. 
Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry. 

Headquarters Troops on the Border, 
Trading Post, Ivans., September 28, 1863 — 11 p. m. 

Sir: A dispatch is just in from Captain (G. F.) Earl, in command 
of scouts that left yesterday to scour Bates county, Missouri. The 
captain says he met a small party at the crossing of Marais des Cygnes, 
south of Butler; killed 4 of them, and had 2 men wounded; the colonel 
escaped. He afterward found the trail of about 40, and followed it on 
to the Miami, and there learned, by some women living on that stream, 
that Marchbanks, with 40 men, passed up on to Grand river yesterday. 
The captain also writes that quite a number of families still inhabit 
the houses in the timber, and that the town of Butler is entirely burned. 
I shall take measures to have all the families removed at once. I think 
by the last of the week I can give you a definite account of all this part 
of your district. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

E. LYNDE, 
Colonel Ninth Kansas \^olunteer Cavalry, Commanding. Assistant 

Adjutant-General. District of the Border. 



Butler, Bates County. Mo., April 12, 1862. 
Capt. Lucien J. Barnes, 

Assistant Adjutant-General : 

The detachments under Captains Leffingwell and Caldwell returned 
with tlieir prisoners (34) this evening. One of the jayhawkers was 
killed by a rifle shot in attempting an escape, and one of our men was 
captured, but was retaken after being robbed of horse, saddle, arms, 
and clothing, except shirt and drawers. Most of these men are of the 
worst, and ought to be shot or hung. The whole wooded country of 
the Marais des Cygnes, Osage, and their tributaries is full of them. 

I shall move three columns early next week l)y different routes 
from this point and Clinton, making Montevallo, Vernon county, the 
point of junction. We shall not be able to get any fight out of them. 
We can only chase them down. Very few arms are captured. They imme- 
diately throw them away when close pressed. I have no instruction 
what to do with captured horses. I am obliged to use many to remount 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY l6l 

my men. The high speed and mud break down our own and make 
them for the time unserviceable. But there are many of no use for 
cavahy, if they were needed. I beg instructions what to do with them. 
I must also remind you again of our need of effective arms. It is 
important that we act now with energy. In a short time the foliage 
will place us at a great disadvantage. I only regret that the weather 
is so bad. 

Very truly, your obedient servant, 

FITZ HENRY WARREN, 
Colonel, Commanding Cavalry. 

September 22, 1861. — Skirmish at, and Destruction of, Osceola, Mo. 
Report of Brig. Gen. James H. Lane, Commanding Kansas Brigade. 

Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 24, 1861. 

Sir: Your dispatch of September 18 is this moment received. My 
brigade is now marching to this point from Osceola, where I have been 
on a forced march, expecting to cut ofT the enemy's train of ammuni- 
tion. The enemy ambushed the approaches to the town, and after hav- 
ing been driven from them by the advance under Colonels Montgomery 
and W^eer, they took refuge in the buildings of the town to annoy us. 
We were compelled to shell them out, and in doing so the place was 
burned to ashes, with an immense amount of stores of all descriptions. 
There were 15 or 20 of them killed and wounded; we lost none. Full 
particulars will be furnished you hereafter.* 

* Further reports not found, but see Plumly to Scott, October 3, 
post. Remainder of above letter in the general correspondence, post. 



Headquarters Kansas Brigade, 
Camp Montgomery, West Point, Mo., September 14, 1861. 
Commandant of Post, Kansas City: 

We have moved this far with our limited force, clearing our front 
and rear as far as practicable, for the purpose of co-operating with the 
force under your command and the column under Colonel Peabody. 
W^e have been unable to hear anything from either column. Can you 
give us any information as to either column ? If Peabody has been 
driven back, Kansas City should be largely re-enforced, and a column 

(II) 



l62 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

moved down the border until we get into communication. The enemy 
yesterday were concentrating at Rose Hill, intending, I think, to pre- 
vent a junction of Peabody's command and my men and as a flank 
movement upon Kansas City, and should be met by a counter-move- 
ment, as I have suggested. 

I started a dispatch to Captain Prince last night, which he will 
get to-day, communicating the same information and making the same 
suggestion. I have a force actually engaged at Forts Scott and Lin- 
coln and Barnesville, and am now starting a small force at the Trading 
Post, and occupying this place with 700 cavalry, 700 infantry, and two 
pieces of artillery. Yesterday I cleared out Butler, and Parkville with 
my cavalry about 20 miles. 

You are now posted as to my command and of my movements; 
reciprocate by letting me hear from your column and Colonel Pea- 
body's at the earliest possible moment. 

J. H. LANE, 
Commanding Kansas Brigade. 



Headquarters Kansas Brigade, 
Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 17, 186L 
Capt. W. E. Prince, 

First U. S. Infantry, Commanding Fort Leavenworth : 

Sir: * * * I am here within 24 miles of Harrisonville, and there 
is .nothing in the way of forming a junction with any troops that may 
be moved upon that point. You will find enclosed Colonel Blunt's 
report of what he is doing south and Captain Hayes' and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Moore's reports of the forces at Fort Lincoln and Barnesville. 

I very much doubt the policy of forming a -junction which will 
require my moving farther north than Harrisonville. There is nothing 
in Jackson county in the way of a force moving from Kansas City on 
Harrisonville. If a column could move from there while I am moving 
upon it through Butler, we might catch some of the cowardly guerrillas 
between us and the border, while, if I move up the border and form a 
junction near Kansas City and then move on Harrisonville, the efYect 
would be to herd the enemy, as Sigel did at Carthage and Lyon did 
at Springfield. 

Can you not induce Captain Reno to send me down a 12 pounder? 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 163 

I am told yoii have one. I have as brave and skillful artillery officers 
as there are in the world. 

J. H. LANE. 



Headquarters Kansas Brigade, 
Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 24, 1861. 
Major-General Fremont, 

Commanding Western Department, Saint Louis: 

Sir: * * * Although Lexington has fallen since your order of 
September 18, I propose to move on Kansas City, there to form a 
junction with General Sturgis. I will be able to move with about 700 
cavalry, 500 infantry, 100 artillery, with a battery of two 6-pounder 
howitzers and two 12-pound mountain howitzers. I will leave here Fri- 
day morning, September 27, at 5 o'clock a. m., and will reach Kansas 
City, Sunday, 29th. 

I will leave at Fort Scott Major Judson's command of about 800 
men, about 100 men at Fort Lincoln, and an irregular force which I 
have had organized and placed in forts all along the southern and east- 
ern border. Inclosed you will see all that has transpired at those points.* 

You will see by the reports I inclose that rumors are rife that 
there is a force moving on southern Kansas. If such is the case, God 
only knows what is to become of Kansas when we move on Kansas 
City. 

I hope, as you have now opened communication with me, to hear 
from you frequently. I trust you will approve the march on Osceola 
and its destruction. It- was the depot of the traitors for southern Mis- 
souri. The movement was intended, first, to destroy the ammunitions 
train; second, as a demonstration for the relief of Peabody ; third, hop- 
ing to hear of a force moving from Sedalia; and fourth, a covered 
movement I suppose we would have to make to the north. Our march 
east was through Papinsville, Prairie City, down the south side of the 
Osage, returning through Pleasant Gap and Butler to this point. 

I inclose you a printed copy of a proclamation * which I have 
issued, which it is hoped will meet your approbation. 

But for the misfortune at Lexington this part of Missouri w^as safe. 

J. H. LANE. 

* Not found. 



164 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

* Portion of this letter omitted above appears as report of skir- 
mish, September 22 at Osceola, Mo., p. 161. 

May 18, 1863 — Affair at Hog Island. Bates County, Mo. Report of Col. 
Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry. 

Paola, Kansas, May 26, 1863. 

Sir: I have the honor to report that Captain (C. F.) Coleman, 
with a small detachment from Companies F and K, made a descent on 
Hog Island, in the southern part of Bates county, Missouri, last week, 
and found about 300 Rebels, who had erected light breastworks, and 
were preparing for defense. They were attacked by Captain Cole- 
man's detachment and routed, leaving 3 killed and 5 wounded, but no 
prisoners. Coleman had 1 man killed. The detachment also destroyed 
about 2,000 pounds of bacon, and a quantity of corn the Rebels had 
gathered on the island. The Rebels scattered and fled to Henry county. 
I have adopted the plan of hiding a few men in the bushes to watch 
for the Butternuts that infest our border, and have sent two small 
detachments back into the country to watch the route they seem to 
travel in going west. I hope in a few days to be able to give you 
an account of a good haul, but I have not enough troops at these head- 
quarters to do so well as I might, if another company was here. 

Captain (John F.) Stewart, of Company C, has not reported yet, 
and I have no knowledge of any troops at Olathe. If it would meet 
your approbation, I would change some of the companies, and station 
them a little different from what they are. I think they would be more 
eftective; but I shall not do so without your consent. Would it not 
l3e possible to send two companies of infantry down here, and let them 
be divided between these stations, and they can hold ihe place and 
take care of the Government stores, and then all the mounted troops 
can be in motion? It would help very much. 

I am, captain, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

E. LYNDE, Colonel Commanding. 

Report of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, U. S. Army, Commanding De- 
partment of the Missouri. * 

Headquarters Department of the Missouri, 

Saint Louis, Mo., September 14, 1863. 
Colonel: I have the honor to forward herewith, for the informa- 
tion of the General-in-chief, Brigadier-General Ewing's report of the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 65 

burning of Lawrence, Kans., and massacre of its inhabitants, and of 
the operations of his troops in the pursuit and punishment of the Rebels 
and assassins who committed the atrocious deed. 

Immediately after his return from the pursuit of Ouantrill, on the 
25th of August, General Ewing issued an order depopulating certain 
counties, and destroying all forage and subsistence therein. The rea- 
sons which led him to adopt this severe measure are given in his report. 

The people of Kansas were, very naturally, intensely excited over 
the destruction of ona of their fairest towns, and the murder of a larsfe 
number of its unarmed citizens, and many of them called loudly for 
vengeance, not only upon the perpetrators of the horrible crime, but 
also upon all the people residing in the western counties of Missouri, 
and who were assumed to be greatly unjust to the people of Kansas, 
in general, to say that they shared in this desire for indiscriminate 
vengeance; but there were not wanting unprincipled leaders to fan the 
flame of popular excitement and goad the people to madness, in the 
hope of thereby accomplishing their own selfish ends. 

On the 26th of August, a mass meeting was held in the city of 
Leavenworth at which it was resolved that the people should meet at 
Paola, on the 8th of September, armed and supplied for a campaign 
of fifteen days, for the purpose of entering Missouri to search for their 
stolen property and retaliate upon the people of Missouri for the out- 
rages committed in Kansas. This meeting was addressed by some of 
the leading men of Kansas in the most violent and inflammatory man- 
ner, and the temper of these leaders and of their followers was such 
there seemed to be great danger of an indiscriminate slaughter of the 
people in western Missouri, or of a collision with the troops, under 
General Ewing, in their efforts to prevent it. Under these circum- 
stances, I determined to visit Kansas and western Missouri, for the 
purpose of settling the difficulty, if possible, and also for the purpose 
of gaining more accurate information of the condition of the border 
counties of Missouri, and thus making myself able to judge of the 
wisdom and necessity of the severe measures which had been adopted 
by General Ewing. 

I arrived at Leavenworth City on the 2d of September, and 
obtained an interview with the Governor of the state and other promi- 
nent citizens. I found the Governor and his supporters opposed to all 
unauthorized movement on the part of the people of Kansas, and will- 
ing to co-operate with me in restoring quiet, and in providing for future 



l66 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

security. I then sought and obtained an interview with the Hon. J. 
H. Lane, United States senator, who was the recognized leader of 
those engaged in the Paola movement. Mr. Lane explained to me 
his views of the necessity, as he l)elieved, of making a large portion 
of western Missouri a desert waste, in order that Kansas might be 
secured against future invasion. He proposed to tender to the district 
commander the services of all the armed citizens of Kansas to aid in 
executing this policy. This, I informed him, was impossible; that what- 
ever measures of this kind it might be necessary to adopt must be 
executed by United States troops; that irresponsible citizens could not 
be intrusted with the discharge of such duties. He then insisted that 
the people who might assemble at Paola should be permitted to enter 
Missouri "in search of their stolen property," and desire to place them 
under my command he (General Lane) pledging himself that they 
should strictly confine themselves to such search, abstaining entirely 
from all unlawful acts. General Lane professed entire confidence in 
his ability to control, absolutely, the enraged citizens who might volun- 
teer in such enterprise. I assured Mr. Lane that nothing would afford 
me greater pleasure than to do all in my power to assist the outraged 
and despoiled people to recover their property as well as to punish 
their despoilers; but that the search proposed would be fruitless, because 
all the valuable property which had not already been recovered from 
those of the robbers who had been slain had been carried by the others 
far beyond the border counties, and that I had not the slightest faith 
in his ability to control a mass of people who might choose to assemble 
under a call which promised the finest possible opportunity for plun- 
der. General Lane desired me to consider the matter fully, and inform 
him, as soon as possible, of my decision, saying if I decided not to 
allow the people the "right" which they claimed, he would appeal to 
the President. It was not difficult to discover that so absurd a propo- 
sition as that of Mr. Lane could not have been made in good faith, 
nor had I much dif^culty in detecting the true object which was pro- 
posed to be accomplished ; which was to obtain, if possible, my consent 
to accept the services of all who might meet at Paola, and then take 
them into Missouri under my command, when I, of course, would be 
held responsible for the murder and robbery which must necessarily 
ensue. 

I soon became satisfied that, notwithstanding Mr. Lane's assertion 
to the contrary, he had no thought of trying to carry out his scheme 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 6/ 

in opposition to my orders, and that the vast majority of the people 
of Kansas were entirely opposed to any such movement. On the 4th 
of September I published an order, a copy of which is inclosed, pro- 
hibiting armed men, not in the military service, from passing from one 
state into the other, and sent a sufficient force along the state line to 
enforce the order against any who might be disposed to disobey it. 
The people quietly acquiesced. The Paola meeting, which had promised 
to be of gigantic proportions, dwindled down to a few hundred people, 
who spent a rainy day in listening to speeches and passing resolutions 
relative to the senator from Kansas and the commander of the Depart- 
ment of the Missouri. 

I inclose copies of correspondence with Governer Carney, show- 
ing the measures which have been adopted to place the state in a con- 
dition to protect itself against such raids as that made against Law- 
rence. These measures, together with those which are being carried 
out in western Missouri, will, I believe, place beyond possibility any 
such disaster in future. 

Not the least of the objects of my visit to the border was to see 
for myself the condition of the border counties, and determine what 
modification, if any, ought to be made in the policy which General 
Ewing had adopted. I spent several days in visiting various points 
in the counties alTected by General Ewing's order, and in conversation 
with the people of all shades of politics who are most deeply affected 
by the measures adopted. I became fully satisfied that the order depop- 
ulating certain counties, with the exception of specified districts, was 
wise and necessary. That portion of the order which directed the 
destruction of property I did not approve, and it was modified accord- 
ingly. 

The evil which exists upon the border of Kansas and Missouri 
is somewhat different in kind and far greater in degree than in other 
parts of Missouri. It is the old border hatred intensified by the rebel- 
lion and by the murders, robberies, and arson which have characterized 
the irregular warfare carried on during the early periods of the rebellion, 
not only by the Rebels, but by our own troops and people. The effect 
of this has been to render it impossible for any man who openly avowed 
and maintained his loyalty to the Government to live in the border 
counties of Missouri outside of military posts. A large majority of 
the people remaining were open Rebels, while the remainder were com- 
pelled to abstain from any word or acts in opposition to the rebellion 



l68 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

at the peril of their hves. All were practically enemies of the Gov- 
ernment and friends of the Rebel guerrillas. The latter found no 
difBculty in supplying their commissariat wherever they went, and, 
what was of vastly greater importance to them, they obtained prompt 
and accurate information of every movement of our troops, while no 
citizen was so bold as to give us information in regard to the guerrillas. 
In a country remarkably well adapted by nature for guerrilla warfare, 
with all the inhabitants practically the friends of the guerrillas, it has 
been found impossible to rid the country of such enemies. At no time 
during the war have these counties been free from them. No remedy 
short of destroying the source of their great advantage over our troops 
could cure the evil. 

I did not approve of the destruction of property, at first contem- 
plated by General Ewing, for two reasons, viz: I believe the end can 
be accomplished without it, and it cannot be done in a reasonable time 
so effectually as to very much embarrass the guerrillas. The country 
is full of hogs and cattle, running in the woods, and of potatoes in the 
ground and corn in the field, which cannot be destroyed or moved in 
a reasonable time. 

I hope the time is not far distant when the loyal people can return 
in safety to their homes, and when those vacated by Rebels will be pur- 
chased and settled by people who are willing to live in peace with 
their neighbors on both sides of the line. 

The measure which has been adopted seems a very harsh one ; 
but after the fullest examination and consideration of which I am 
capable, I am satisfied it is wise and humane. It was not adopted 
hastily, as a consequence of the Lawrence massacre. The sul^ject had 
long been discussed between General Ewing and myself, and its neces- 
sity recognized as at least probable. I had determined to adopt the 
milder policy of removing all families known to be connected with or 
in sympathy with the guerrillas, and had commenced its execution 
before the raid upon Lawrence. The utter impossibility of deciding 
who were guilty and who were innocent, and the great danger of 
retaliation by the guerrillas upon those who should remain, were the 
chief reasons for adopting the present policy. In executing it. a liberal 
test of loyalty is adopted. Persons who come to the military posts and 
claim protection as loyal citizens are not turned away without per- 
fectly satisfactory evidence of disloyalty. It is the first opportunity 
which those people have had since the war began of openly proclaiming 
their attachment to the Union without fear of Rebel vengeance. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 69 

It is possible that General Ewing might have done more than he 
did do to guard against such a calamity as that at Lawrence ; but I 
believe he is entitled to great credit for the energy, wisdom, and zeal 
displayed while in command of that district. The force at his command 
was larger, it is true, than in other portions of the department, yet it 
was small for the service rec^uired — necessarily so, as will be readily 
understood when it is considered how much my troops have been 
increased by our advance into Arkansas and the Indian country. 

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. M. SCHOFIELD, 

Major-General. 
(Inclosure No. 2.) 
Leavenworth, Kans., August 24, 1863. 
Major-General Schofield, 
St. Louis, Mo.: 

Sir: Disaster has again fallen on our state. Lawrence is in ashes. 
Millions of property have been destroyed, and, worse yet, nearly 200 
lives of our best citizens have been sacrificed. No fiends in human 
shape could have acted with more savage barbarity than did Quantrill 
and his band in their last successful raid. I must hold Missouri respon- 
sible for this fearful, fiendish raid. No body of men large as that com- 
manded by Quantrill could have been gathered together without the 
people residing in western Missouri knowing everything about it. Such 
people cannot be considered loyal and should not be treated as loyal 
citizens ; for while they conceal the movements of desperadoes like 
Quantrill and his followers, they are, in the worst sense of the word, 
their aiders and abettors, and should be held ecjually guilty. There 
is no way of reaching these armed ruf^ans while the civilian is per- 
mitted to cloak him. 

There can be no peace in Missouri, there will be utter desolation 
in Kansas, unless both are made to feel promptly the rigor of military 
law. The peace of both states and the safety of the republic demand 
alike this resolute course of action. I urge upon you, therefore, the 
adoption of this policy, as the only policy which can save both western 
Missouri and Kansas; for if this policy be not immediately adopted, 
the people themselves, acting upon the common principle of self-defense, 
will take the: matter in their own hands and avenge their own wrongs. 
You will not misunderstand me. I do not use, or intend to use. any 
threats. I tell you only what our people almost to a man feel. The 
excitement over the success of Ouantrill is intense — intense all over 



170 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the State — and I do not see how I can hesitate to demand, or how you 
can refuse to grant, a court of inquiry by which the cause of that fatal 
success may be fully investigated, and all the facts laid before the pub- 
lic. I go even further. I demand that this court of inquiry shall have 
power to investigate all matters touching military wrong-doing in Kan- 
sas, and I do this most earnestly, to guarantee alike our present and 
future safety. 

As regards arms, we are destitute. There are none at the fort, 
and none in the state. I telegraphed the Secretary of War this fact, 
asking him to turn over to me here arms in sufficient quantity to meet 
our wants. He ordered it done, and replied, further, that anything 
the Government could do to aid Kansas should be done. This being 
so, will you not express to me arms for cavalry and infantry sufficient 
to arm three regiments? 

I inclose the copy of the dispatch of the Secretary of War to me, 
that you may see its purport and understand its spirit. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

THOS. CARNEY, 

Governor. 
(Inclosure No. 2.) 

Washington. August 24. 1863. 
Governor Carney : 

The order for arms and ammunition requested in your telegram 
of this morning has been given. They will be turned over on your 
requisition. Any other aid you require will be given if in the power 
of the Government. EDWIN M. STANTON. 

Secretary of W^ar. 
(Inclosure No. 4.) 
Headquarters Department of the Missouri. 

Saint Louis, August 29, 1863. 
His Excellency Thomas Carney, 
Governor of Kansas : 
Governor: I have forwarded a copy of your letter of the 24th to 
the War Department, and requested the President to appoint a court 
of inquiry, with tull powers to investigate all matters touching military 
affairs in Kansas, and have urged it strongly. I have no doubt the 
court will be appointed, and that the responsil:)ility of the sad calamity 
which has befallen Lawrence willbe placed where it properly belongs. 
Be assured that nothing in my power shall be omitted to visit 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I7I 

just vengeance upon all who are in any way guilty of the horrible 
crime, and to secure Kansas against anything of the kind in future; 
meanwhile let me urge upon you the importance of mollifying the just 
anger of your people, or rather of reconciling them to the necessity 
and propriety of leaving it to the United States troops to execute the 
vengeance which they so justly demand. 

It needs no argument to convince you of the necessity of this 
course. Without it there would be no end of retaliation on either 
side, and utter desolation on both sides of the border would be the 
result. 

Anything you may require in the way of arms for your militia, 
and complete outfit for your new regiment of volunteers, shall be fur- 
nished at once. Immediately upon the receipt of your letter. I ordered 
3,000 stand of arms to be shipped to . you at once, and to-day have 
ordered some horses for the Fifteenth Regiment. The arms are not 
of the best class, but are the very best I have, and are perfectlv ser- 
viceable. 

Permit me to suggest that your militia should be thoroughly organ- 
ized throughout the state, and that every town should have arms in 
store, under a small guard, sufficient to arm the militia of the town. 
The arms can be easily supplied by the General Government. Without 
such organization, no town in Missouri or Kansas near the border is 
safe, unless it be occupied by United States troops, and to occupy 
them all, you will perceive, is utterly impossible with the force under 
my command. ' 

To entirely prevent the assemblage of such bands of desperate 
outlaws as that under Ouantrill in the summer season is simply impos- 
sible without five times my present force. In a state like Kansas, 
where everybody is loyal, such a state of things could not exist ; but 
when half or more of the people are disloyal of all shades, as in west- 
ern Missouri, and consequently cannot be permitted to carry arms, 
whether willingly or unwillingly, they are the servants of these brigands, 
and are entirely at their mercy. If they resist their demands or inform 
upon them, it is at the peril of their lives. I do not wish to extenuate 
in any degree the crimes of those who are responsible for these inhu- 
man acts; they shall suffer the fullest penalty: but I simply state what, 
at a moment's reflection, will convince you are facts, to show the neces- 
sity for full preparation on your part to assist me in -preventing the 
recurrence of anv calamitv like that which befell Lawrence. 



172 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

I am informed that a meeting" was held in Leavenworth a few 
days ago, in which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, 
on the 8th of September, for the purpose of entering Missouri to recover 
their stolen property. If this were the only result of such expedition, 
or if their vengeance could be limited to those wdio are actually guilty, 
there would be no objection to it; but it is a simple matter of course 
that the action of such an irresponsible organization of enraged citi- 
zens would be indiscriminate retaliation upon innocent and guilty alike. 
You cannot expect me to permit anything of this sort. My present 
duty requires me to prevent it at all hazards, and by all means in my 
power. But I hope a few days of reflection will show the popular 
leaders in Kansas the folly and w^ickedness of such retaliation, and 
cause them to be abandoned. 

I shall confidently rely upon your powerful influence to prevent 
any such action on the part of the people of Kansas as will force me 
into the painful position of having to oppose them in any degree, par- 
ticularly by force. 

Be assured, Governor, of my earnest desire to do all in ni}^ power 
to promote the peace and security of Kansas. I shall be glad at all 
times to know your views and wishes touching your state. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. M. SCHOFIELD, 

Major-General. 
(Inclosure No. 5.) 
Leavenworth, Kans., September 3, 1863. 
Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, 

Commanding Department of the ^Missouri: 

Sir: The brutal outrages committed upon the unoffending and 
unarmed citizens of Lawrence by Ouantrill and his band have not 
only aroused every man in the state, but shocked the whole country. 
The wish of both is that the doers of these bloody deeds — their aiders 
and abettors — shall be steadily pursued and surely punished, for there 
can be no safety in the present or the future while these miscreants 
are permitted to live. 

The 9th day of this month, by order of your district commander, 
is the day fixed upon to begin this summary punishment. That this 
punishment may be swift and sure, I offer you any forces at my com- 
mand. You have promptly sent me a sufficient quantity of arms to 
meet the wants of the state. With these arms in their hands, and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 73 

organized, our citizens can repel any raid which brutal marauders like 
Quantrill and his band may attempt, or punish, instantly and severely, 
those who shall aid or abet them. I have confidence only in organized 
action, and satisfy both of your ability to lead our forces and your 
resolve to punish the guilty, I shall be happy to place the military of 
the state at your disposal. 

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

THOMAS CARNEY, 

Governor. 
(Inclosure No. 6.) 
Kansas City, Mo., September 3, 1863. 
His Excellency Thomas Carney, 
Governor of Kansas : 
Governor: .1 am in receipt of your letter of this morning. I fully 
sympathize with your feeling of anxiety to give security to the Kan- 
sas border, and to avenge on the Rebels in Missouri the unparalleled 
atrocities of the Lawrence massacre. My forces in Missouri and Kan- 
sas having been greatly reduced by re-enforcements sent to Generals 
Grant, Steele, and Blunt, I am glad to avail myself of your offer of 
a part of the Kansas militia to aid the United States forces in this 
district. 

AVith the chief towns on the eastern border of Kansas garrisoned 
by the militia of the state, and with two regiments of volunteers, wdiich 
I have lately ordered to re-enforce the troops already in the district, 
the military authorities will be able not only to execute the orders 
for the expulsion of disloyal persons, but also to pursue and destroy 
the guerrilla bands which have so long ravaged the border. 

For the purpose named, I will accept the services of so many com- 
panies of militia as may be deemed necessary by you and the district 
commander to protect the towns referred to. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant. 

J. M. SCHOFIELD, 

Major-General. 

Report of Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., U. S. Army, Commanding 

District of the Border. 

Headquarters District of the Border, 

Kansas City, Mo.. August 31, 1863. 
Sir: Some commanders of detachments engaged in the pursuit 



174 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of Quantrill are still out after his scattered forces. In advance of their 
return, I submit a report of the raid, which, in some respects, may be 
deficient, for want of official information from them. 

Three or four times this summer the guerrillas have assembled, 
to the number of several hundred, within 20 or 30 miles of the Kansas 
border. They have threatened, alternately, Lexington, Independence, 
W'arrensburg, and Harrisonville, and frequent reports have reached 
me from scouts and spies, that they meant to sack and destroy Shaw- 
nee, Olathe, Paola, Mound City, and other towns in Kansas near the 
eastern border. I placed garrisons in all these Kansas towns, and 
issued arms and rations to volunteer militia companies there. From 
reliable sources I learned toward the last of July, that they were threat- 
ening a raid on Lawrence, and soon after they commenced assembling 
on the Snibar, in the western part of La Fayette county. I at once 
ordered a company of infantry which was then coming down to Fort 
Riley, to stop at Lawrence, which they did for more than a week, and 
until after the guerrilla force had been dispersed by a force I sent 
against them. 

From this time, though constantly receiving information as to their 
movements and plans, I could learn nothing of a purpose to make a 
raid into Kansas. Their forces were again scattered in small preda- 
tory bands, and I had all available forces in like manner scattered 
throughout the Missouri portion of this district, and especially the 
border counties, besetting their haunts and paths. 

Ouantrill's whole force was about 300 men, composed of selected 
bands from this part of Missouri. About 250 were assembled on Black- 
water, near the eastern border of this district, at least 50 miles from 
the Kansas line, on the 17th and 18th instant, and I am informed by 
Major (J. T.) Ross, Missouri State Militia, who has been scouting in 
the southwest part of Saline county that the rendezvous was there. 

Lieutenant-Colonel (B. F.) Lazear, commanding two companies 
of the First Missouri, at Warrensburg, heard, on the morning of the 
20t]i, that this force had passed the day before 12 miles north of him, 
going west, and moved promptly after them, sending orders to IMajor 
(A. W.) Mullins, commanding two companies, of the same regiment, 
at Pleasant Hill, to move on them from that point. 

On the night of the 19th, however, Quantrill passed through Chapel 
Hill to the head of the Middle Fork of Grand River, 8 miles northwest 
of Harrisonville and 15 miles southeast of Aubrev, the nearest station 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



175 



in Kansas, passing 5 miles south of Aubrey at 6 p. m. going west. 
Aubrey is 35 miles south of Kansas City, and about 45 miles southeast 
of Lawrence. Kansas City is somewhat farther from Lawrence. 

Captain (J. A.) Pike, commanding two companies at Aubrey, 
received information of the presence of Quantrill on Grand river at 
5 :30 p. m. of the 20th. He promptly forwarded the information up 
and down the line and to my headquarters, and called in his scouting 
parties to march upon them. One hour and a half later he received 
information that Quantrill had just passed into Kansas. Unhappily, 
however, instead of setting out at once in pursuit, he remained at the 
station, and merely sent information of Ouantrill's movement to my 
headquarters, and to Captain Coleman, commanding two companies 
at Little Santa Fe, 12 miles north of the line. Captain (C. F.) Cole- 
man, with near 100 men, marched at once to Aubrey, and the available 
force of the two stations numbering about 200 men, set out at mid- 
night in pursuit. But Quantrill's path was over the open prairie, and 
difficult to follow at night, so that our force gained but little on him. 
By Captain Pike's error of judgment in failing to follow promptly and 
closely, the surest means of arresting the terrible blow was thrown 
away, for Quantrill would never have gone as far as Lawrence, or 
attacked it, with 100 men close on his rear. 

The first dispatch of Captain Pike reached here at 11:30 p. m.; 
the second an hour later. Before 1 o'clock Major (P. B.) Plumb, my 
chief of staff, at the head of about 50 men (which was all that could be 
got here and at Westport), started southward, and at daylight heard 
at Olathe, 25 miles from here, that the enemy had passed at midnight 
through Gardner, 18 miles from Lawrence, going toward that town. 
Pushing on. Major Plumb overtook Captains Coleman and Pike, 6 
miles southeast of Lawrence, at 10:30 o'clock Friday, the 21st instant, 
and by the light of the blazing farm houses saw that the enemy had 
got 6 miles south of Lawrence, on their way out of the state. The 
enemy were overtaken near Palmyra by Major Plumb's command, to 
which were there added from 50 to 100 citizens, who had been hastily 
assembled and led in pursuit by General Lane. By this time the horses 
of our detachments were almost exhausted. Nearly all were young 
horses, just issued to the companies, and had marched more than 65 
miles without rest, and without food from the morning of the 20th. 
Quantrill had his men mounted on the best horses of the border and 
had collected fresh ones going to and at Lawrence, almost enough to 



170 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

remount his command. He skillfully kept over 100 of his best mounted 
and best trained men in the rear, and often formed line of battle, to 
delay pursuit and give time and rest to the most wearied of his forces. 
By the time our scattered soldiers and citizens could get up and form 
line, the guerrillas' rear guard would, after a volley, break into column, 
and move off at a speed that defied pursuit. Thus the chase dragged 
through the afternoon, over the prairie, generally following no roads 
or paths, until night, when Quantrill's rear guard formed line of battle 
3 miles north of Paola, and 20 miles from where they entered the state. 
A skirmish ensued, the guerrillas breaking and scattering, so that our 
forces, in the darkness, lost the trail, and went into Paola for food and 
rest, while search was being made for it. Lieutenant-Colonel (C. S.) 
Clark, Ninth Kansas Volunteers, with headcjuarters at Coldwater Grove 
(13 miles south of Aubrey), Rockville (13 miles south of Coldwater 
Grove), Chouteau's Trading Post (15 miles south of Rockville), and 
Harrisonville. There were two companies at each station, but the 
force out patrolling rarely left 50 men in camp at each post. He received 
Captain Pike's message as to the gathering of Quantrill's forces troops 
at Rockville and Trading Post to march up to Coldwater Grove. At 
3 o'clock on the morning of the 21st, he received a dispatch from Cap- 
tain Coleman, at Aubrey, saying that Ouantrill had crossed into Kansas, 
and he set out with 30 men. following Quantrill's trail nearly to Gard- 
ner, and thence going south to Paola. reaching there at 5 p. m. \\'ith 
this command, and a force of perhaps 50 citizens, and a part of Cap- 
tain (N. L.) Benter's company of the Twelfth Kansas Infantry, which 
had been garrisoning Paola. he prepared to attack Quantrill at the ford 
of Bull creek, 3 miles south of Paola, toward which he was then retreat- 
ing. But Quantrill. on coming within 4 or 5 miles of that crossing, 
soon after dark, formed line of battle, as I stated above, broke trail, 
turned sharp to the north, and dodged and bewildered the force in 
waiting for him as well as that in pursuit. 

These troops at the ford returned to Paola about the time the 
command which had followed Quantrill reached there. One of the 
parties in search of the trail found it 5 miles north of Paola, and reported 
the fact to Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, who was the ranking officer there, 
at between 1 and 2 o'clock. He was slow in ordering pursuit, which 
was not renewed until day1)reak. He, at that time, sent Captain Cole- 
man forward, with 30 men of the Ninth Kansas, which he himself had 
brought to Paola, and 40 of the same regiment, which had got there 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY lyj 



from the Trading Post at about 2 o'clock that morning, and about 70 
militia, chiefly of Linn county. He marched soon after himself with the 
troops which had followed Ouantrill the day before. 

Half an hour before Major Plumb started from Kansas City on 
the night of the 21st, Captain Palmer, Eleventh Kansas, was sent by 
him from Westpoint w'ith 50 men of his company down the line to near 
Aubrey, where he met a messenger from Captain Coleman, directing 
re-enforcements to Spring Hill, at which point he struck Quantrill's 
trail, and followed it to within 7 miles of Lawrence. Thence, learning 
that Ouantrill had gone south, he turned southeast ; and at Lanesfield 
(Uniontown) was joined by a force about 80 strong, under Major 
Phillips, composed of detachments of Captain Smith's company. Enrolled 
Missouri Militia, Captain (T. P.) Killen's Ninth Kansas, and a squad 
of the Fifth Kansas. This latter force had been collected by Major (L. 
K.) Thacher, at Westport, and dispatched from there at noon on 
Friday, the 21 st, via Lexington, Kansas. The command of Major 
Phillips, thus increased to 130, pushed southeast from Lanesfield, and 
struck Quantrill's trail about sunrise, 5 miles north of Paola, and but 
a little behind the commands of Coleman and Clark. 

Major Thacher, commanding at A\'estport when news arrived that 
Quantrill was returning by way of the Osage valley, took the rest of 
the mounted troops on the upper border (Company A, Ninth, and Com- 
pany E, Eleventh Kansas, numbering 120 men) and moved down the 
line. He struck Quantrill's trail below Aubrey, immediately in the rear 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Clark's command. 

Quantrill, wdien, after dark, he had baflled his pursuers, stopped 
to rest 5 miles northeast of Paola, and there, after midnight, a scjuad of 
Linn county militia, under Captain Pardee, in search of the trail, alarmed 
the camp. He at once moved on, and between that point and the 
Kansas line his column came within gunshot of the advance of about 
150 of the Fourth Missouri State under Lieutenant-Colonel (W.) King, 
which had been ordered from the country of the Little Blue, in Jack- 
son county, down the line, to intercept him. The advance apprised 
Lieutenant-Colonel King of the approach of another force. Skirmish- 
ers were thrown out, but Quantrill, aided by the darkness and broken 
character of the prairie, eluded the force, and passed on. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Kinsf was unable to find his trail that night. 

(12) 



178 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ■ 

The pursuing forces thus thrown behind, Ouantrill passed out of 
Kansas and got to the timber of the Middle Fork of Grand river in 
Missouri, near his last rendezvous before starting, about noon of the 
23rd, an hour in advance of the head of the pursuing column. There his 
forces scattered, many dismounted or, worn out through fatigue or 
wounds, sought concealment and safety in the fastnesses of the region. 
About 100 moved down Grand river, wdiile the chief part of the force 
passed northeast towards Chapel Hill. Our forces divided in like man- 
ner at that point, Major Plumb and Major Thacher following the 
main body. 

On the 20th of August, I went to Leavenworth on of^cial business. 
The dispatches of Captain Pike were not sent to Leavenworth until 
8 a. m. on the morning of the 21st, because the telegraph ofTfices at 
Leavenworth City and Fort Leavenworth close at 11 p. m. for want of 
relief operators. I received those dispatches, and the one announcing 
that Quantrill had passed through Gardner going toward Lawrence, not 
until 10:45 a. m. on the 21st. There was no cavalry stationed at Fort 
Leavenworth, though five companies of the Eleventh Ohio were there 
outfitting for Fort Laramie, but without arms. There was one company 
at Leavenworth with nearly 300 men of these -companies. News reach- 
ing me at Leavenworth City of the burning of Lawrence, and of the 
avowed purpose of the Rebels to go thence to Topeka, I thought it best 
to eo to De Soto, and thence, after an unavoidable delav of live hours 
in crossing the Kansas river, to Lanesfield. Finding there, at daybreak, 
that Ouantrill had passed east, I left the command to follow as rapidly 
as possible, and pushed on, reaching, soon after dark, the point on Grand 
river where Ouantrill's force had scattered. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Lazear, with the detachment of the First Mis- 
souri, from Warrensburg and Pleasant Hill, numbering al)out 200 men, 
after failing to find Quantrill on Blackwater on the 20th. encountered 
him at noon on the 21st on Big creek, broke up his force, and has since 
had five very successful engagements with different parties of his band. 
The pursuit of Quantrill, after our forces had caught up with him at 
Brooklyn, was so close that he was unable to commit any further dam- 
age to property on his route, but was compelled to abandon almost all 
his horses and much of the plunder from the Lawrence stores; and 
since he reached Missouri a large part of his men have abandoned their 
horses and taken to the brush afoot. The number of equipments so 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 79 

far captured exceeds one hundred, and the number of participants 
in the massacre ah-eady killed is fully as great. The most unremitting 
efforts are being made to hunt clown the remainder of the band before 
they recover from the pursuit. 

Familiar as many of Quantrill's men were with our prairie — unob- 
structed as to course by any roads or fords, with a rolling country to 
traverse, as open as the sea — to head off his well-mounted, compact, and 
well-disciplined force was extremely difficult. The troops which fol- 
lowed and overtook him south of Lawrence, without a co-operating 
force which did not follow, but undertook to head him, failed, thoug-h 
nearly all exerted themselves to the utmost to accomplish it. There 
were few of the troops which did not travel a hundred miles in the 
first twenty-four hours of the pursuit. Many horses were killed. Four 
men of the Eleventh Ohio were sun-stricken, amono^ them Lieutenant 
Dick, who fell dead on dismounting to rest. The citizens engaged in 
pursuit. Though they were able, generally, to keep close upon the enemy 
between Brooklyn and Paola, killing and wounding many stragglers 
and men in the rear guard, they were without the requisite arms, organi- 
zation, or numbers to successfully encounter the enemy. 

Although Quantrill was nearly eleven hours in Kansas before reach- 
ing Lawrence, no information of his approach was conveyed to the peo- 
ple of that town. Captain Pike, at Aubrey, sent no messenger either 
to Paola, Olathe, or Lawrence, one or the other of which towns, it 
was plain, was to be attacked. Captain Coleman, on getting the news 
at Little Santa Fe, at once dispatched a messenger to Olathe asking 
the commanding officers there to speed it westward. That officer, not 
knowing in wdiat direction the guerrillas were moving, sent a mes- 
senger out the Santa Fe road, who, when nearly at Gardner, hearing 
that Quantrill had just passed through there, returned to Olathe. 

With one exception, citizens along the route who could well have 
given the alarm did not even attempt it. One man excused himself for 
his neglect on the plea that his horses had been working hard the day 
before. A boy living 10 or 12 miles from Lawrence begged his father to 
let him mount his pony, and, going a by-road, alarm the town, but he was 
not allowed to go. Mr. J. Reed, living in the Heser neighborhood, 
near Fudora, started ahead of Quantrill from the place to carry the 
warning to Lawrence, but while riding at full speed, his horse fell and 
was killed, and he himself so injured that he died next day. 



l80 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Thus surprised, the people of Lawrence were powerless. They 
had never, except on the occasion I referred to above, thought an attack 
probable, and, feeling strong in their own preparation, never, even then, 
asked for troops to garrison the town. They had an abundance of arms 
in their city arsenal, and could have met Ouantrill, on half an hour's 
notice, with 500 men. The guerrillas, reaching the town at sunrise, 
caught most of the inhabitants asleep, and scattered to the various 
houses so promptly as to prevent the concentration of any considerable 
number of men. They robbed most of the stores and banks, and burned 
one hundred and eighty-five buildings, including one-fourth of the private 
residences and nearly all of the business houses of the town, and, with 
circumstances of the most fiendish atrocity, murdered 140 unarmed men, 
among them 14 recruits of the Fourteenth Regiment and 20 of the Sec- 
ond Kansas Colored Volunteers. 

Osawatomie John Brown. 

The proximity of the John Brown farm, and the John Brown Fort, 
so-called, to Bates county makes a brief sketch about him pertinent to 
this history. 

There is no record, so far as I know, that John Brown ever sought 
to do any one in Bates county harm, or to commit an unlawful act of 
any kind in this county. His name is connected with Spy Mound, but it 
appears that he used it, if at all, merely as an outlook into Missouri. 
There is some history of an invasion of Vernon county for the purpose 
of carrying off some negroes to send them to Canada and freedom. But 
no ante-bellum character looms larger upon the horizon of that excited 
period. 

The story of his career after going to Kansas Territory is inter- 
esting, and it depends largely upon the sympathies of the writer of the 
story whether he is pictured as saint or sinner, bandit or hero. In a 
sense he paid the price of his folly on the scaffold; in another sense, 
he paid the full measure of devotion of truth and the great principle 
of human freedom. History since his execution for what was regarded 
at the time as a great public crime by the law, and in the minds of 
the great body of the American people, suggests the thought of Bryant 
in "The Battle Field": 

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again: 
The eternal years of God are hers; 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY l8l 

But Error, wounded, writhes in pain, 
And dies among his worshippers." 

And Charles Mackay says in his "Eternal Justice": 
"The sunshine age shall light the sky. 

As round and round we run ; 
And the truth shall ever come uppermost. 

And justice shall be done." 

From an editorial by the author printed in the "Bates County Rec- 
ord," April 5, 1918, after a personal visit to the Brown farm, the following 
excerpts are taken : 

"John Brown's mound lies about a mile and a half north and about 
a mile west of Amoret. just west of the state line road; and Spy mound 
a little to the southeast, just east of the state line road in Bates county, 
Missouri. This mound is quite large and has a large acreage almost level 
on top. Just south of the Brown mound in Kansas is the beautiful 
Taylor home mound, and just a short distance from that 'Toadhead' 
mound looms up. This mound looks exactly like an egg with the little 
end up and is a striking feature of a landscape otherwise broken and 
beautified by a number of mounds and lovely valleys between as far as 
the eye can see in every direction. From the top of Brown's mound 
there is nothing to break the view to the east and northeast within the 
limit of human vision, but to the southeast the vision is arrested by Spy 
mound. From this fact must come the story that 'Old Osawatomie 
John' frequently left his fort and and^led over on Spy mound whence 
he could get an unobstructed view to the eastward and all angles for 
forty or fifty miles with his trusty field glasses. His object was to spy 
out the pro-slavery men from Missouri and elsewhere who were ma'"^'' 
ing to Kansas to help make her a slave state. We can not go into the 
stories of his life in connection with the 'war in Kansas' from '54 to '58: 
our only purpose is to give a brief account of what we saw. To get to 
the Brown farm go west from Amoret, Missouri, to the State line road, 
turning north at the cemetery corner, thence about a mile and a half to 
a private road turning to the left into the state of Kansas. This is 
about a quarter from an old dilapidated, unoccupied house just on the 
rise of the mound, and when you are through the gate by this old house 
you will be fairly on Brown's mound, and it is about a quarter thence 
to the summit, over a fairly rough road. 

"Over the top, on the west side, in a deep, rock-embattled ravine 



l82 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

you will come to the two-story farm house dwelling, abutting a solid 
stone formation, with a front two-story porch or veranda built of wood. 
The rock formations all about the place are wonderful, and no more 
obscure or defensible location could have been selected for 'military 
purposes' as old John Brown spoke of it. The original John Brown 
house or fort stood about fifty yards to the southwest of the present 
dwelling, but only a few of the huge logs used in its construction may 
now be seen. These logs with the score marks of the axe left by the 
hewer still plainly visible, and the 'dove-tail' cuts at the ends, were of 
curious interest. They seemed to be about 18 feet long, 6 inches thick 
and from 12 to 15 inches wide. They have recently been used as a part 
of an old barn or cattle coral. It seemed an ignoble use after the heroic 
association of history. The gulches or ravines run south by west, and as 
we followed a foot path up the ravine about half a quarter from the site 
of the fort to the big hawthorn tree, all scarred up, on trunk and branches, 
by the initials of visitors to that historic spot, we had a curious sense 
of treading upon sacred soil — where the blood of men 'whose only offense 
was that they were free-state men' was spilled by a gang of outlaws and 
rullfians. Here, by this great old hawthorn tree, a tragedy was enacted 
known in history as the 'Hamilton massacre,' which marked an epoch 
in the life of Kansas and which had much to do with blotting out the 
stain of African slavery in this nation. Eleven men were lined up and 
ruthlessly shot down to make a ruffian holiday. Five w^ere instantly 
killed, and the others were wounded, except one, who fell and feigned 
death and thus escaped unhurt. 

"In 1888 a splendid monument was erected in the Trading Post 
cemetery some four miles away from the spot of the bloody tragedy, 
which has carved upon it the names of the men shot, the date, two stanzas 
of Whittier's poem on the 'Marais du Cygnes Massacre,' all in memory 
of the 'martyrs.' 

"The Hamilton massacre occurred on May 19, 1858. 

"In just one year, six months and thirteen days from this foul 
massacre of innocent men old 'Osawatomie John Brown' was executed 
by hanging by the neck at Charlestown, Virginia, now West Virginia, 
for his insurrectionary move upon Harper's Ferry ; and in an old encyclo- 
pedia we read : 'After a trial of three days, in which Brown was unable 
on account of his wounds, to stand up, he was found guilty and sentenced 
to death on the scaffold within 48 hours. He died calmly on the 2nd 
day of December, 1859. It mav safely be assumed that his execution 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 83 

hastened the downfall of slavery in the United States. Brown was a 
man of stern and uncompromising moral principle; and though open to 
the charge of fanaticism, and regarded as justly and necessarily con- 
demned to death under the law, he seemed to be increasingly viewed 
as a martyr and a hero.' Brown was fifty-nine years of age wdien hung. 
The book quoted was published in 1880, thirty-eight years ago, and in that 
time 'Osawatomie Brown' has taken his place among the heroic and 
martyred dead of our country. 

"Strange is the mutation of time ! A felon and an outlaw yesterday ! 
Executed by his fellow human beings; today admired, honored and wor- 
shipped as an example of the w^orld's real heroes — the forerunner of a 
higher and more righteous civilization! 

"We are reminded of Lowell's line : 'Truth forever on the scaffold, 
wrong forever on the throne.' In the light of the present era it is not 
pleasant to think of an old man so wounded in his fight for right that he 
could not stand up to be sentenced to die 'within 48 hours' an ignoble 
death on the scafTold. But this was only one of a multitude of similar 
things which has been enacted by society in the full conviction that 
society was only defending and preserving itself. But society has moved 
up somewhat since then, and few men are now hanged by the neck until 
dead." 

Supplementary to the foregoing I append the letter of William E. 
Connelley, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, 
Kansas, author of a "Life of John Brown," a "History of Kansas," and 
other historical works. He is an authority on all matters touching Kansas 
history and this letter is an important contribution: 

Mr. W. O. Atkeson, October 8, 1917. 

Butler. Missouri. 

Dear Sir: I have received your favor of the 1st inst., requesting 
me to write you a letter on the John Brown raid into Missouri in 1858. 

This raid was not made into Bates county, but into Vernon county. 

John La Rue lived at that time half a mile north of the Osage river, 
on Duncan's creek, and on the northwest ^ of the southeast H of section 
8, township 37, range 33. He owned five slaves. Harvey G. Hicklin 
lived on the south ^ of the southeast 54 of section 5, township 37, 
range 33, on the estate of James Lawrence, deceased. Hicklin had 
married a daughter of Lawrence. Near the village of Hoover, on the 
south side of the Osage, David Cruise lived on the northeast ^ of 
the southeast % of section 21, township 37, range 33. 



184 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

John Brown during the summer of 1858 had built his fort on the 
Snyder claim, in Linn county, Kansas, which was less than half a mile 
from the Missouri line, being the northwest J4 oi fractional section 26, 
township 20, range 25. 

Among the Lawrence negroes under the care of Mr. Hicklin, was 
a young man named Jim. On the night of Sunday, December 19, Jim 
rode into Kansas to see John Brown. It is said that Brown was at 
that time at Bain's fort. Jim told Brown that the slaves of his neighbor- 
hood were to be taken to Texas and sold in a few days and implored 
Brown to rescue them. This, Brown agreed to do. On Monday 
night Brown organized two parties to go into Missouri. He led one 
party himself. It was composed of about fifteen men. The other party 
numbered nine men and was led by John H. Kagi. Brown went to the 
Lawrence farm and to the house of La Rue. Kagi went to the house 
of David Cruise. Brown took from Hicklin on the Lawrence farm, 
five negroes, two men, one woman and two children. Kagi found the 
door to the residence of Mr. Cruise locked, and demanded that it be 
opened. Mr. Cruise attempted to fire on Kagi and his men but his 
weapon was not discharged. He was, however, shot and killed. Kagi 
took a slave woman from the premises of Mr. Cruise. He also took 
two yoke of oxen and a wagon laden with provisions and clothes. It 
is said that he also took eleven head of mules and two horses. Brown 
secured five additional slaves from John La Rue, although in the state- 
ment of Harvey G. Hicklin it is said that these slaves belonged to Isaac 
La Rue. These slaves and the other property taken by John Brown 
and his party, and by Kagi and his party, were carried into Kansas, and 
eventually found their way into Canada over the underground railroad. 

This raid, in connection with the Marais des Cygnes massacre by 
Hamilton, in the preceding May, gave rise to the famous "Parallels" 
written by John Brown, and wdiich are as follow: 

'Trading Post, Kansas, Jany 1859. 

'Gents: You will greatly oblige a humble friend by allowing mc 
the use of your columns while I briefly state two parallels in my poor 
way. Not One year ago Eleven quiet citizens of this neighborhood 
(Viz.) Wm. Robertson, Wm. Colpetzer, Amos Hall, Austin Hall, John 
Campbell, Asa Snyder, Thos. Stilwell, Wm. Hairgrove, Asa Hairgrove, 
Patrick Ross, and B. L. Reed, were gathered up from their work, & 
their homes by an armed force (under One Hamilton) & without trial; 
or opportunity to speak in their own defense, were formed into a line 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 185 

& all but one shot. Five killed & five wounded. One fell unharmed, 
pretending to be dead. All were left for dead. Now I inquire what 
action has ever since (the occasion in May last) has been taken by either 
the President of the United States; the Governor of Missouri; the 
Governor of Kansas or any of their tools; or by any proslavery or admin- 
istration man ? 

'Now for the other parallel. On Sunday, the 19th of December, 
a Negro man called Jim came over to the Osage settlement from Mis- 
souri & stated that he, together with his Wife, Two Children, & another 
Negro man* were to be sold within a day or Two & begged for help 
to get away. On Monday night of the following day Two small com- 
panies were made up to go to Missouri & forcibly liberate the Five 
slaves, together with other slaves. One of those companies I assume 
to direct. We proceeded to the place, surrounded the buildings, liber- 
ated the slaves; & also took certain other property supposed to belong 
to the Estate. W^e however learned before leaving that a portion of 
the articles we had taken belonged to a man living on the plantation 
as a tenant & who was supposed to have no interest in the Estate. We 
promptly restored to him all we had taken so far I believe. We then 
went to another where we freed Five more slaves, took some property , 
& Two white men. W^e moved all slowly away, into the territory for 
some distance & then sent the White men back, telling- them to follow 
us as soon as they chose to do so. The other company freed One 
female slave, took some property ; & as I am informed killed One 
White man (the master) who fought against liberation. 

'Now for a comparison. Eleven persons are forcibly restored to 
their natural; & unalienable rights with but one man killed; & all 'Hell 
is stirred from beneath.' It is currently reported that the Governor 
of Missouri has made a requisition upon the Governor of Kansas for 
the delivery of all such as were concerned in the last named 'dreadful 
outrage ;' the Marshall of Kansas is said to be collecting a posse of 
Missouri (not Kansas men) at West Point in Missouri, a little town 
about Ten Miles distant, to 'enforce the laws,' & and all proslavery 
conservative Free State dough faced men & administration tools are filled 
with holy horror. Respectfully yours, 

'John Brown.' 

The Marais des Cygnes massacre occurred on the 19th of May, 
1858. The men who committed this massacre were commanded by 
Charles Hamelton, who came to Kansas from Cassville, Georgia. He 



l86 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

was a notorious and rabid pro-slavery man. He had no particular griev- 
ance against any of the murdered men. His animosity w^as toward all 
free-state men. He regarded those massacred as the leading free-state 
men in the community. He was in command of 32 men. He made his 
first arrest at Trading Post. He went to the houses of the settlement 
north of Trading Post, and arrested men until he had eleven prisoners. 
These he took to the high land on the east half of the northeast 34 
of section 27, township 20. range 25. He left them there in charge of 
his band, and went to Snyder's claim to arrest Snyder, the blacksmith. 
Snyder resisted and fought him off, severely wounding a man named 
Bell, who died a few days later. This repulse by Snyder angered Hamel- 
ton, who returned to his command having the prisoners. The men were 
driven into a ravine, ranged in line, and fired on by the Missourians. 
Five were killed, five wounded, and one was unhurt but feigned death. 
Trusting this will give you the information you desire. 

Sincerely yours, 
WILLIAM E. CONNELLEY, 
Topeka, Kansas, October 8, 1917. Secretary. 



CHAPTER XL 



RAILROADS. 



EARLY TRANSPORTATION — COLONEL BROWN — RAILWAY CONNECTIONS— FIRST 
SURVEY — RAILWAY PROJECTS — PLEASANT HILL, BUTLER & FORT SCOTT 
RAILROAD— LEBO & NEOSHO — RAILROAD MEETINGS— SPECIAL SESSION OF 
COUNTY COURT— LEAVENWORTH, LAWRENCE & GALVESTON— CONTRACTS 
LET — "BOB" STEVENS — PERSONAL BENEFIT SCHEMES— GENERAL PARSONS 
— LA BETTE CITY — COLONEL WILLIAMS— KANSAS CITY & MEMPHIS COM- 
PANY — MISSOURI, KANSAS & TOPEKA — GENERAL DISGUST— FAILURE OF 
SYNDICATE— MISSOURI PACIFIC— RICH HILL BRANCH— OTHER RAILROAD 
PROJECTS— COLONEL PACE AND COLONEL NICHOLS— SYNDICATE REPRE- 
SENTED — WALNUT CITY BOOM — DAMAGE SUIT — BOOMLET — J. D. SCOTT — 
SINCERE PROMOTERS— "IN THE LAND OF BEGINNING AGAIN." 

Except for about five miles of the line of the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas railroad constructed in 1870 cutting off about six sections of 
land in the extreme southeast corner of Rockville township, the south- 
east township of the county, Bates county was without the advantages 
of rail transportation until 1879 when the Lexington & Southern, a 
branch of the Missouri Pacific from Pleasant Hill to Joplin, was con- 
structed through Cass, Bates, Vernon, Barton and Jasper counties, 
touching all the county seat towns — Harrisonville, Butler, Nevada, 
Lamar and Carthage, respectively ; and a branch of the Kansas City, 
Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad from near Pleasanton, Kansas, east to and 
through Osage township to Carbon Center in the northern part of 
Vernon county. New towns sprang up on both these lines of railroad; 
Adrian and Rich Hill on the Missouri Pacific branch and Hume and 
Sprague on the Gulf branch. Previous to -the construction of these 
lines of railroad, Butler hauled most of her freight from Pleasant Hill 
on the main line of the Missouri Pacific. The discovery, or rather, 
the development, of valuable bituminous coal deposits in Osage town- 
ship was the cause of the construction of the branch road from Pleasan- 
ton ; and together with this coal development and the rapid increase 
of the zinc and lead mining industries in Jasper county, following the 
construction of the St. Louis & San Francisco railroad through Jasper 

187 



1 88 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

county, aided in securing capital to invest in the Pleasant Hill and 
Joplin branch. 

Col. E. H. Brown conceived the value and prospective business 
of a north and south road through this western tier of counties, connect- 
ing by a short line, Kansas City and Joplin, realizing that the passen- 
ger business of these county seat towns as well as the coal and zinc 
and lead ore trat^c, would result in rich dividends on the cost of con- 
struction and when properly presented, the necessary financial aid 
could readily be secured. Colonel Brown had the "pep," push and railroad 
construction experience to accomplish results that theretofore had only 
been a failure. Perhaps no community in the history of railroad build- 
ing in the \\'est had worked harder, and followed up every broached 
railroad enterprise, than the early citizens of Butler and Bates counties, 
even to the most visionary schemes and wildcat enterprises. The 
detailed account of all these prospective schemes would be too cum- 
bersome and at this time unnecessary in this condensed history of the 
county. 

Even before the Civil War when the county was but sparsely set- 
tled and much of the farm lands was held by non-residents, slave hold- 
ers and speculators, looking to the future development of the county 
for financial results, the business men of Butler realized the importance 
of railroad connection with the outer world, the great commercial cen- 
ters of the West and East. 

The first railroad survey was an east and west line through Clin- 
ton and Butler, to La Cygne, Kansas, with St. Louis the eastern 
terminus, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Pacific Coast the goal. 
The survey was all the glory of this enterprise. Immediately after 
the close of the Civil Wiw, however, was sprung upon the railroad 
enthusiasts of Butler, a line known as the Lebo & Fort Scott rail- 
road, the promoters asking $200,000 county bonds. This was in 1866; 
but no definite action was taken by county ofiicials. The following 
vear a company was organized somewhere under the high sounding 
name of the Osage \^alley & Southern Kansas Railroad Company, 
proposing to construct a railroad from Boonville on the Missouri river 
to Fort Scott and $100,000 in bonds was asked of Bates county with 
a donation of the right of way. Chicago was to be the northern termi- 
nus, an "air line" to "just where you like it." The county of^cials did 
not seem to catch onto this scheme and no action of the bond ques- 
tion was taken. This year, also, the Lebo & Neosho enterprise was 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY jSq 

revived and the county court was actually convened and the proposition 
ably presented to the court urging an election for the issuing of $200,000 
in bonds. The court flatly refused. The year of 1867 seems to 
•have been pregnant with railroad schemes. The Sedalia & Fort Scott 
railroad was proposed through Butler, also a line from Chillicothe in 
north Missouri, crossing the Missouri river at Lexington, and through 
Johnson and Bates county to Fort Scott. This enterprise was enthusi- 
astically endorsed by all the business men of Butler, and a grand mass 
meeting was held on August 27, 1867, and resolutions passed endorsing 
the enterprise including a proposition to vote $300,000 in bonds — to 
organize a company and secure the aid of other counties through which 
the road was proposed to run. Closely following this meeting on 
September 2nd, the county court made an order submitting to a vote 
of the people a bond issue of SI 50.000, the proceeds to be invested in 
the capital stock of this Lebo & Neosho railroad, on condition that 
the road was to be constructed and cars running through the south- 
eastern part of the county. The record shows the proposition was 
defeated fifty-three for and two hundred thirty-one against. 

The following year, 1868, a more feasible proposition came from 
the Garrisons, St. Louis, who had built the Missouri Pacific from St. 
Louis to Kansas City, to build a branch line from Holden on the Mis- 
souri Pacific to Butler and on to Ft. Scott, if the counties would secure 
the right of way and grade the road ready for the ties. The proposi- 
tion was accepted by representative men covering the entire route and 
a survey was made and an issue of $200,000 of county bonds was 
projected to cover the expense of Bates county's share of the necessary 
outlay. In the meantime Cass county became interested in this enter- 
prise, and a bond issue of $250,000 was promised by the business men 
of Cass to have this road branch from Pleasant Hill, instead of Holden 
and run through Harrisonville to Butler. A survey to this end was 
made from Pleasant Hill to Nevada and while these surveys were 
acceptable to the Garrisons all excitement over the project appears 
to have subsided, the old Lebo & Neosho project bobbing up again, 
and November 28, 1868. a special election was held in Prairie City 
township to subscribe $50,000 to this road in pursuance of an order of 
the county court on petition of ninety-five tax payers of said township. 
This proposition was defeated by a small majority. 

Later in the same year. December 15. a proposition to construct 
a road from Emporia. Kansas, via Mound City and Butler to Clinton, 
to be called the Sedalia. Butler & Emporia railroad. Following closely 



190 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

upon this proposition and to end the year's raih-oad projects, on Decem- 
ber 30, 1868, the president and secretary of the Jefferson City, Osage 
& Neosho Valley Railroad Company, were present at a large public 
gathering in Butler in the interest of this new project for an east and- 
west line and by their addresses quite enthused the crowded meeting 
in the old frame court house building on the corner of the court house 
square. 

Another railroad year was 1869, ushered in with the usual enthusi- 
asm as early as January 13, when the Pleasant Hill, Butler & Fort 
Scott Railroad Company was organized in St. Louis with John R. Walker 
as the first director from Bates county. 

In March, 1869, Prairie City township, by almost an unanimous 
vote, appropriated $25,000 to the Lebo & Neosho railroad, bonds to 
be issued when the cars were running through said township. Under this 
name a railroad was built through the extreme southeast corner of 
Rockville township. Litigation arose over the issue of these $25,000 
bonds and a change of venue was taken to another county, and pending 
an appeal from the lower court's decision against Prairie township, 
the attorney for the railroad company proceeded to Butler and the 
county court for some reason, delivered to him these bonds, over which 
there were years of litigation. 

At the same time of the election in Prairie township a vote was had 
in Pleasant Gap and Lone Oak townships for the issuing of bonds for 
$20,000 and $15,000 respectively, for the same project but were defeated. 
Li the months of April, May and June, 1869, in Cass and Bates counties 
meetings were held organizing for the construction of the Pleasant 
Hill, Butler & Ft. Scott road. In June of this year a new project 
bobbed up for the Missouri Pacific branch to start out from Warrens- 
burg to Butler and Fort Scott, and meetings were had in Butler in 
the interest of this enterprise. On June 17, 1869, another meeting 
was held in Butler in the interest of the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf. 
Time was not allowed to lag — railroad construction on paper was in 
the air, the black smoke of the on-coming engines from all direc- 
tions could be snuffed in the ozone of the atmosphere, and on June 
24, 1869, a railroad promoter from Paola, Kansas, was in Butler to 
interest her citizens in the construction of a branch road to Butler and 
on east, of the Fort Scott «& Gulf and stated the management of the 
main line was anxious to tap the coal fields in western Bates. There 
was hardly a week passed that railroad meetings were not held at Butler 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I9I 

ill the interest of some new or old project. July 10 and July 24, in the 
interest of the Holdeni branch of the Missouri Pacific and the Clinton 
branch of the Lebo & Neosho roads. At the latter meeting a reso- 
lution was adopted requesting the county court to subscribe $200,000 
to the Butler branch of the Lebo & Neosho, and $100,000 to the main 
line. On August 17 a committee to interview Mr. Joy, the financial 
backer of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf, was appointed and on the 
25th of August another enthusiastic meeting was held in the interest of 
the Holden route which at that time seemed to be the favorite, several 
of the prominent citizens of Butler having come from Holden. Sep- 
tember 25, 1869, the county court, then in session, was urged to order 
a special election on the proposition of subscribing $100,000 to the 
main line of the Lebo & Neosho, $100,000 to the Butler branch of the 
same, and $100,000 to the Lexington, Holden & Butler roads. One 
of the judges being absent, the court refused to make the order. On 
October 16th a meeting was held at the court house to promote the 
Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis line, and delegates were sent 
to a meeting held in Kansas City on October 19, when A. H. Humphrey 
was elected director for Bates county of this railroad company. The 
arrival in Butler, October 29th of the engineer corps, under Major Mor- 
ris, surveying the Lexington, Holden & Butler route to Fort Scott, 
created quite a furor of handshaking, entertainment and general good 
feeling all around and v/ith a view to harmonize different views and 
interests a general meeting was held to harmonize all these railroad 
enterprises and at this meeting it was resolved that the county court 
be requested to subscribe $100,000 to the Lebo & Neosho, running 
seventeen miles through the southeastern corner of Bates county and 
the same amount to the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf, the proposition 
to be submitted to a vote. Afterwards the court made one order, giv- 
ing $75,000 to the former and $125,000 to the latter enterprise and 
election was called for the first Tuesday in January, 1870, but a week 
before the time for this election the order was rescinded and an elec- 
tion ordered in Mount Pleasant to vote $65,000 to the Chillicothe, 
Lexington & Gulf, and in Mingo township to vote v$40,000 to the same 
road, election to take place the last Tuesday in January, 1870. Both 
propositions were defeated. February 12, 1870, the county court ordered 
a special election in Hudson township to be held March 8, 1870 to vote 
for or against subscribing $20,000 to the Lebo & Neosho and was almost 
unanimously defeated. 



192 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

So many enterprises and so many divergent views and interests, none 
of these schemes having any financial backing, were in fact, the dreams 
of promoters; "get-rich-quick" or bond-grabbing individuals, with blue 
prints and blue-sky oratory, knowing, however, the needs of the pub- 
lic-spirited citizens of these fastly growing towns and rapidly develop- 
ing rich farming lands and ever ready to scalp them, but notwithstand- 
ing the dire need of railroad transportation it was difificult for these 
grafters to "pull the wool" over the eyes of the shrewd business men who 
had the energy and experience common to all the pioneers in the set- 
tlement of this Western country ; yet so persistent were the promoters 
of some of these enterprises or schemes that the public were ever ready 
'to give each and all a respectful hearing, hoping in the end to accom- 
plish results. To this end in March, 1870, several railroad meetings 
were held at Butler to affect a compromise of the many different rail- 
road interests and to bring concentration out of chaos. The result 
of these meetings was that petitions were circulated and signed asking 
the county court to subscri1)e $400,000 in bonds to this Memphis road, 
half to be issued when the road reached the northern line of the county, 
the other half when the engine tooted within the corporate limits of 
Butler; also the court was asked to call special elections in Mount Pleas- 
ant and Grand River townships, the former to appropriate $90,000 and 
the latter $40,000 to the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf. Both orders 
were made by the court complying w^ith the recjuest of the petitioners, 
notwithstanding the remonstrance of about one-third as many citizens 
as the petitioners, and $400,000 was ordered by the court to be appro- 
priated to the Memphis road, and the election held the first Tuesday 
in May, resulted in the adoption of the proposition by over the neces- 
sary two-thirds vote. 

The day before these tow^nship elections the court was petitioned 
by a very representative number of citizens to rescind the $400,000 
order but no action theron is of record. With $530,000 in sight from 
the county and the two townships the Chillicothe. Lexington & Gulf 
was considered assured, and at the June session of the county court 
Mr. A. L, Betz, one of Butler's prominent citizens, was appointed, as 
the agent of the county, to subscribe the stock of the said two townships 
and a few days later a contract for the first twenty miles of this road 
was let. 

A special term of the county court was called and met June 25th 
following, to consider again the propriety of subscribing $50,000 to 
secure the Lebo & Neosho through the town of Pludson and Pleasant 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I93 

Gap township, but the arguments of the promoters of this outlay were 
not sufficiently convincing and the court turned the proposition down. 

A\'hile the court was on this special session word came from Jeffer- 
son City that the Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis had no regular 
organization, and the order therefore made appropriating the $400,000 
was promptly rescinded. It was learned afterwards that these repre- 
sentations were incorrect and were made in the interest of other rail- 
road schemes. 

It was bonds the promoters of all these lines of road were after — 
enough money from their sale to grade the roads and leave a large 
rake-ofT to the incorporators. So when several townships in Johnson 
county through which the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf road had been 
surveyed, refused to vote the necessary bonds, a proposition was sprung 
to consolidate the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf with the Pleasant Hill 
proposed line of road and a consolidation was effected under the name 
of Lexington, Lake & Gulf. (We have never been able to learn 
where the "lake" was located, or why the name.) It was suggested that 
the bonds voted in Mount Pleasant and Grand River townships, $130,000 
be issued to this new consolidated company but the people refused to so 
instruct, creating distrust, confusion and opposition to changing the 
line from Holden to Pleasant Hill. However the directors of the Lex- 
ington, Lake & Gulf made application to the court for these bonds 
and they were issued. 

It was in October of this year that the five miles or so of railroad 
of the Lebo & Neosho — now the Missouri, Kansas & Texas — was 
constructed diagonally across the extreme southeast corner of the county. 
It was in this month, October, 1870, that a survey was made from 
Pleasant Hill to Butler by the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston 
Railroad Company, but nothing further was accomplished by this com- 
pany for over a year. In the meantime contracts were let for grading 
between Lexington and Butler by the Lexington, Lake & Gulf Com- 
pany by way of Pleasant Hill and during the very closing days of the 
year 1870 ground was broken on the farm then owned by D. S. Fair- 
child and all Butler had dreams of incoming trains, could actually see 
them silhouetted in the Aurora Borealis during the winter of 1870-71 — 
but the actual trains never in fact found any track to approach this 
county. It was during this winter that the Mound City, Kansas branch 
road, came up again but nothing was accomplished. 

(13) 



194 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

In the spring of 1871, "Bob" Stevens, general manager of the con- 
struction of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas raih'oad that had been com- 
pleted via Ft. Scott, Parsons, and Chetopa into the Indian Territory, 
proposed to the citizens of Butler a branch of the M. K. & T. via Butler 
to Wichita, Kansas, from Montrose under the name of the St. Louis 
& New Mexico railroad. 

R. R. ("Bob") Stevens was the general manager of construction 
of the M., K. & T. from Sedalia southwest to a junction with the Neosho 
Valley road, from Neosho Falls, Kansas, to the Indian Territory, and 
he and Major Gunn, chief engineer of the M., K. & T., has been build- 
ing the line in a roundabout way, not only to make more track mileage, 
but also to get the usual graft from new townsites, free right of way 
and bonuses in the way of cash subscriptions and municipal bonds. 
Especially conspicuous was the selection of the junction point with the 
Neosho Valley road on the broad prairie in La Bette county, Kansas. 
At this proposed junction point a town company was organized, a sec- 
tion of land laid" off for townsite. Bob Stevens and Major Gunn holding 
one-half the company's stock. Getting wind of these personal benefit 
schemes, General Parsons, a Wall Street financier, who was putting 
up the money for construction of the road, came west to investigate 
the situation, and the result was that La Bette City wdiich had reached 
a population of about 1,500 in nine months with all lines of business 
represented including a newspaper and job office, and in a county-seat 
contest had received the majority vote of the county of La Bette, soon 
went dead, when it became known that General Parsons had selected 
the junction to be made about nine miles north of La Bette City near 
the Neosho river, laid out a large townsite named Parsons and made 
it known that it would be made a division point and the location of 
the machine shops and general headquarters of the system. 

The subsequent life of La Bette City was short and like Foster in 
Bates county, practically only a postofiice and railroad depot were left 
and the townsite reverted to farm lands. Being let out. Mr. Stevens 
turned up with his St. Louis & New Mexico enterprise and it was 
much talked of at Butler and several meetings were held in its interest 
but nothing of a definite understanding resulted and after the spring 
of 1871 the enthusiasm in regard to this scheme died out and the north 
and south road enterprises gained friends and while there was some 
interest taken in the new venture by one Col. J. D. Williams, who had 
severed his connection with the Kansas City & Memphis road, under 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I95 

the name of the Kansas City, Galveston & Gulf, nothing came of it 
and all interest seemed centered in the Kansas City & Memphis Com- 
pany and on August 9th this company made formal application for the 
$400,000 subscription which had previously been ordered by the county 
court, and which they claimed was still valid and binding. This demand 
was taken up and considered by the court and proposed a compromise 
by subscribing $125,000, $65,000 to be issued when the cars were run- 
ning to Butler and to be accomplished before the first of August, 1872, 
and the balance, $60,000, when the road was completed through the 
county. 

On the opening of the new year, 1872, the Butler branch of the 
M., K. & T. was again sprung upon the people of the county along 
the proposed line and the county court at the January term subscribed 
$250,000 to secure the success of this enterprise and the people of the 
entire county were very much aroused at this action of the court. 
Excitement ran high and the court at a subsequent session rescinded 
the order. 

So many railroad schemes had gone glimmering that the general 
public of the county had become quite disgusted and had declared tx 
veto on any further talk of bond issues. The question of any more 
bond issues entered into campaigns for county olificers and several 
years passed by in comparative quietude so far as railroad projects 
w^ere concerned and the citi;^ens of Butler got back to checkers, cards 
and village gossip with an occasional railroad meeting as a diversion 
and in the endeavor to have utilized the old roadbeds that had been 
partially constructed to Harrisonville and on south to Bates county. To 
promote this enterprise a syndicate was organized in 1876 and an option 
on these roadbeds was secured and $75,000 in private subscriptions 
was pledged through the earnest endeavor of several of Butler's lead- 
ing citizens, but the necessary financial backing failed and this project 
failed as all previous ones had. Butler, a flourishing town, the county 
seat of one of the largest and l^est agricultural counties in the state, 
remained without rail connection until came Col. Ed H. Brown, a true 
representative of Western enterprise, with a past successful career in 
railroad construction, having made good in numerous construction con- 
tracts on the line of the Union Pacific railway, almost the entire distance 
from Omaha to Cheyenne. Those were days when men on the line 
greeted the stranger with the question: 



196 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

"Hast ever been to Omaha, 
Where rolls the dark Missouri down, 
And four strong horses scarce can draw 
An empty wagon through the town?" 

FoHowing his Union Pacific experience. Colonel Brown projected 
the construction of a railroad from Memphis northwest through Carth- 
age, county seat of Jasper county. The panic of 1873 put a damper 
on this enterprise but he kept his indomitable sledge-hammer determi- 
nation to succeed on foot, never allowing it to lag, until 1875, when the 
St. Louis & San Francisco road purchased his franchise, right of 
way, etc., from Carthage on west, and changed the name for construc- 
tion purposes to the Missouri & Western railway, and he contracted 
to build the roadbed from Carthage to Oswego, Kansas. This accom- 
plished, he then organized a company to construct a road from Joplin 
to Girard, Kansas, which continued operations for three years, when 
the St. Louis & San Francisco purchased it as a branch of its main 
trunk line from St. Louis to Wichita. Thus let free, he was the genuine 
road builder with the necessary enterprise, experience and an intimate 
knowledge of what the agricultural demands, industrial enterprises and 
necessities of the citizens of the county seat towns in the border tier 
of counties between Kansas City and the Joplin lead and zinc mines; 
he was indeed the man Butler was reaching out for, and in the spring 
of 1869 he visited these county seats, made known his project, was met 
with open arms, ai\d $20,000 was easily raised to aid in the preliminary 
requirements of the company whicli was organized, chartered under 
the name of the Lexington & Southern. This accomplished, the Colonel 
turned up in New York City, presented his project to Jay Gould, who 
had previously purchased the line from Commodore Garrison of St. 
Louis, the builder thereof, and with all the necessary blue prints, sta- 
tistics, etc., including the rich deposits of coal in Osage township, 
and the northern part of Vernon county, the zinc and lead mining 
interests of Jasper county, he easily with his engaging manner, gentle- 
manly demeanor and fine and vigorous physique, and an intimate knowl- 
edge of the entire detail of the advantages that would accrue to the 
Missouri Pacific system to own this line of road, the great railroad 
wizard w\as easily convinced and when Colonel Brown had settled 
his bill at the WaldorfT and left New York for home he .carried with 
him the authority to go ahead and construct this road from Pleasant 
Hill to Joplin, with the necessary funds forthcoming to back him, and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



^97 



before the end of the year Missouri Pacific trains were running from 
the junction at Pleasant Hih to Butler and the road completed to 
Joplin the following year. 

In this year, 1880, was also constructed the Rich Hill branch from 
the main line of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Memphis through Howard 
and Osage townships to Carbon Center coal fields in Vernon county. 

Several other enterprises in the way of railroad projects from time 
to time were sprung upon the citizens of Bates county after this. In 
1881, the Chicago, St. Louis & Ft. Scott Company was organized 
with the project of building a branch of the Chicago & Alton road from 
some point north to Butler, Rich Hill and Fort Scott and citizens of 
the county, Butler and Rich Hill had actually subscribed $60,000 for 
the branch line from Odessa. It proved a fake; the Chicago & Alton 
repudiated the claim that Col. B. J. Waters, of Ft. Scott, had repre- 
sented that the C. & A. was back of his enterprise. 

It was in 1883, however, that the citizens of Butler experienced 
a season of extreme happiness over a new railroad enterprise that had 
every evidence of success, only to be sadly disappointed in the out- 
come. Col. James L. Pace, in what interest he failed to make known 
at the time, took options on or contracts of purchase for several thousand 
acres of land in Walnut township and soon afterward Col. Tom Nichols, 
of Washington, D. C, put in an appearance in Butler and was introduced 
as a millionaire and represented a syndicate of prominent capitalists 
who proposed to construct a line of railroad from Chicago to El Paso, 
Texas, and on to Old Mexico via Butler and Fort Scott and developed 
the coal treasures of Walnut township, taking over the lands that 
Colonel Pace had optioned. The gentlemen backing Col. Nichols soon 
were made known, and they were so prominent in the political and 
financial world that there was hardly a question of doubt as to the suc- 
cess of their undertaking. This syndicate consisted, besides Colonel 
Nicholas, the general manager, and who, it appears, originated the 
enterprise, of Governor Foster of Ohio, Congressman Keifer, Speaker 
of the House of Representatives, New York; General Townsend, of 
Ohio; United States Senator Plum, of Kansas and of St. Louis. 

A large tract of the Pace land was surveyed into townlots in Wal- 
nut township, platted after the city of Washington, besides the regu- 
lar, square, forty-five-degree streets. The grading of a railroad was 
commenced through the town named Walnut, northeast and southwest, 
a system of waterworks started and a prospectus of the coming city 
was issued and otherwise extensively advertised in all the daily papers 



198 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of the West with a day named when a public sale of lots would take 
place. In the meantime syndicates organized at Fort Scott, Sedalia, 
Butler and some other towns had purchased lots, and erected blocks 
of buildings and started business. In fact everything indicated great 
success and the first public sale of lots on the installment plan proved 
a great success. While everything was thus moving forward so smoothly 
and successfully, Col. Tom Irish, of the "Rich Hill Mining Review," 
probably with a spirit of jealousy as well as distrust from his general 
knowledge of the coal measures of southern Bates, began a thorough 
investigation of this Walnut City boom on account of its surrounding of 
black diamonds, its railroad project and also ''who was Col. Tom Nichols, 
the millionaire." He first interviewed General Nettleton, of Kansas 
City, president of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad, and was 
allowed to examine the reports of expert mining engineers who had 
prospected all the coal measures of Bates county and learned while 
there was a large amount of coal underlying the farm lands of Walnut 
township, there was none susceptible of being mined profitably on 
any large scale, and any intention previously had of tapping these coal 
measures by the said railroad company had been abandoned. He learned 
also that Colonel Nichols had also several years previous, been a citi- 
zen of Ft. Scott, was a man of no means, had delivered lectures on 
the existence of the orthodox hell and located it beneath the crust of 
the earth to its center, denying Professor Sym's theory that the crust 
of the earth was like a shell and was inhabited by human beings far 
in advance of those of us on the surface — and further, that he had left 
Ft. Scott leaving many creditors. He also looked up the officers of the 
C. & A., the C. B. & Q., and the Wabash railroads and learned that 
neither road was interested or back of any such enterprise and that 
no sane financier would foster any such railroad proposition at that 
time. 

With this and other data, he published a leading article in the 
"Review" puncturing this full-bloom bubble while it was floating high in 
the air. This expose was copied in the dailies of Kansas City, St. 
Louis, Ft. Scott, Sedalia and in other papers. A suit for $100,000 dam- 
ages was immediately instituted in our circuit court against Colonel 
Irish and also action for criminal libel. The syndica-te of distinguished 
financiers, mostly politicians, soon put in an appearance in Bates county 
to investigate the situation and learn what had been done with the 
$10,000 each member had put up and the amount realized from the sale 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I99 

of lots. They had hardly crossed the Bates county line before Sherifif 
Hanks served all of them with notices to have their depositions taken 
in Rich Hill the next day in the above damage suit, and they all appeared 
in that city in the evening after a visit to Walnut, and were highly enter- 
tained at the Talmage House and speeches were made from the south 
balcony. No depositions were taken but the following day both suits 
were dismissed. The name of Foster was substituted for Walnut, and 
as was predicted in the "Review" article, the lumber and brick in the 
buildings at Walnut gradually were used in the constructing of sheep 
corrals and chimney flues on the surrounding farms and a year or two 
ago many of the lots, blocks and streets were sold to farmers for farm 
purposes. 

The following year Colonel Irish had a boomlet in his hands. The 
Emporia to St. Louis railroad project came to the front and a charter 
secured backed by wealthy men of Kansas. Mound City, Pleasanton, 
Rich Hill, Deepwater and Warsaw were points, on the line. Some of 
the roadbed was constructed in Kansas and J. D. Scott, of Rich Hill, 
an old railroad contractor of Union Pacific and Santa Fe experience, 
had a contract for grading the roadbed from the eastern limits of 
Rich Hill across the bottoms to the Marais des Cygnes river. He did 
some $8,000 or $10,000 worth of grading and no funds were forth- 
coming and the Avork was abandoned. The enterprise was a complete 
failure. 

Most of the gentlemen of Butler, bankers, lawyers, merchants, and 
business men of all the industries who were prominent and did "their 
bit" in all these railroad enterprises have taken passage to that station to 
which no tickets are required, no return passage ever is issued, no 
baggage accepted, no personal fare exacted and no railroad transporta- 
tion required for this final trip to the unknown Beyond; they are at 
rest, the shriek of the locomotive and the rumbling of the cars, that 
thev so earnestly longed to hear, disturbs not their peaceful sleep. 
They all acted their part in life in the interest of the communities in 
which they lived and passed over the river with the sublime conscious- 
ness that they had performed what seemed to them their individual 
duty in the interest of progress and of future generations who would 
so soon follow them. If any of them made mistakes or erred in judg- 
ment, there are none now to criticise. The acts and deeds of past 
generations is history, of them we are able from the record to familiar- 
ize ourselves and learn lessons of value, but of the future we can only 



200 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

conjecture. To realize what life has in store for us we have to live 
that life. It is a personal individual conscious soul, controlled by that 
Spirit that carries safely through to the end, and there is no one but 
Self, the Ego, to shoulder the responsibility of the life lived. if 
we were to write in detail the local press reports of all these railroad 
meetings and of the amount of brain and nerve energy used and actual 
work accomplished, it w^ould fill this volume. If the men all were living 
and had it to do over again perhaps different methods would be pursued 
and less energy exhausted in "Beginning Again." To use the language 
of the poet, Tarkington: 

"It wouldn't be possible not to be kind 
In the land of Beginning Again ; 

And the ones we misjudged and the ones wdiom we grudged 
Their moments of victory here 
Would find in the grasp of our loving handclasp 
More than penitent lips could explain. 

"For what had been hardest we'd know had been best, 
And what had seemed loss would be gain; 
For there isn't a sting that will not take wing 
Wdien we've faced it and laughed it away ; 
And I think that the laughter is most wdiat we're after 
In the Land of Beginning Again. 

"So I wish there were some wonderful place 
Called the Land of Beeinnine Aeain." 




WASHINGTON SCHOOL, BUTLER, .MISSOL'RL 



CHAPTER Xll. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BATES COUNTY. 
(By Arthur C. Moreland, County Superintendent.) 



EARLY SCHOOLS — FIRST SCHOOL HOUSES — FIRST TEACHERS — BEFORE, DURING. 
AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR — EARLY SETTLERS — OFFICE OF SCHOOL COM- 
MISSIONER CREATED — WILLIAM C. RE QUA — NATHAN L. PERRY — FIRST 
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT, DAVID McGAUGHEY— L. B. ALLISON— FIRST 
TEACHERS' INSTITUTES — CHARLES WILSON — JAMES HARPER — SCHOOL COM- 
MISSIONERS — HOW\\RD TOWNSHIP — FIRST READING CIRCLE— LAWS — MEET- 
INGS—SALARY — STATISTICS — ADRIAN— RICH HILL — BUTLER— BUTLER ACA- 
DEMY — HUME— AMORET— AMSTERDAM— ROCKVILLE— MERWIN — BUSINESS 
COLLEGES. 

There is very Httle recorded material regarding the puldic schools 
of Bates county up to and inchiding the Civil War period. The educa- 
tors of this period have passed away or have moved to other localities 
as is the case with other old settlers having a knowledge of school condi- 
tions. 

As soon as a settlement was formed, consisting of a few families, 
a log hut was built to be used for school and for religious purposes wlien 
school was not in session. 

The first school house erected in Bates county was at Harmony 
Mission. It was built by missionaries who were sent there to instruct 
the Indians. The school house was built in August. 1821. and was 
used for religious purposes as well as school purposes. The missionaries 
built a log house for the education of the Indian children. As soon as 
the school house was completed the missionaries began their efforts 
to educate the Indian children. The Indians did not take to their ideas 
and demanded that the missionaries should pay them for the privilege 
of using their children as pupils. From a practical standpoint the edu- 
cation of the Indian children was a failure for as soon as the children 
were released from school they would return to the tribes, and instead 
of teaching them the ideas they had received from the missionaries 
they would continue their old tribal customs, and remained as savage 
as ever. The county and the circuit court established at Harmony Mis- 



202 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

sion used the school house to hold their sessions until the county seat 
was located at Papinsville. 

One of the first school houses erected in the north part of the 
county was built in 1843. It is well described by J. H. Laman, who 
immigrated from Tennessee to Bates county in 1841, and located in 
what is now Deer Creek township. His description of the school and 
school house is as follows : "The first school house in the north part 
of the county was built in a grove about a mile northwest of the old 
town of Cresent Hill. The house was built by donation of work. There 
was not a dollar in money paid out on it; everything was manufactured 
in the timber near the building site. The floor was of split logs, the 
seats were made of logs split open, and the flat side dressed with an 
ax, and holes bored in the end and legs stuck in. The legs and the 
seats were all nicely turned, that is, they were turned the otherside up 
after the legs had been driven in the auger holes. Then they were 
ready for the polishing; this was done by the scholars during school 
hours and it was a slow process. The scribe did his part of the polish- 
ing during the summer season for a number of years but did not get 
all of the splinters off. Our waiting desks were made the same way, only 
the pins were put in the wall, just below the window — one log out of 
the side of the house — and a broad slab split out and laid on these pins. 

"If we had to close the windows, which was frequently the case, in the 
spring time, all we had to do was to turn the slab on edge and it formed 
a shutter. The house was covered with boards split from large bur-oak 
trees, laid on poles and held in place by other poles on top of them. 
The house was not complete until there was a large fireplace and chim- 
ney in one end, built of sticks and plastered over with mud. A\dien 
the mud was dry the house was ready for use. 

"Schools in those days were difTerent from what they are now. The 
teacher was employed by the month, and had to teach from the first 
of one month until the first day of the next — putting in every day except 
Saturday and Sunday — and they would commence school as soon as 
there were enough pupils present to form a class, and hold until very 
late in the evening. The teacher generally boarded around with the 
patrons of the school. There- was no escape; every one had to keep 
him until he got around, then he would start in again." 

In the Session Acts of 1843 is found the following regarding a 
school in Van Buren county, township 42. range 31, which is at present 
Deer Creek township. Bates county: 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 2O3 

"It shall be lawful for the county court of Van Buren county in 
this state, upon the petition of a majority of the inhabitants of con- 
gressional township 42 in range 31, in said county, to cause a contract 
to be made with Joseph J. McCrane of said township and county, to 
teach a school at some place in said township, as may be agreed upon, 
by a majority of the inhabitants thereof. 

"It shall be the duty of said court, in making said contract, to see 
that the interests of the inhalMtants of said township l)e sufficiently 
guarded ; and that the interest arising from the proceeds of such portion 
of the 16th section, as has been heretofore sold, shall be applied, as 
far as the same may extend, to the payment of the said Joseph J. McCrane 
for his services as teacher of said school." 

The first school house in Deepwater township was built of logs in 
1845, and was taught by a man named Master Lindsey ; the first school in 
Hudson township was taught by Cynthia Tousley. This was in 1843, and 
was taught at the residence of Richard Stratton near the town of Hudson: 
the first school house in Pleasant Gap township was located near the 
Wix home. It was built of logs floored with puncheons. The school 
was supported by "rate bills." there being no public school fund. Neigh- 
boring townships furnished some of the pupils while others came from 
as great a distance as twenty miles and boarded that they might attend 
the school. The first teacher was S. D. Cockrell, son of the postmaster 
of Pleasant Gap. He was employed by the year, and for three years in 
succession. The school house was also used for religious purposes, 
the first preacher being Uncle Dicky, a good old negro from Balltown. 
He was a Presbyterian, and was later sent to Liberia, Africa, by the 
Colonization Society; the first school in Shawnee township was located 
near Elk Fork creek. It was a log cabin and was built in 1842; the first 
school house in Spruce township was located near the Captain Newberry 
blacksmith shop. The exact date of its erection is unknown. The 
school house was used for religious purposes by several denominations: 
the first school house in Walnut township was built in 1845. There 
were about twenty-five pupils in the district. The first teacher was a 
man named Linsey, who received $10 per month for his services as 
teacher; the first school in West Point township was built in West 
Point in 1852. It was erected by public subscription. The first teacher 
was a Mr. Kirkpatrick ; the first school house in Mt. Pleasant township 
was built in Butler in 1856. It was used for religious purposes. The 
first teacher was Mrs. Martha Morgan. 



204 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

School conditions in Bates county were somewhat undeveloped up 
to and including the Civil War. Only four school houses w^ere left stand- 
ing at the close of the Civil War. The school houses were used as 
a place of refuge for bushwhackers during the war and upon their 
being abandoned were destroyed by fire. The four school houses that were 
left were at Pleasant Gap ; Johnstown, on South Deepwater, and Elk Fork. 
The first school house built at the close of the war was the Elswick 
school house and the second was in the Park neighborhood, both in 
Charlotte township. Only five teachers returned to the county after 
the war, they were A. E. Page, R. J. Reed, W'illiam Requa, Mrs. Sarah 
Requa, and Miss Josephine Bartlett. 

Soon after the close of the Civil War most of the county was organ- 
ized into school districts. As soon as a few families settled in a neigh- 
borhood, school houses were built, and school districts formed. This 
caused many small districts to be formed which later had to be reor- 
ganized and the school house site changed to accommodate the people 
after the district had become thickly populated. The condition of the 
school fund was good, and this resulted in good wages being paid the 
teachers. Many good teachers came to the county to take advantage 
of the salaries paid to teachers. The sale of school lands before the 
war amounted to $65,000 and had been increased to $100,000 at the 
close of the war. The capital school fund had bee^ well preserved 
during the war and had been loaned at interest which had accumulated 
for four or five years. Then the advance in the value of land in Bates 
county after the close of the war caused an increase in the amount of 
school money. 

The early settlers took great interest in the education of their 
children, and continued to build school houses at a rapid rate until 
there were 78 school houses in the county in 1870. The schools con- 
tinued from three to six months in the year, and where the funds were 
not sufficient, subscription schools were provided. These schools pro- 
vided a good practical, common-school education. This interest has 
continued to grow with those who came after the early settlers until 
at present the schools of Bates county rank favorably with any in the 
state. 

In 1853, the Legislattire of Missouri created the office of school 
commissioner. The first school commissioner of the county was \\^ill- 
iam C. Requa, who was appointed by the county court in May, 1856, 
and served until May, 1858, when Nathan L. Perry was appointed by 



HISTORY OF HATES COL'NTY 205 

the court. Mr. Perry served until the beginning of the Civil War, 
when the office was discontinued, so far as the court records show, 
until May, 1866. A change in the school law of 1866, created the office 
of county superintendent. 

The first county superintendent of schools of Bates county was 
David McGaughey, who was appointed by the county court in May, 1866. 
He was elected in November, 1866, and served for a term of two years. 
The day following his appointment he granted certificates to teach to 
George Lamkin, who began teaching at Pleasant Gap, and Mrs. E. Burk- 
leo, his sister. Mr. McGaughey began the system of visiting the schools 
and delivering addresses upon educational subjects throughout the 
county. It was during his administration that between forty and fifty 
school districts were organized. At the first convention of the teach- 
ers of the state at St. Louis in June, 1866, Mr. McGaughey was the 
only representative from southwest Missouri. 

In November, 1868, L. B. Allison was elected county superintendent 
of schools, and served for a term of two years. He continued the prac- 
tice of his predecessor in visiting the schools, and delivering addresses 
upon educational subjects throughout the county. The number of 
school districts increased rapidly during his term of office, there being 
78 school houses in the county at the close of his administration. Bates 
county stood first in 1869 in the amount of money spent for the erection 
of school houses, and second in the state in 1870, expending that year 
the sum of $14,170.71. 

The first teachers' institute ever organized in the county was in 
May, 1869. It was organized in Butler in the First Presbyterian church. 
There were fifty teachers present. The meeting was presided over 
by the county superintendent who had devoted considerable time to the 
study of institute work in the East. It was a very profitable meeting 
and the teachers present received much benefit from it. The following 
is from the record of the proceedings of this meeting: "Butler, Mis- 
souri. May 24. 1869. At 2 o'clock p. m. a number of teachers and citi- 
zens met at the First Presbyterian church, pursuant to a call of the 
Bates countv superintendent for the purpose of organizing a teachers' 
institute." 

The second session of the teachers' institute was held in the same 
place as the first on September 1st, 2nd and 3rd. State Superintendent 
T. A. Parker, and his assistants, Edwin Clark and Jasper A. Smith, 
were present at this meeting and rendered valuable service to the sue- 



2o6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

cess of the institute. Nearly every teacher in the county was present. 

Because of the interest manifested in these institutes, Prof. L. B. 
Allison called the third meeting of the teachers' institute in April, 1870, 
at Papinsville, then the second town in the county. About forty teach- 
ers were enrolled at this meeting, and a number of the citizens, took 
part in the discussions, making the session both interesting and profit- 
able. 

In November, 1870, Mr. Charles Wilson was elected county super- 
intendent of schools, and served until January, 1873. During his admin- 
istration a number of new school houses were erected. He continued 
holding teachers' institutes. Because of a change in the school law 
in 1870, making more liberal provisions in increasing the number 
of days for official work, Mr. Wilson was enabled to visit every 
school in the county and consult with school officers, wdiich resulted 
in more uniformity in the making of reports, and in school work. 

In January, 1873, Mr. James Harper succeeded Mr. Wilson as county 
superintendent of schools. Because of a change in the school law Mr. 
Harper was the last of the superintendents to visit the schools. Many 
good school buildings were built throughout the county and in most 
cases the schools were furnished with patent school furniture. He served 
until April, 1877. It was during Mr. Harper's term that a change in 
the school law required the school commissioner to be elected in April 
instead of November, and in 1875 the Legislature created the office of 
school commissioner. The school commissioner was to possess the 
qualifications of a competent teacher of the public schools ; be a cpiali- 
fied voter of the county; and to be of good moral character. 

The following citizens filled the office of school commissioner since 
April, 1877: C. L. Mills, April, 1877 to April, 1881 ; J. H. Hinton, April, 
1881 to January, 1884; W^ W. Graves, January, 1884 to April. 1887; 
James Burke, April, 1887 to April, 1891; Frank Deerwester, April. 1891, 
to April, 1893; J. P. Thurman, April. 1893. to April. 1897; Arthur Borron, 
April, 1897 to April, 1899; Burr Raybourn, April, 1899 to April, 1901 ; H. 
O. Maxey, April, 1901 to April, 1904. 

During the latter part of Mr. Wilson's term as school commissioner, 
teachers' meetings were discontinued. It was not until the sunnner of 
1878 that the move for re-organizing teachers' meetings was begun. 

Mr. T. C. Robinson makes the following statement concern- 
ing early education in Howard township: "In 1878, there were two 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 20/ 

school houses in Howard township. There were only twenty-six voters 
in the township. As most of the township was unsettled, the dwellings 
were few and far between. This caused most of the pupils to have a 
long distance to ride or walk to school. Nevertheless, there was shown 
a keen and intense interest, and desire on the part of the pupils to get 
an education, and on the part of the parents to keep the schools going. 
As an instance of the desire of the boys and girls of that period to get 
an education, I have but to mention one family, that of John Badgett 
whose two boys and two girls walked two and one-fourth miles to school 
every day for four terms without missing a day or being tardy. There 
were others just as attentive. 

"The two school houses referred to above were the Montrose and 
the Greenridge. They were located as follows: The Montrose school 
house was located in the southwest corner of section 13, township 38, 
range 33, and the Greenridge school house was located in the northeast 
corner of northwest fourth of section 20, township 38, range 33. The 
Montrose school house was later moved one mile north. 

"Some boys and girls rode as far as five miles to the Montrose 
school in the fall of 1878 and 1879, and I have counted as many as 
thirty horses and ponies tethered on the prairies around the school 
house. 

"With the coming of railroads in 1880, came population and in a 
short time more school houses were built, and schools were almost the 
first consideration of the people." 

The first Reading Circle in the county was organized in 1898. Only 
a few teachers took any interest in the work. Later a requirement was 
issued from the State Department of Education which in a short time 
became a law that teachers must do Reading Circle work to get their 
certificates renewed. This caused several Reading Circles to be organ- 
ized throughout the county. Interest in this work has grown, until at 
present most of the teachers in the county are doing the work. A Read- 
ing Circle chairman for each township in the county is appointed Iw 
the county superintendent. It is the duty of the chairman to call a 
meeting of the teachers in the township, and to assign a portion of 
each book for discussion at some future meeting, usually once or twice 
a month. 

In 1901, the school library law was enacted. It required local 
school boards to provide school libraries, and to spend annually not less 



2o8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

than five cents per pnpil ennmerated in the district in supplying refer- 
ence and supplementary books. This law has had great influence in 
furnishing rural school pupils with good wholesome literature. 

A systematic course of study was adopted for rural and village 
schools in the county in 1902. It stressed the use of literature for use 
in the grades and thus made the school library a necessity. It provides 
for an alternation of work by grades and does away with the formal 
recitation hearing and provides the teacher with time to teach litera- 
ture and other subjects of interest to children. 

In 1903, a change was made in the school law, abolishing the old 
teachers' institute system and providing for a three days' teachers' asso- 
ciation to be held on the last three days of some week in September. 
October, November or December. At the last teachers' association held 
in Butler 98 per cent, of the teachers in the county were present. 

County school supervision was adopted in Bates county in April. 
1904. This required the county superintendent to devote all of his time 
to supervision and of^ce duties. A law was passed in 1917 allowing 
the county superintendent one-fourth of his salary for clerical help and 
traveling expenses. This will permit more time to be ;devoted to 
supervision, and will make the w^ork of the county superintendent more 
efficient. The following have served as county superintendent since 
the adoption of county school supervision: H. O. Maxey, April, 1904, 
to April, 1905; Emma Cassity, April, 1905, to May, 1905; A. L. Ives, 
May, 1905, to April, 1909; P. M. Allison, April. 1909, to April, 1915; 
Arthur C. Moreland, April, 1915. 

In 1909, a system was adopted by the State Department of Educa- 
tion for approving rural schools. The following schools are at present 
approved schools: McKinley, Mingo, Hackler, Olive, Fairview (No. 
32), Silverdale, Harmony, Tripp. Miller, Black, Summit Center, Hud- 
son City, Hazel Dell, Prairie City, North Muddy, Montgomery, Maple 
Grove, Herrell, and Virginia (69). 

The school board convention law of 1913, providing for a meeting 
of the school boards of the county once a year, and allowing them pay 
for attending the meeting has done much to make more efficient school 
board meml)ers. 

Considerable interest is being manifested in the free text-book law 
of 1913, which provides that each school district by a majority vote may 
provide free text books to the pupils of the district. Twelve rural 
school districts voted free text l)ooks this year and are now furnishing 
free books to the pupils of the district. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 209 

In 1913, a law was passed providing for teachers' training courses 
in approved first class high schools as designated by the state superin- 
tendent of schools. This course provides special training in rural and in 
elementary school work. While the course does not prepare thoroughly 
trained leaders, it is a great advance over and produces more efficient 
teachers than the method of granting certificates through the county 
examinations to students from the regular high school course. 

Since the passage of the Buford consolidation law in 1913, the fol- 
lowing consolidated school districts have been formed: Amsterdam 
No. 1, in 1914; Merwin No. 2, in 1915; Crescent Hill No. 3, in "1916; 
Hume No. 4, in 1916; Montrose No. 5, in 1917; and Prairie No. 6, in 1917. 
Only three of the above consolidated school districts have provided 
high schools, Amsterdam, Merwin, and Hume. 

For the purpose of bettering rural social conditions throughout the 
county, a series of educational meetings were called for different parts 
of the county. This movement was started in the fall of 1916, and was 
taken up again in the fall of 1917 when eight local meetings were held. 

In October, 1915, thirty-six teachers in the vicinity of Butler met 
in the office of county superintendent and organized an Extension Course 
in Educational Psychology and in Educational Sociology under the 
instruction of Dean C. A. Phillips, of the Warrensburg Normal. In the 
fall of 1916 thirty teachers met in the same plaee and organized a course 
in English Constitutional History and in Missouri History under the 
instruction of Prof. C. H. McClure, head of the history department of 
the Warrensburg Normal. Again, in the fall of 1917 twenty-four teach- 
ers met in Butler and organized a course in Economics under the instruc- 
tion of Prof. W^alter Morrow of the Warrensburg Normal, and twenty 
teachers met in Rich Hill and organized a course in Hebrew History 
and American History under the instruction of Prof. C. H. McClure, of 
the Warrensburg Normal. 

In 1906 the average salary paid the rural teacher was $234. In 
1917 the average'salary had increased to $400. The highest salary paid 
a rural teacher in the county at present is $70 per month or $560 per 
term. There are eighteen rural schools paying $60 or more per month. 

The following statistics will show the standing of the Bates county 
schools July 1, 1917: 

Enumeration— Male. 3.472; female. 3,240. Total, 6,712. 

Enrollment— Male. 2,902; female. 3.381. Total. 6.283. 

(1.4) 



2IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Total number of days attendance, 738,070. Average daily attend- 
ance, 4,613. 

Average length of school term in days, 160. 

Number of school districts in county, 137. 

Number of districts having libraries, 136; volumes in libraries, 
18740; number of volumes added this year, 4,430; value of libraries, 
$7,610; amount spent this year, $2,100. 

Number of teachers who have had high school training, 132; nor- 
mal training, 151. 

N-umber of teachers employed — Male, 44; female, 160. Total, 204. 

Number enrolled in high school — Male, 251; female, 339. Total, 
590. 

Number of high school graduates — Male, 40; female, 63. Total, 103. 

Number of pupils graduating from common school course — Male, 
93; female, 191. Total, 284. 

Average salary of teachers per month — Alale, $72; female, $54. 

Estimated value of school sites and buildings, $306,500; estimated 
value of school equipment, libraries, furniture, apparatus, $31,200. 

Assessed value of taxable property, $14,330,435.12; present indebted- 
ness, $96,540. 

Average levy per $100 for all school purposes, 59.64c. 

Grand total receipts, $188,923.36; grand total payments, $157,408.51 ; 
balance on hand, $31,514.85. 

Amount of school loans — Common school fund, $76,013.14; town- 
ship school fund, $43,489.57. Total, $119,502.71. 

Total amount of cash on hand, $6,857.47. 

Total loans and cash, $126,360.18. 

Adrian Public Schools. 

The first school house erected in Adrian was in August, 1882. It 
was a frame building, and contained four rooms, two above and two 
below. School opened October 1, 1882, with an enrollment of 96 pupils. 
L. W. Putnam was elected superintendent, and his wife, Mary Putnam, 
was elected assistant. Mr. Putnam is still living and is a resident of 
Adrian. He continued as superintendent of the schools for three years. 
The second year three teachers were employed and the third year four 
teachers were employed. The school continued with four teachers until 
1895, when the present building was constructed. 

Mr. Covert was employed as the second principal of the school, and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 211 

remained in the position for three years. Mr. Ben. Brouse was then 
elected for one year. He was succeeded by Mr. Frank Deerwester in 
1889, who remained but one year. Mr. Stair was employed in 1890 
but owing to ill health resigned in February, 1891. Mr. AV. E. Welch 
was elected to fill the vacancy, and he remained in the position until 
1895. At the annual school meeting in 1895 bonds were voted to the 
amount of $5,000 for the erection of the present building. 

Mr. J. K. Failing was elected principal in 1895, and remained one 
year. Mr. M. A. Cleveland was then employed, and has been succeeded 
by the following principals and superintendents: Mr. A. L. Ives, Mr. 
McCorckle, Mr. W. T. Hoover, Mr. W. D. Miller, and Mr. B. E.' Parker, 
the present superintendent. 

The Adrian high school is ranked as a first class high school by 
the State Department of Education. There are five high school teach- 
ers, and all of them are normal, university, or college graduates. Each 
teacher has had special training in the subjects he or she is teaching. 
There are 107 pupils enrolled in the high school, and 55 of them are 
tuition pupils. There is not another high school in the state that has 
as large a number in the high school in proportion to the number in 
the grades. In addition to the regular four-year high school course, 
there is a commercial, domestic science, and teacher's training course. 
There are 134 pupils enrolled in the grades. 

Mr. B. E. Parker was elected superintendent in 1911 and has con- 
tinued in the same position. Miss Emma Hyatt was elected principal 
of the high school in 1913. 

Rich Hill Public Schools. 

In April, 1881, after the town was established in June previous, 
an election was called for the reorganization of the school district and 
for the election of school directors. Previous to June, 1881, there were 
only fifteen pupils within the district known as the Rich Hill School 
District. There was then a little school house, about 14 x 16. east 
of the city of Rich Hill. At this election the district was reorganized 
and Rich Hill was selected as the site for the school building of the 
district. A vote of three per cent, on the then taxable property of 
the district was carried and bonds to the amount of $4,000 were issued. 
In the meantime the board engaged the churches of the town in which 
to teach the winter of i88i and 1882. Rev. Mr. Henshaw was chosen 
principal for the school term of 1881. A corps of six teachers were 



212 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

employed. There are now 1,177 pupils within the city limits, by actual 
listing. 

As occasion demanded the school board revised the course of study 
and added to it to accommodate the wants of the people. At present 
there is a four-year high school course. The high school is ranked as 
a first class school by the State Department of Education. There are 
89 pupils enrolled in high school. Roy D. Brown is superintendent. 

Butler Public Schools. 

The- first school in Butler was taught in a building erected for both 
school and church purposes in 1856. The teacher was Mrs. Martha 
Morgan. This building was used by all religious denominations for 
their services, people coming from as far as twenty miles to attend 
church. The building was destroyed during the Civil War. 

A temporary building was erected in 1866 to be used as a school 
house. The first school in this school house was taught by Professor 
Cavendish, a graduate of Ashbury University, Kansas, in the fall and 
winter of 1866 and 1867. 

The first brick school building in the county was erected in Butler 
in the fall of 1870. It was located at the head of Ohio street in the 
west part of town. It was a two-story building and cost $8,000. Later 
it was torn down and replaced by the present two-story brick building. 
This building was used for high school purposes until the fall of 1911. 
It was one of the first buildings in the county to be furnished with the 
patent seat and desk. As the town grew it later became necessary to 
build two grade buildings, one in the east part of town and the other 
in the north part. In 1911 the citizens of Butler voted bonds to the 
amount of $35,000 for the erection of the present high school building. 

Butler has one of the best high schools in the state from the stand- 
point of faculty, building and equipment. The faculty is composed of 
ten teachers. Each teacher has had four years training in excess of 
a four-year high school course. 

The Butler Academy. 

The school was first organized in 1874. Judge David McGaughev 
was chosen president; Rev. E. V. Campbell, secretary, and M. S. Cowles, 
treasurer. Vice-presidents were chosen from various portions of the 
county with the view of awakening a general interest and founding an 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 213 

institution of learning to meet the wants of a higher education than 
afforded by our common schools. 

Rev. E. V. Campbell, the then pastor of the First Presbyterian 
church of Butler, taught the first term in the upper story of a store 
building on the southwest corner of the public scpiare, beginning on the 
14th day of September with an attendance of six pupils. He continued 
in charge of the school, which rapidly increased in numbers, till the 
close of the year 1875, when he resigned the charge of both pastorate 
and school. 

The following January, Rev. B. F. Powelson took charge of the 
academy, and with the aid of friends taught till the close of the spring 
term. 

In September. 1876, Prof. L. B. Allison was selected to aid him. 
In January, 1877, the school was removed to the northwest corner of 
the square in rooms over the store occupied by Colonel Wheeler. The 
winter term of this year opened with an attendance of fifty pupils, and 
the academy now began to assume a permanency of character which 
gave assurance of success. The friends of the school renewed their 
efforts in its behalf, and during the winter of 1877 circulated a subscrip- 
tion for the purpose of raising funds to secure a site and erect a build- 
ing thereon. The sum of $3,000 was soon pledged in shares of stock 
fixed at $25 each. 

Early in May following, a meeting of the stockholders was held 
and a new organization effected. A board of trustees was elected, com- 
prising the following named gentlemen: Messrs. M. S. Cowles, D. N. 
Thompson, Hiram C. Wyatt, Capt. E. P. Henry, and Judge David 
McGaughey. The question of a brick structure was decided at this meet- 
ing, also the selection of a site. Articles of association were immediately 
adopted, and work began on the building in June, and on the 26th day 
of July the corner stone was laid with appropriate exercises by the 
Masonic order. The building was completed in the latter part of Novem- 
ber, and the school took possession of the new building the same month. 
In the meantime the academy was placed under the fostering care of 
the Osage Presbytery, with the understanding that it should not be 
sectarian, but merely Christian in character. Professor Powelson con- 
tinued as principal till March, 1879. 

In September following. Prof. James M. Naylor, A. M., of Terre 
Haute, Indiana, was called to the principalship of the academy. 

Authority was granted by the state in April, 1881, for the confer- 



214 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ing of academic degrees at the close of the spring term. The degrees 
of A. B. and poet laureate were granted to the first class of graduates 
of the Butler Academy, composed of the following students: Messrs. 
^\'arren L. Durand, Francis Brittain, and Misses Maggie B. Newton. 
Florence I. Page, Hattie Henry, Clara Henry, and Lizzie B. Yathwell. 

This institution never received any endowment, but was supported 
entirely by public patronage. 

The above is the history of the Butler Academy from its beginning 
to 1897. The academy was destroyed by fire in 1900 and w^as never 
rebuilt because of the growth of the Butler public schools at that time. 

Hume Public Schools. 

Before Hume came into existence, what is now the Hume school 
district was formerly Greenridge school district. 

Hume was platted in the fall of 1880, but it was not until the winter 
of 1882 that Hume had a school, the children prior to that attending 
the Greenridge school, one mile south of Hume. 

In the winter of 1882, Miss Dora Bishop taught a subscription school 
upstairs on the northwest corner of the square. 

In the spring of 1883 the school district was divided with Noah 
Little, E. C. Maxwell, and one other as directors. Hume's first school 
house is still standing and is now the Catholic church. A. C. Corbin 
was employed as teacher, teaching six months in the spring and six 
months in the fall and winter. 

J. K. Dickinson took charge of the school in the fall of 1884. By 
this time the population had grown so rapidly that the school house 
was too small, and the children were taught in the old Buckles Hall, 
on the southwest corner of the square. Miss Mollie Blevans was teacher. 

At the annual school meeting in April, 1895, bonds were voted for 
the erection of a brick building. The building was completed by Sep- 
tember 1st. and school opened with S. P. Noel, principal and Miss Lizzie 
McCuen, assistant. Miss Alice Langston had charge of the primary 
room. 

On April 30, 1892, under the superintendency of Prof. C. M. Leedy, 
the first class was graduated. The members of the graduating class 
were : Rose Shepherd. Libl)ie and Edna Bacon. Nannie Cockerill. Delia 
Maxwell, Lillie Horton, and Howard Wood. 

On February 16, 1916, the Hume Consolidated School District was 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 215 

formed. At the election voting consolidation, transportation of pupils 
was also voted. 

On April 5, 1916, bonds were voted to the amount of $20,000 for 
the erection of a modern school building. 

The Hume high school is ranked as a first class high school by the 
State Department of Education. 

Miss Ida Hawman was elected as a teacher in the high school in 
1914. She held this position until the fall of 1916 when she was elected 
superintendent. She has two high school assistants. There are four 
grade teachers. 

Amoret Public Schools. 

In or about the year 1887, before many people had settled in Amoret, 
a small school house was built one mile north of town on the west 
side of the road leading from Amoret. The original name of the school 
was Spy Mound. 

About the year 1886, the Kansas City Southern was built through 
the county, and this caused more people to settle in Amoret. The Spy 
Mound school house was not large enough at that time to accommodate 
the people of the town so bonds were voted to the amount of $1,800 
for the erection of a new school building within the town limits. The 
site was chosen wdiere the old building now stands. 

The buildinof was so constructed that in the future more room could 
be added to it. Only two rooms were completed at first. Two more 
rooms have been added. Mr. and Mrs. Kennet were the first teachers 
elected in the school of Amoret. 

Miss Clara Mager was elected principal in 1913, and it was through 
her efforts that the high school was set in working order. The district 
was not able to supply her with the necessary equipment, so she failed 
to get the high school approved. 

In 1914, Prof. J. A. Wilson was elected principal and remained 
in the position for two years. During his term as principal the high 
school was ranked as a third class high school. 

In 1916, Prof. G. W. Bliss was elected as principal of the high 
school. It was during his term as principal that the high school was 
ranked as a second class school. 

In the fall of 1916, Amoret voted bonds to the amount of $7,000 
for the erection of a modern school building. The building was com- 
pleted in the spring of 1917. It is a two-story brick, containing eight 
class rooms and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 300. The school 



2l6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

is ranked as a second class high school by the State Department of Edu- 
cation. There are three grade teachers. Mr. L. S. Wright was elected 
superintendent of the Amoret schools in 1917. Miss Emma Adair was 
elected as principal of the high school in 1917. 

Amsterdam Public Schools. 

The first school building in Amsterdam was erected in 1895. It 
was a two-room brick building. 

The first principal was H. O. Maxey, who took charge of the school 
at the beginning of the fall term in 1895. He continued in this position 
until the spring of 1904, when he moved to Butler to become county 
superintendent of schools. 

Mr. Maxey was succeeded by the following superintendents in order 
of service: W. M. Earsom, Ed Thornburgh, J. M. Gallatin, Miss Blanche 
Smith, and Miss Addie Hotsenpiller, the present superintendent. 

The school continued as a town school until 1914 when a con- 
solidated school district was formed including the school districts of 
Amsterdam, Liberty, Center and West Point. 

In the spring of 1915 bonds were voted to the amount of $6,000 for 
the erection of a modern school building. It is a two-story brick con- 
taining eight class rooms and an auditorium with a seating capacity 
of 300. 

The school is ranked as a second class high school by the State 
Department of Education. There are two high school teachers and 
three grade teachers. 

Miss Addie Hotsenpiller was elected superintendent in the fall of 
1917. 

Miss Eva DeAtley was elected principal in the fall of 1917. 

Rockville Public Schools. 

The first school building in Rockville was built of logs, and was 
erected by the patrons of the school. The first teacher was Prof. Clay- 
bourn Anderson. 

The log building was replaced in 1871 by a two-story building of 
native stone, 24 feet x 48 feet, at a cost of $4,047. Professor Clark 
was employed as principal and his wife was elected assistant principal. 
The school building was too small to accommodate all of the pupils 
so a building was rented to house the primary department, and Miss 



HISTORY OF BATE* COUNTY 217 

Davis was elected teacher. There were 220 pupils enrolled. Later 
two rooms were added to the stone building. 

In 1898 the stone building was replaced by a two-story brick, con- 
taining six rooms, equipped with a modern heating plant. The building 
cost $10,000. 

The high school is ranked as a second class high school by the 
State Department of Education. There are two high school teachers, 
and four grade teachers. 

Mr. E. L. Jones was elected principal in 1917. 

Merwin Public Schools. 

In 1891, the patrons of Lone Elm school district voted to build a 
school building in Merwin. They built a two-story frame building at 
a cost of $1,200. This building was used until the fall of 1915. The 
first teachers were Elam Henderson and his sister, Cena Henderson. 

The school continued a two-room school until the fall of 1915. In 
May, 1915, the citizens of Merwin and community voted a consoli- 
dated school district. In June, 1915, bonds were voted to the amount of 
$3,000 for the purchase of the college building and its five-acre site. 
The building was remodeled until it contained five class rooms and an 
auditorium with a seating capacity of 300. In 1916, one acre of land 
was purchased and added to the school site, making a total of six acres. 
This is the largest and the best school site in Bates county. 

Mr. J. V. Hanna was elected as the first principal of the high school. 
He was the promoter of a consolidated school district with a high school 
in Merwin. 

Miss Edna Quick is the present principal of the Merwin schools. 
She is assisted in the grades by three teachers. 

Merwin Business College. 

The Merwin Business College was built in 1898 at a cost of $10,000. 
Luther S. Richardson was the promoter of the enterprise. He organ- 
ized a stock company to erect the building. The company leased the 
building to Professors Bunyard, Smith, and Reynolds, who carried on a 
successful school for several years, when it was closed for lack of patron- 
age. The building was then sold to a Mr. Proctor, who sold it to D. A. 
Charles and a Mr. Elvin. They carried on a commercial school for three 
years, until the spring of 1914, when the school was again closed. Later 
the building was sold to the Merwin Consolidated School District. 



2l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Sprague College. 

About 1884, a man by the name of Bryant came to Sprague, and 
erected a college building. He conducted a good school for a number 
of years. Finally, dissensions arose among the members of the faculty 
and spread to the community which resulted in discontinuing the 
school. 



CHAPTER Xlil. 



THE PRESS. 



VALUE AND INFLUENCE — "BATES COUNTY STANDARD" — "WESTERN TIMES" — 
"WEST POINT BANNER"— "BATES COUNTY RECORD"— "THE BATES COUNTY 
DEMOCRAT" — "THE BUTLER WEEKLY TIMES" — "REPUBLICAN"— "ADRIAN 
ADVERTIZER"— "THE REGISTER"— "RICH HILL GAZETTE" — "NATIONAL GA- 
ZETTE" — "DAILY GAZETTE"— "HERALD"— "COMING NATION" — THE WEST- 
ERN ENTERPRISE" — "THE RICH HILL MINING REVIEW"— "DAILY REVIEW" 
— "AMORET LEADER"— "AMSTERDAM ENTERPRISE" — "THE BORDER TELE- 
PHONE" — "THE HUME NEWS" — "HUME STAR" — "HUME CHRONICLE" — "THE 
HUME GLOBE"— "HUME SUN" — ROCKVILLE NEWSPAPERS— "THE ROCKVILLE 
NEWS." 

The press of a county is always worthy of profound consideration; 
for nothing more nearly lives and breathes the life of a people than their 
newspapers. None are so small as to be insignificant or wdioUy unworthy 
of mention in a history of a great community. No other influence is 
so vital and potent. They not only reflect the public mind — they largely 
create and direct it. The local newspaper is the silent and speechless 
visitors at the firesides of the community, and its printed messages 
appeal to' the whole family and thus mold and make public opinion. 
They not only deliver the news of the day or week, but they point the 
way to higher and greater achie^'ements to all. Progress would halt 
without the local press ; history would grope, and spiritual life go dead 
without it. 

To write into these pages the origin of letters, and the accidental 
discovery of the art of printing would be in its nature pedantic. The 
history of the origin of the printed page is curious and interesting; 
but all that occurred long before Bates county had any history; and 
it were manifestly improper to take up a matter like that in these pages. 

The "Bates Countv Standard" was the first newspaper printed and 
published in Bates county. It was established in 1858, by a company 
of men, of whom Jacob D. Wright is the only one now known to his- 
torv. Its editor was N. L. Perry, and it lived until the fall of 1860, 
when it was succeeded bv the "Western Times," with W. Patrick Green, 



220 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

as editor. It survived only till April, 1861, when it was discontinued. 
The "West Point Banner," established at West Point, Bates county, in 
September, 1860, in its mention of the decease of the "Western Times" 
says: "It is hardly necessary to mention here that no paper can keep 
up without its patrons meet their indebtedness promptly." Thus we 
see our early friends had their troubles, and that it took money then 
as it does now to make a newspaper go. It appears that both the 
the "Standard" and the "Times" were Democratic in politics, showing 
how early Democratic citizens began party labors in this county. In those 
days they were doubtless hotly pro-slavery, as at that time and for 
several years prior thereto what was called the Kansas ^^'ar was raging 
all through this section. 

The "West Point Banner" was the second oldest paper in Bates 
county, established, as stated above, by the West Point Newspaper 
Company, in May. 1861. Its editor was T. H. Starnes who resid-ed in 
Butler and at that time was a law partner of J. T. Smith. It was 
issued until the fall of 1861, when the press and type were destroyed 
when Union soldiers burned the town. So states the old history of 
Bates county. The editor of the old history says, "Through the kind- 
ness of a gentleman now residing in Kansas we were shown a copy ot 
the "Banner" dated May 15, 1861, and as the editorial in that paper 
reflects the sentiments of the people generally who sympathize with 
the South we here reproduce it : 'What is to be the result of the final 
disturbance in the United States is a solemn inquiry in the minds of 
millions of men and women, who are eagerly watching and noting events 
as they pass rapidly on. That our country is divided no sane man can 
for a moment doubt; that disunion is a reality and not a seeming or 
whimsical temporary division, as some would have us believe, is also 
a fact that all honest men must admit, all their wishing to the contrary 
notwithstanding. The causes which have led to this unhappy division, 
have been so much discussed, and so much has been said on the sub- 
ject, that people have become tired reading newspaper articles on that 
subject ; neither does it matter at the present time, in a practical sense, 
what the causes were which have acted so powerfully on the minds 
of the Southern people, as to justify them in their own minds, and 
induce them to take the step they have. 

" 'Our people are a jealous people, and when they find the seed of 
oppression sown and cultivated by the government under which they 
live, they feel it their duty to resist it by electing such men to ofifice 



HISTOP.Y OF BATES COUNTY 221 

as will respect their rights. When a majority of the people become 
oppressive and totally disregard the rights and privileges of the minor- 
ity it becomes the duty of snch minority to withdraw, resist or secede 
from the majority. Whenever a majority pass such laws as will give 
themselves privileges and immunities they deny to the minority, their 
acts become oppressive and cannot be tolerated by an honorable minor- 
ity. Thus it was with the thirteen colonies at the commencement of 
the Revolution, when the government of Great Britain excluded the 
colonies from privileges which they retained to themselves. The colo- 
nies, after seeking redress in every legal and constitutional manner 
known to an honorable and free people without obtaining satisfaction, 
at last seceded from the government under which they had lived for so 
many years by passing that great and glorious ordinance, the Declara- 
tion of Independence, for which they were called 'rebels' by the loyal 
subjects of Great Britain in America as well as in England. The first 
effort of the King, from whose government they had seceded, was to send 
out 17,000 men to coerce them, the secession rebels, into subjection. 
Failing in his first attempt to awe them into subjection, he sent mes- 
sengers among the savages of the West and raised them against the 
colonies to wage a bloody and indiscriminate war against the rebels 
without distinction of age, sex of condition. 

" 'How very similar are the present disturbances in this country at 
this time. A party has taken possession of the government with princi- 
ples, as avowed by themselves, at war with the spirit and letter of the 
constitution, claiming to themselves privileges which they declare shall 
not be extended to the people of the South. They have set forth in 
their platform of principles that the South shall not enjoy any of the 
territory now belonging to the United States ; that property of a cer- 
tain kind, if escaping from its owner and getting into a Northern state, 
shall not be returned, etc., etc. , 

" 'Hence, the South, seeing by the course of the leaders of the North- 
ern states, a repetition of the old principles practiced by the govern- 
ment of Great Britain towards the colonies, and having, like the colonies, 
petitioned through their representatives in Congress, through the public 
press, and otherwise, for their constitutional rights, without receiving 
anything but 'insult added to injury,' and finding that they must sub- 
mit to degradation, insult and injury, or withdraw their connection from 
a people with whom they could not remain on terms of equality, they 
(nine of the Southern states) have withdrawn their connection from 



222 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the government, wherein they could not obtain any assurance of redress 
for their grievances. Now that they have* withdrawn, we see Abraham 
Lincohi, hke old King George III, calHng out an army of 75,000 men 
in the first place, but fearing that not enough, it is reported that he now 
wants 200,000 to coerce and whip into subjection those states which 
have yet some of the blood of '76, and enough of the spirit of their 
fathers to throw off the yoke of oppression, let it come from what 
source it may. Not satisfied with all the help that can be obtained 
from the loyal states, we now hear threats that the negroes of the 
South are to be raised against their masters and mistresses, and it is 
calculated by the party in power in Washington, that by the help of 
the African race in the South that short work will be made and the 
disaffected states will be compelled to abandon their idea of inde- 
pendence, humble themselves at Abraham's feet, overwhelmed by degra- 
dation and disgrace, acknowledge their slaves their equals, abolition 
thieves their superiors, and accept peace on wdiatever terms it may be 
dictated them. So old King George thought our fathers would do; 
but O ! how sadly was he deceived and we venture to predict that old 
tyrant. Lincoln, will be as badly deceived.' " 

After reading that spiel, with every line loaded with treason, it 
is not wonderful that Union soldiers "destroyed the press and type" 
of the "Banner" ofiice, if, as a matter of fact, any Union soldiers were 
in that vicinity. It is a fair statement of the attitude and feeling which 
existed at that time in many parts of the country. And it will be 
recalled that at the time of this publication it was little more than a 
month after Fort Sumpter had been fired on, and on that date only nine 
Southern states had gone out — two more went out afterward; and 
such fellows as the editor of the "Banner" did everything they could to 
take loyal old Missouri out. 

In the same issue of the "Banner'' the historian says: "In speaking 
of a visit to Butler the editor says, 'We paid a visit to Butler, our neigh- 
boring town, last week. Our good friends of Butler are up to the 
true spirit of Missourians, for we see that the flag of the Confederate 
states waves proudly from a pole one hundred feet in height, in the. 
public square in front of the court house. Long may it wave !' " 

That sounds funny to this generation. It seems incredible that 
fifty-seven years after that disloyal editorial was published and that 
alien flag flung to the breeze, both in defiance of the law and the con- 
stitution, there could exist the spirit of unity and loyalty in which we 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 223 

rejoice today. It argues that a large per cent, of the people may at 
any time go wrong, and it requires wisdom and patriotism at all times 
to keep the Good Ship of State sailing gloriously along upon unruffled 
seas. 

The first paper published in Bates county after the Civil War was 
established by D. K. Abell, who was editor and proprietor, "The Bates 
County Record," and its first issue was on July 9, 1866. In November, 
1867 Abell sold the plant to Col. O. D. Austin, who continued to own 
and edit it until his death in March, 1915, or about forty-eight years. W. 
O. Atkeson purchased the plant from Mrs. Florence M. Austin, the widow 
of Col. Austin, April 12, 1915, and has continued its publication to 
this date. On December 27, 1916, the plant was destroyed by fire; 
but while many valuable things went up in smoke, the bound volumes, 
greatly injured, were all saved except two years. After the fire, Atkeson 
donated the mutilated and damaged files to the State Historical Society, 
which promised to restore and rebind them as far as it is possible. 
Thus one of the oldest pul^lications in southwest Missouri has been 
preserved to history intact, except for the years 1886-87. The "Record" 
has always been a faithful and consistent Republican paper, and it has 
come to be historic in the annals of newspaperdom in Missouri. 

"The Bates County Democrat" was established September 16, 1869. 
by a company of Democrats in Butler and was edited by Feeley and 
Rosser. On July 28, 1871, it passed by purchase into the hands of 
Wade and Scudder, with N. A. Wade as editor. January 27, 1882, 
Scudder sold his interest to N. A. Wade who continued to own and 
edit it until his death. In June, 1904. it was purchased by Jas. A. 
DeArmond, who edited it until the fall of 1909, when he sold to Charles 
H. Burgess. In 1915, Harry Henry became the owner, with Sam W. 
Davis editor, and both the "Bates County Democrat" and the "Dail}^ 
Democrat have continued to this time under their management. The 
Daily Democrat" was established in 1876. Both papers are Demo- 
cratic in politics. 

"The Butler Weekly Times," an eight-column folio, was started as 
the "Bates County Times" by D. G. Newsome and a printer named Law- 
horn in 1878. Lawhorn withdrew after a few months and Newsome 
continued its publication until April 21, 1879, when Charles T. McFar- 
land purchased an interest and the firm of Newsome and McFarland 
continued as owners and publishers until January 1. 1880. at which 
time Charles T. McFarland purchased the interest of Newsome and 



224 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

became sole proprietor. In July, 1882, Charles T. McFarland retired 
on account of failing health, leaving the paper under the management 
of Capt. J. D. Allen. Mr. McFarland soon afterward died and in 
July, 1884, the "Butler Weekly Times" and the "Archie Herald" were 
purchased by J. D. Allen Company and later Captain Allen became 
the sole owner of the "Times," which he continued to own and edit till 
April, 1910, when he was elected clerk of the Missouri Supreme Court 
by the judges thereof, and moved to Jefferson City, where he now 
resides. The "Times" plant was then leased to his son, R. D. Allen, 
who has edited and published it to the present time. The "Times" has 
always been Democratic in politics. 

The "Republican" was born May 4. 1882, at Butler, the child of about 
eighty Republican stockholders. It was incorporated by J. M. Mays, 
A. B. Cline, E. Hand, F. R. Weaver, and J. M. Patty. John Brand was 
the editor, and was succeeded by Edgar R. Beach, when Brand died. 
June 17, 1882. This plant had a precarious career and was finally sold 
for debt and purchased by William E. W^alton, and afterwards sold 
and removed from the county. 

"The Adrian Advertiser" was established at Adrian. September 9, 
1882, by E. T. Kirkpatrick, editor and proprietor, and it w^as Demo- 
cratic in politics. Kirkpatrick continued with the paper until 1887, 
when it was sold to M. H. Sly, who ran it until 1889, and he sold it to 
a company with M. O. Smith as editor. After a few months Hutchison 
and McBride succeeded to the management, and in 1890 the company 
sold to J. E. Dowell, who has continued its publication to the present 
time, having associated with him in recent years, his son, John, now in 
the service of his country. Just when the name was changed from the 
"Advertiser" to the "Adrian Journal" we do not know, but the "Journal" 
has always been an independent paper although its editor and proprietor 
is a Republican. 

"The Register" was started in 1887, by W\ H. Gibbons and con- 
tinued only about one year. 

The first number of the "Rich Hill Gazette" was issued August 5. 
1880 by George P. Huckeby and Frank Eldridge. It was continued 
about a year as a Republican paper, when Eldridge and Dell Cobb 
became owners ; then Cobb bought out Eldridge and sold an interest 
to E. T. Kirkpatrick. These parties sold to W. H. Sperry and R. B. 
Parrack in August, 1882, and W. O. Atkeson became the editor until 
after the election in November, 1882, and the weekly was called the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



~-D 



"National Gazette" which advocated the Greenback policy, but the "Daily 
Gazette" was run as a local paper only. A man by the name of Parker 
succeeded to the editorship for a time, and the paper was discontinued 
some time in 1883 or 1884. 

Dell Cobb afterward started the "Daily Herald" which was contin- 
ued a year or two and discontinued. As we recall it, this plant finally got 
into the hands of the Warren Brothers — Fred and Ben, and was used 
in printing a Socialist paper called the "Coming Nation," which was later 
consolidated with the "Appeal to Reason" of Girard, Kansas, the boys 
going to that paper with their plant ; Ben as foreman and Fred as editor 
of the "Appeal to Reason." 

"The Western Enterprise" made its appearance in Rich Hill Sep- 
tember 16, 1881, with F. J. Wiseman and G. M. Magill as editors and 
proprietors. Later Magill sold to Wisen^an who continued the paper 
until he sold the plant to G. M. Devers, and he continued it until his 
recent death, since which time it has been continued by his widow, with 
Leon Mathews editor and manager. It is Democratic in politics. 

"The Rich Hill Mining Review" was established by Col. Thomas 
Lish, formerly of Norborne, Missouri, and its first appearance was 
October 29, 1880. "The Daily Review" was started later, and both papers 
have continued to the present time. Irish sold out to his partner, C. 
R. Walters and he continued both papers until his death, July 7, 1914, 
when the plant was operated for several months under the direction 
of George Templeton. administrator of the estate of C. R. Walters, 
and then sold to E. E. Bean, the present editor and proprietor. 

"Amoret Leader" was established in January, 1913, by the Pattees 
and was sold in December, 1915, to Charles W. Ellis, who is 
the present proprietor, and it has been published since the fall of 1916 
by Howard A. Ellis, lessee. 

"Amsterdam Enterprise" was established by Dick Howard in De- 
cember. 1902, who retired in 1910. sold to Everet McNutt, who sold to 
Homer J. Thomas in 1912. Within the next year it was owned by 
several parties, and in 1915 the Pattees bought the list and put in a 
new plant, which was destroyed by fire February 3. 1917. A new steel 
garage 12 x 19 J/^ was reequipped. Later, a new Dicky tile build- 
ing 25 X 50 feet was built specially for a print shop. At present Frank E. 
Pattee enlisted for service in the Ordnance department and the office 
is continued by Elmer Apgar as lessee. 

(15) 



226 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

"The Border Telephone" was founded March 8, 1889, by John P. 
Trussell, who sold the plant to S. Moore & Son, November 1, 1889. 
Lewis W. Moore, the son of the firm, has conducted its publication 
alone up to January 1, 1917, when he associated with his brother, C. E. 
Moore, in the business. 

In the winter of 1881, Dr. W. A. Williams started Hume's first 
newspaper, "The Hume News," which continued until the fall of 1884, 
wdien Thomas B. Harper began the ''Hume Star," which lasted until the 
fall of 1888. 

During the political campaign of 1888, Routzong Brothers started 
a Democratic organ, known as the "Hume Chronicle." It only survived 
the campaign. 

The "Hume Globe" was launched in the spring of 1894. by the 
Palmer Brothers, John and Edward. This publication lasted a little 
over a year. 

In 1901 Warren H. Clifford started the "Hume Sun," which has 
continued only a few weej^s. 

The following newspapers have been published at Rockville: "The 
Globe" by W. W. Graves and Charles Boyson ; "The Star" by Carpenter 
& Schaumloffel; "The Gimlet" by F. H. Lowry ; "Reflex" by Sanford 
Hardy; "Leader" by Miss Florence Duley; "Booster" by E. M. Bozard. 

"The Rockville News," published by C. A. Cummins, was estab- 
lished February 1, 1918. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



FINANCE AND BANKING. 



A STORY OF SUCCESS— C. B. DUNBAUGH & COMPANY— BATES COUNTY BANK — 
BATES COUNTY SAVINGS BANK — BUTLER NATIONAL BANK— F. J. TYGARD 
AND W. F. TYGARD— RAILROADS AND BUILDING OF TOWNS— BANKS AND 
TRUST COMPANIES — LOAN CENTER — THE MISSOURI STATE BANK — THE WAL- 
TON TRUST COMPANY — THE FARMERS & MANUFACTURERS BANK — ADRIAN 
BANKING COMPANY — THE FARMERS BANK — THE FARMERS BANK OF BATES 
COUNTY — BANK OF ROCKVILLE— ^BANK OF AMSTERDAM — BANK OF AMORET 
— THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF HUME — THE COMMERCIAL STATE BANK — 
STATE BANK OF HUME— FARMERS BANK OF ROCKVILLE. 

The financial history of Bates county is interesting. It is really a 
thrilling story of successes, blotted by only three tragic failures. It is 
usually thought that the progress and prosperity of the banking institu- 
tions of the country, or of a county, are certain indices of the growth, 
progress and prosperity of the commercial pursuits and industrial crea- 
tive forces of the adjacent sections; that successful banks mean suc- 
cessful clientele. At first view this seems to be true; but whether true 
or not, the thoughtless herd accept it, and for the purpose of this story 
the presumption is permitted to stand without argument or denial. 

Just fifty years ago the first banking institution was organized and 
opened for business in Bates county. It was the C. B. Dunbaugh & 
Co.'s private bank and was established in Butler in 1868. After a brief 
and checkered career it closed its doors in 1870. There are people 
still living who remember its sad ending. Money was lost, but no 
bloodshed resulted from its failure. 

The next banking institution was organized in Butler in 1870, with 
Lewis Cheney as president and F. J. Tygard as cashier, and it was called 
the Bates County Bank. Three years later it changed into the Bates 
County National Bank. 

The third bank was the Bates County Savings Bank, organized, 
also, in 1870, with E. P. Henry as president, William Page vice-presi- 
dent, and Josepli E. Wilson as cashier. This bank was purchased and 
absorbed by the Bates County National in 1873. There were no more 



228 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

banks organized anywhere in the county until 1881 ; so that the Bates 
County National had the whole field to itself for nearly eleven years. 
Then the Butler National Bank was organized in August, 1881, with 
Booker Pow^ell as president, Thomas W. Childs as vice-president, and 
William E. Walton as cashier. Some years later it became the Mis- 
souri State Bank as we have it today. It ought to be stated here that 
some time in the nineties, the Bates County National reverted to the 
Bates County Bank under the state law but later once more became 
a National bank, and continued as such until its unexpected and tragic 
failure in September of 1906. F. J. Tygard had been its president for 
many years. Soon after the failure he was indicted in the Federal 
court, tried, convicted and sentenced to the Federal prison at Leaven- 
worth, where he served most of the term, was pardoned, returned to 
Butler, a broken old man, for a short time, and was admitted later to 
the Memorial Home in St. Louis where he was supported by the Grand 
Lodge and where he died soon afterward; his body was returned to 
Butler and laid to rest beside his wife who had preceded him some 
time before the bank failure. The failure of this bank carried down 
the Rich Hill Bank of which W. F. Tygard, a brother of F. J. Tygard, 
was president and he removed to Oklahoma and soon afterw^ard died 
a suddeji and mysterious death — some of his friends hinting at suicide ; 
however that may be we know not, and state it merely as "talk." 

With the coming of the railroads to the county and the establish- 
ment of villages and towns and the city of Rich Hill, banks — all of 
them state banks, with one exception, the First National of Adrian — 
multiplied rapidly until today there are fifteen banks in the county, and 
one more in process of organization. In addition to the banks proper 
there are two large and prosperous trust companies with banking 
powers. 

For a county like Bates, almost wholly devoted to farming and 
stock growing, this is a remarkable showing. Indeed, Butler has come 
to be the loan center of a wide territory of the best farming and stock 
growing country west of the Mississippi, our trust companies cover- 
ing all southwestern and northern Missouri, eastern Kansas and a 
large part of Oklahoma. 

It is impossible to enter into details touching all of our banking 
institutions; but in order to show their growth, progress and prosper- 
ous condition, the following statements which are made by the banking 
officers of the county, are submitted. The figures are well worth study- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 229 

ing and they tell their own story. It is truly a marvelous showing for 
a county of about 25,000 people, mostly engaged in agriculture, or 
mixed farming, without large manufacturing industries, or mining 
operations on a large scale, ^^'e give them in the order, as nearly as 
may be, of their organization : 

The Missouri State Bank, Butler, Missouri, was opened for busi- 
ness December 20, 1880. The promoters of this bank were C. H. 
Dutcher, WHliam E. Walton, Luther Shobe, John Deerwester, Dr. T. 
C. Boulware, A. H. Humphrey, all of whom formed the first board of 
directors of the bank. The total capitalization of the bank upon its 
organization was $35,000, fully paid in. The first ofTficers of the bank 
were: Luther Shobe, president; C. H. Dutcher, vice-president; Will- 
iam E. AValton, cashier. The present capitalization of the Missouri 
State Bank is $50,000. The surplus and undivided profits are $38,000. 
The present officers are : J. B. Walton, president ; John Deerwester, 
vice-president ; Jesse E. Smith, cashier. 

The Walton Trust Company of Butler, Bates county, Missouri, 
commenced business August 19, 1896, with a capital of $55,000. Will- 
iam E. Walton, president; T. J. Wright, vice-president; Frank Allen, 
secretary. Directors: C. H. Dutcher, William E. Walton, T. J. 
Wright, H. H. Pigott, J. Everingham, J. R. Jenkins, John Deerwester, 
W. W. Trigg, T. C. Boulware. Booker Powell, C. R. Radford, F. M. 
Voris. Li 1918 the capital stock is $250,000 and surplus and undivided 
profits $185,000. Officers: J. B. Walton, president; G. M. Hargett, 
first vice-president; Frank Allen, second vice-president; W. J. Nix, 
secretary; Freeman Walton, treasurer. Directors: J. B. Walton, 
William E. Walton, Frank Allen, J. W. Choate, John Deerwester, C. 
H. Dutcher, G. M. Hargett. Paul Levy, C. A. McComb. 

The Farmers and Manufacturers Bank of Rich Hill was opened 
for business September 21, 1882. Capital stock paid in, $25,000. First 
officers: J. C. Ferguson, president; J. J. Francisco, vice-president; E. 
F. Swinney, cashier; and W. W. Ferguson, assistant cashier. Present 
officers: W. W. Ferguson, president; John D. Moore, vice-president; 
J. W. Jamison, cashier. Present directors: W. W. Ferguson, John 
D. Moore, J. W. Jamison, George Templeton and E. N. Hurst. Jan- 
uary 1, 1918, the capital stock paid in was $25,000; surplus, $25,000; 
undivided profits. $32,127.88; deposits, $404,885.58. E. F. Swinney, the 
first cashier of this bank, is now president of the First National Bank 
of Kansas Citv. W. W. Ferguson, E. F. Swinney and Geo. Templeton 



230 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

are the only original organizers that are living. W. W. Ferguson has 
been in the banking business longer than any one in the county except 
William E. Walton. 

The Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri was organized 
in 1883 with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars and the following 
officers: H. Moudy, president; J. Scudder, cashier; and John Murphy, 
H. Moudy, A. J. Satterlee, J. Scudder, H. F. Wilhite, H. L. Fair, J. 
N. Bricker, and F. J. Taggard, stockholders, seven of whom were 
directors. Of the eight original stockholders, three are now living, 
namely: H. Moudy, H. L. Fair, and H. F. Wilhite. Mr. Moudy and 
Mr. Fair reside at Adrian and Mr. Wilhite is a resident of Lordsburg, 
Los Angeles county, California. This financial institution was first 
started in 1882 as a private bank and did not organize as the Adrian 
Banking Company until one year later. June 2, 1885 the capital stock 
was increased from ten thousand dollars to fifteen thousand dollars 
and since that time there has been a further increase to twenty-five 
thousand dollars, which in itself speaks well for the efficient manage- 
ment of the bank. The present officers of the Adrian Banking Com- 
pany are, as follow: M. V. Owen, president; D. F. Andes, vice-presi- 
dent; D. B. Reist, cashier; and W. W. Ricketts, assistant cashier; and 
M. V. Owen, D. F. Andes, J. M. Reeder, G. L. Argenbright, and D. 
B. Reist, directors. This bank is one of the strong, sound financial 
institutions of Bates county, of which all are proud, and its remarkable 
success from the very beginning is undoubtedly due to its wise manage- 
ment by gentlemen of superior business ability, whose integrity, as 
well as financial standing, is far above question. The following is 
a statement of this bank February 28, 1918: Resources, loans, $279,- 
205.62; bonds, $6,209.04; real estate, $6,000; furniture and fixtures, 
$2,500; cash and due from banks, $156,063.66; total, $450,293.68; lia- 
bilities, capital, $25,000; surplus, $25,000; undivided profits, $2,462.12; 
deposits, $397,831.56; total, $450,293.68. 

The Farmers Bank of Foster, Missouri, was organized on Febru- 
ary 3, 1887, Charter No. 363, and is one of the oldest established finan- 
cial institutions in the county. This bank was organized by William 
E. Walton, president emeritus of the Walton Trust Company, of But- 
ler, Missouri. W. M. Campbell was the first president; R. M. Ewing, 
vice-president ; J. Everingham, now deceased. Dr. T. C. Bouhvare. J. P. 
Edwards, and L. W. Jones, now- deceased, directors. F. M. Allen served 
as assistant cashier under William E. Walton for the first vear. Uulge 




THE INN, BUTLER, MISSOURI. 




FARMERS BANK BUILDING, BUTLER, MISSOURL 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 23 1 

John H. Sullens was the next cashier, followed by W. A. Ephland, 
who was succeeded by W. S. James, who served until J. D. Doolittle 
took charge of the bank in 1911. Prior to becoming cashier of the bank, 
Mr. Doolittle served as president, succeeding W. M. Campbell in 1909. 
The capital stock of the Farmers Bank is $15,000; surplus fund is 
$6,000; undivided profits, $2,518.69; with total resources of $102,500 
at this writing, January, 1918. The present officers are as follow: H. A. 
Rhoades, president; J. G. Doolittle, cashier; H. A. Rhoades, J. G. Doo- 
little, H. G. Davis, E. E. Laughlin, Bertha E. Doolittle, directors. 

The Farmers Bank of Bates County, according to its name, was 
promoted by farmers, D. N. Thompson being the principal promoter 
and the principal owner of the stock a* the time the bank was organized. 
He had associated with him J. K. Rosier, Dr. J. Everingham, J. J. 
McKee and others. The bank opened for business in 1889 with the 
following board of directors: D. N. Thompson, J. K. Rosier, J. Ever- 
ingham, John Steele, T. W. Silvers, J. J. McKee, Dan McConnell, 
Charles Sprague and E. D. Ripp. This management continued until 
1906, when the controlling interest of the bank passed into the hands 
of Duvall Brothers, of Butler, Missouri, when W. F. Duvall in January, 
1906, was elected cashier. W. F. Duvall remained cashier until the 
following year, when he was elected president and Homer Duvall was 
elected cashier,' who -have continued in these respective offices down 
to the present time. 

The Farmers Bank was started with a capital stock of $20,000. In 
January, 1906, capital stock was $50,000, and surplus $10,000, and the 
deposits at this time about $200,000. The board of directors at the 
time of tlie change of management of the Farmers Bank in 1906, were 
as follow: E. A. Bennett, J. J. McKee, O. A. Heinlein, Clark Wix, 
J. W. Choate, Frank Holland. F. N. Drennon, W. F. Duvall and Joseph 
M. McKibben. During the following eight years, from 1906 to 1914, 
the bank added $40,000 to its surplus, and on December 1, 1914. was 
passed as a roll of honor bank, by reason of having its surplus equal 
to its capital. 

At the present time, January, 1918. W. F. Duvall is the president, 
O. A. Heinlein. vice-president; Homer Duvall, cashier; H. H. Lisle, 
assistant cashier; with the following additional directors: J. J. McKee, 
Frank Holland, T. S. Harper, J. B. Duvall and Dr. T. W. Foster. The 
present capital of the bank is $50,000, surplus $50,000, and undivided 
profits, $10,000. Its deposits are over one-half million dollars. 



232 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Bank of Rockville, Rockville, Missouri, was opened for business 
October 30, 1890. Principal promoters: George AV. Burford, S. M. 
Doyle, J. C. Laughlin, Fred Fix, L. Hegnauer. First board of directors: 
J. C. Laughlin, Fred Fix, J. B. Durand, G. W. Robinson, S. ]\I. Doyle, 
S. Hoffman and G. W. Burford. Present officers and directors : J. E. Hook, 
president; Charles Fix, vice-president; W. E. Heyle, cashier; C. Heg- 
nauer, director; Lydia Sunderwirth, director. Capital, $10,000; surplus, 
$10,000; undivided profits, $15,000. 

Bank of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Missouri, was opened for busi- 
ness January 24, 1892. Principal promoters were: E. A. Emerson, H. P. 
Nickel, W. J. Bard, John McKee and John Morwood. First board of 
directors were : E. A. Emerson, H. P. Nickel, W. J. Bard and John 
McKee. Capital stock $10,000. President, H. P. Nickel; vice-president, 
W. J. Bard ; and cashier, E. A. Emerson. Present officers : John McKee, 
president; William Henderson, vice-president; G. H. Pahlman, cashier; 
M. Pahlman, assistant cashier. Capital $10,000. Surplus $10,000. 

Bank of Amoret opened for business at nine o'clock the morning 
of October 23, 1902 with the following officers: H. M. Gailey, presi- 
dent; Pierce Hackett, vice-president; and A. L. Duff, cashier. The 
board of directors composed of the following: H. M. Gailey, Leo Has- 
sig, C. F. Hall, John Lyle, W. R. Jones, E. A. Bennett and C. H. 
Hutchins. At the close of the first day's business their statement 
showed capital stock half paid up, $5,000: cash and exchange, $8,994.50; 
deposits, $3,994.50. The present board comprises James Rush, Leo 
Hassig, G. B. Bohlken, C. F. Hall, J. B. Hamilton, G. M. Garner, John 
Dykman, T. S. Grimsley and 'R. R. Hamilton, with the following offi- 
cers : James Rush, president; G. B. Bohlken, vice-president: R. R. 
Hamilton, cashier. Capital stock fully paid, $10,000; surplus, $5,000; 
deposits, $147,000. The stock is owned entirely by home people, 
twenty-three in number, and no one person holding over ten shares. 
This does awav completely with the possibility of a one-man bank. 

The Commercial Bank, Hume, Missouri was organized and began 
business May 4, 1903. This bank was organized by J. C. Biggs, its 
present cashier, with a capital of $10,000. Associated with Mr. Biggs 
in the organization were W. B. Waytes, who served as the first presi- 
dent of the bank; S. R. Humphrey, as vice-president: and H. C. Curtis, 
W. C. Foster, who with the preceding named gentlemen served as the 
board of directors. For the past fifteen years the bank has continued 
to do business at the original location in the brick building located on 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 233 

the northwest corner of the pubHc square in Hume. Mr. Humphrey 
(lied in October, 1913 and he was succeeded by C. E. Horton. Mr. 
Waytes died in 1915 and his successor was W. C. Foster, who became 
president of the bank. The present officers are : W. C. Foster, presi- 
dent ; C. E. Horton. vice-president; J. C. Biggs, cashier; J. P. Adams, 
assistant cashier. The foregoing with E. N. Martin, W. L. Thompson, 
and R. W. McConnell now constitute the board of directors. The 
latest statement of the financial condition of the Commercial Bank 
gives assets as follow: Capital stock, $10,000; surplus, $5,000; deposits, 
$130,000. The yearly statement of annual deposits given as taken from 
the bank's records for the month of November show the steady and 
consistent growth of the Commercial Bank. The deposits were as 
follow for each current year beginning with November of 1903 and 
continuing for the same month in each succeeding year; 1903, $18,- 
332.31; 1904, $22,785; 1905, $35,298; 1906, $84,785.60; 1907, $105,- 
604.15; 1908, $77,991.55; 1909, $83,961; 1910, $102,611.29; 1912, $117,- 
048.63; 1913, $80,540.78; 1914, $81,315.90; 1916, $81,080.59; 1917, 
$130,000. 

The Commercial State Bank was organized and opened for busi- 
ness in March, 1907. The principal promoters were: A. M. Clark, Kan- 
sas City, Missouri ; John T. AVilson, W. C. Stonebraker, J. M. McKibben, 
C. A. Lane, and who were the first board of directors. Capital stock 
as organized was $25,000. Of^cers were: A. M. Clark, president; W. 
C. Stonebraker, vice-president; John T. Wilson, cashier. Present 
officers are: R. N. Montgomery, president; W. W. Cheverton. vice- 
president; Gus Kienberger, cashier; S. M. Davis, assistant cashier. 

State Bank of Hume. This bank was organized in 1911 and under 
the present management the concern is proving to be a financial success. 
This bank was opened for business in 1912 with a capital of $10,000. 
The organizers were : Dr. Botts, R. M. Duncan, J. T. Lee, J. M. Thomp- 
son, and H. L. Curtis. The company erected a fine brick building and 
fitted the interior with modern fixtures and a splendid vault. The bank 
has enjoyed a steady growth in strength and patronage since its organi- 
zation and now has total resources of over $90,000. The present offi- 
cers are: R. M. Duncan, president; Dr. Botts, vice-president; H. L. 
Curtis, cashier. The board of directors include the foregoing officers 
and Messrs. Lee and Thompson. 

Farmers Bank of Rockville, Rockville, Missouri, was opened for 
business July 10, 1913. The principal promoter was J. C. Wyatt, Car- 



234 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

thage, Missouri. First board of directors: J. N. McDavitt, T. W. Gray, 
Leroy Wyatt, R. Steiner, G. Hirshi, W. W. Trail, W. A. Lyons, Theo. 
Marquardt. Capital stock, $10,000. First officers: J. N. McDavitt, 
president; R. Steiner, vice-president; Leroy Wyatt, cashier. The pres- 
ent officers are: J. N. McDavitt, president; August Fischer, vice-presi- 
dent; E. C. Wilson, cashier; M. G. W^ilson, assistant cashier. Capital 
stock, $10,000; surplus, $1,000; profits, $710. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



INTRODUCTION — THE BENCH— THE BAR — THE HEGIRA OF OUR PUBLIC RECORDS 
(By James H. Raybourn) — CRIMES AND CRIMINALS. 

Only a brief discussion of the bench and bar of Bates county is 
called for in a work of this kind. In the biographical sketches may 
be found further interesting data touching the lives of members of our 
local bar. 

The Bench. 

Since the retirement of Judge J. B. Gantt, who was serving this 
circuit at the time the old "History of Bates County" was pul)lished in 
1883, we have had the following circuit judges in this circuit, composed 
of Bates, Henry, Saint Clair and Benton counties, no change having 
been made in the circuit in all the years. Judge David A. DeArmond 
succeeded Judge J. B. Gantt by. election in 1886, and served about four 
years of his six-year term, resigning to take his sealt in the fifty-second 
Congress, to which he had been elected in 1890. His resignation caused 
a vacancy which was filled by the appointment of Judge James H. Lay, 
of Benton county, made by Governor David R. Francis. At the expira- 
tion of the DeArmond term James H. Lay was elected to a full term 
and served the circuit until 1898, when he was succeeded by Judge 
Waller W. Graves, of Bates county, who served one full term, and was 
succeeded by Judge Charles A. Denton of Bates county in 1905. Judge 
Denton served one term and was succeeded by Judge Charles A. Cal- 
vird of Henry county, served one term, and was re-elected in 1916; 
and is the judge of this circuit at the present time. All these judges 
were Democrats and elected by the Democratic party, except Judge 
Charles A. Denton. They were all fairly representative of the bar and 
the people, and on the whole the circuit has been faithfully and ably 
served by the distinguished men who have been our circuit judges. 
Judges Gantt and DeArmond are now dead. Judge Graves is chief 
justice of the Missouri Supreme Court; Judge Lay has retired from 
active life and still lives at Warsaw; and Judge Denton has returned 
to the active practice of his profession in Butler, Missouri. 



236 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

The Bar. 

Many changes have taken place in the Bates county bar during 
the thirty-five years, and only a hasty sketch seems necessary and 
appropriate. We note that with the establishment of the county seat at 
Butler in 1856, the attorneys were at that time, or at least prior to the 
Civil War: Thomas H. Starnes and Freeman Barrows were members 
of the bar at Papinsville. Starnes moved to Butler and died here in 
1866. Barrows never came to Butler to reside and died at his home 
near Papinsville. West and Stratton, Miles Brown, W'. Patrick Green, 
and Hollingsworth and Smith, were all practitioners at the Bates county 
bar before the war. W^illiam Page came to Butler in 1865 and now 
resides in Kansas City, Kansas, retired. Judge David A. McGaughey 
and W. H. H. Wagoner both came in 1865, both deceased many years. 
Stephen Horton came in 1866, and died in 1868. Alpheus M. Christian 
came in 1866, but left the county in 1875. Anthony Henry came in 
1866 and died in Colorado while temporarily there in 1885, and his 
body was buried here. Samuel A. Riggs came in the sixties. Charles C. 
Bassett in 1866 and died at the Soldier's Home. He had moved to 
Kansas City in 1881. Calvin F. Boxley came in 1866, and died in Kan- 
sas City recently and his body was buried here. Phineas H. Holcomb 
came in 1868 and died here in 1917. His brother, Anselm T. Holcomb, 
came in 1868, and moved to Portsmouth, Ohio in 1877, where he still 
lives. Leander D. Condee came in 1869 and removed to Chicago in 
1873, where he still resides and is in active practice. John L. Stanley 
came in the seventies and was killed l^y Marshal J. H. Morgan in a pistol 
duel in 1882. John H. Druitt came in 1872, and moved to Illinois later. 
J. J. Brumback also came in 1872 and afterward located in Adrian and 
later went elsewhere. H. C. Tutt came at an early date and died in 
1882. Allen L. Betz came to Bates in 1865, and died in Texas some 
years ago. Charles L. Wilson came in 1869 and later removed to 
Texas. N. A. Wade came in 1869, and died here. S. B. Lashbrook 
came in 1872 and died here. John W. Abernathy came in 1875, and 
died here. T. W. Silvers came in 1873 and is still in active practice at 
the Bates county bar; Thomas J. Smith came in 1880, and is still in 
the active practice here. W. O. Jackson also came in 1880, and still is 
an active practitioner here. John T. Smith came in 1874, and after- 
ward moved to Livingston, Montana, where he is still practicing his 
profession. J. S. and S. P. Francisco came to Bates county in 1880. 
Both are now deceased. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 237 

With the coming of the Missouri Pacific raih-oad in 1880. and the 
founding of Adrian and Rich Hill, other lawyers came to Bates county. 

A. J. Smith was one of the earliest to establish himself at Adrian, after 
having studied in the office of William Page in Butler and being admitted 
to the bar. He opened an office in Adrian and still resides and prac- 
tices his profession in that thrifty little city. Among the attorneys 
who came to Rich Hill in the early eighties were M. L. Brown, C. A. 
Clark, C. A. Denton, Irish & Templeton, W. O. Atkeson, T. Hiler 
Crockett, W^alter B. Reynolds, R. A. Holmes, J. F. Smith, William 
Marsh, and later, Silas W. Dooley, David A. DeArmond and J. R. 
Plales. A few years later all these attorneys found new locations, and 
only Templeton and Hales and C. A. Clark remain in that city. C. A. 
Denton, J. F. Smith, and W. O. Atkeson reside in Butler. Irish resides 
in Kansas City, Missouri; Dooley is in Guthrie, Oklahoma, DeArmond 
and Marsh are deceased and the whereabouts of the others are unknown 
to the author. In addition to those named. Attorney H. E. Shepherd 
resides in Rich Hill at this time. The younger members of the Butler 
bar are Silvers and Dawson, James A. DeArmond, DeWitt C. Chas- 
tain (now Somewhere in France), Probate Judge Carl J. Henry, Miles 
S. Horn, and H. O. Maxey. Gardner Smith, now in the army, and Elmer 

B. Silvers, now assistant United States district attorney for the West- 
ern District of Missouri. 

The Bates county bar has always been one of the strongest in the 
circuit. Many of the original members of the Bates county bar have 
passed to their reward. Litigation has greatly lessened and its char- 
acter greatly changed. Our present bar is probably as able and faith- 
ful as any membership in the past. We have probably overlooked some 
who ought to have a place in this brief account. 

The Hegira of Our Public Records. 

(By James H. Raybourn.) 

Before the Civil War and until 1870, one man or one official held and 
performed the duties of county clerk and probate clerk, as the county 
court had jurisdiction over probate business. The same official was 
also circuit clerk and ex-officio recorder of deeds. Robert L. Duncan 
held these offices at the beginning of the war. Owing to conditions in 
the countv in 1862, he removed the public records from Butler to the 
home of Oliver Lutsenhizer in Deepwater township. Some time after- 
ward thev were taken to Clinton. Henrv countv. as William Duncan. 



238 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

a brother of Robert L. Duncan, was an official of that county; and 
thence they were sent by John D. Myers to John B. Newberry at Jef- 
ferson City who was down there making settlement as county collector. 
The records remained in Jefferson City until an election was held at 
Johnstown in 1864, at which election John A. Devinny was elected to 
the Legislature, John Atkison sheriff, Van Buren Van Dyke assessor, 
and John D. Myers county clerk; C. I. Robards, H. H. Pipemeier and 
John Griggs as members of the county court. In the fall of 1865, the 
records which had been returned to John D. Myers at Dresden, Pettis 
county, Missouri, were taken by him to Pleasant Gap as a temporary 
place of public business, as Butler was almost entirely wiped out by 
one party or the other during the Civil War; and public business con- 
ducted at Pleasant Gap was afterward legalized and validated by act 
of the Legislature, and the village of Pleasant Gap recognized as the 
county seat of Bates county, during the time the courts were held 
there. The court house and clerk's office was a box structure of native 
lumber about 16 x 32 feet, of two rooms, and was situate in the west 
part of the village. The clerk's office was in the south room and the 
court house in the north. During the winter of 1865-66 the county 
court employed F. M. Steele to erect a frame building 16 x 20 feet 
on the northeast corner of the court house square in Butler for the 
use of the sheriff and the courts; and another one on the southeast 
corner of the square for the county records and the county clerk. As 
deputy circuit clerk and recorder, accompanied by Dr. N. L. Whipple, 
in March, 1866, I hauled the public records from Pleasant Gap in a 
farm wagon and placed them in said building. The county court and 
circuit court held two terms each at Pleasant Gap. 

There was an election held in Johnstown in 1862, at which Thomas 
Starnes was elected to the Legislature, John B. Newberry sheriff and 
collector, John D. Myers county clerk. Van Buren Van Dyke assessor, 
Jacob Wright, J. L. Porter, and Joshua N. Durand members of the 
county court. 

My understanding is, as stated in the old "History of Bates County," 
that the early court records beginning in 1841, at the house of Col. 
Robert Allen at Harmony Mission and covering the period down to 
1852 of the county clerk and of the circuit clerk down to 1859, have 
been lost or destroyed; but so far as I know all the records which came 
into the hands of John D. Myers from Jefferson City, as above related, 
are still preserved and among the records in the proper office in the 
court house at Butler now. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY " 239 

I also understand that all marriage records prior to 1860 are lost 
or destroyed. From 1852 to 1856 the courts were held in Papinsville. 
which was the county seat. A brick court house was erected there, 
completed in 1855. 

Crimes and Criminals. 

No good can come of chronicling the crimes in a community, and 
brief historical mention of some of the principal crimes and criminals 
is all that is attempted here. Bates county, comparatively speaking, 
has had few murders. Quite a number of homicides have been com- 
mitted and some suicides. But we use the term "crimes and criminals" 
in the limited sense of those convicted and executed for their crimes. 
There will be no more "hangings" to be chronicled by the historian 
in Bates county, as the recent Legislature abolished that ancient and 
brutal method of punishment in this state. 

The first man legally executed — hanged by the neck till he was 
dead — was Dr. Samuel Nottingham,; who was .hanged at Papinsville 
about 1851, for killing his wife down on Clear creek, in what is now 
Vernon county; but as all the circuit court records prior to 1859 were 
destroyed during the war, no very accurate information of the trial 
or the date of the hanging can now be had. In fact, the best informa- 
tion we have leaves the inference that he was convicted on circum- 
stantial evidence ; and as the crime was not committed within the pres- 
ent limits of Bates county, it calls for no further mention here. 

For nearly fifty years thereafter no one was legally executed in 
Bates county — not until Noah (Bunk) McGinnis was hanged at the 
jail in Butler on December 30, 1900, for murder for the purpose of rob- 
bery. He was hanged by Sheriff Shelt Mudd as his last official act 
before retiring from office. 

Dr. Gartrell was hanged by Sherifif Joe T. Smith at the jail in 
Butler for the murder of a traveling companion, near Amoret, Mis- 
souri. Bates county, as at present bounded, has been organized since 
1855, or a period of sixty-three years, and in all that time only two 
legal executions have taken place in the county, McGinnis and Dr. 
Gartrell. During that period at least three men have been hanged by 
mobs, and many homicides have been connnitted, but the perpetrators 
thereof were only sentenced to the penitentiary or wholly escaped 
punishment for their acts upon regular trials according to law. These 
pages need not be encumbered with accounts of other harrowing 
deeds; and the sooner they are forgotten by people now living, the 
better. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



CHURCHES. 



RANKING IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS— GROWTH AND PROSPERITY— LIBERAL, ATTI- 
TUDE—PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH— LATTER DAY SAINTS— CHURCH OF THE 
BRETHREN. 

Bates county ranks high among her sister counties in rehgious 
matters. All religious denominations usually found anywhere in Mis- 
souri are well grounded in Bates county. The church and the Sunday 
school may be found nearly everywhere. The County Sunday School 
Association is one of the best and most earnest in the state. The pastors 
and preachers of all denominations will rank well up with the best to 
be found anywhere ; and they are supported by church organizations 
as active, earnest and progressive, as may be found any place. The 
morality of Bates county is of a high order. Saloons have been ban- 
ished, bawdy houses are unknown; crime is at a minimum. The people 
are religious and God-fearing; tolerant and liberal; just and chari- 
table. The spirit of brotherly love prevails to as great a degree as can 
be found in the most cultured and refined society. There is no con- 
troversy, no church strife, no bickerings over doctrines; and in our 
cities and towns the most delightful spirit of Christian fellowship 
between pastors and congregations is almost universal. 

The church and the Sunday school came with the pioneers, and they 
have grown and prospered as our people have multiplied and made the 
county move forward from the wild and reckless pioneer days to a well- 
ordered Christian society, the equal of the best. 

We had hoped to give in detail the date of establishment and organi- 
zation of the several denominations and had the promise of such infor- 
mation from representative members of the several church denominations 
in the county; but nearly all have failed us in this respect. Data sup- 
plied is used and so far as not supplied we are compelled to trust all 
others in a general way; which really may be amiss at this day so far 
removed from the struggles and triumphs of the early organizations, 
many of which have passed or been reformed into our present success- 




OHIO STREET METHODIST CHURCH, BUTLER, MISSOURI. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 24I 

full and prosperous congregations. Besides, nearly all of the preachers 
and people who raised the banner of the Cross in this county in the early 
days have long since gone to their reward; but the results of their 
sacrifices for the Master are here, our inheritance from the heroic men 
and women who builded wisely and well for the coming generations. 
The church and the Sunday school are coordinate institutions of which 
all our people are justly proud. 

The Presbyterian Church. 

(By J. H. Raybourn.) 

The Presbyterian church was here before Bates county was organ- 
ized. It was established and organized by Drs. W. C. Requa and 
Amasa Jones, pioneer missionaries identified with Harmony Mission. 
After the abandonment of Harmony Mission in about 1838, Dr. Requa 
settled near what is now known as Peru in Lone Oak township, and 
Dr. Jones settled near Germantown in Henry county. Dr. Requa in 
connection with other missionary work organized a church near his 
home, probably the oldest in the county, and he preached at other 
points in what is now western Bates and Vernon counties. The old 
dobe church built by Dr. Jones still stands near his old home just north 
of Germantown, Henry county, where he preached for almost a genera- 
tion. He often preached in eastern Bates county. I heard him preach 
at what was called the Gilbreath school house before the Civil War. 
On that occasion his text was: "As Moses lifted up the serpent, so 
must the son of man be lifted up." I heard Dr. Requa once after the 
war in the first church built in Butler under the supervision of Rev. 
Seth Clark, who was a later and younger man. He preached in Pres- 
byterian missions. Rev. Clark also built a church house at old Hud- 
son, and preached and organized churches at other points in the county. 

About the year 1857, the Cumberland branch of the Presbyterian 
church of the Lexington Presbytery was organized and established 
in Bates county, by Rev. James A. Drennan and Rev. Jim Henry Houx, 
as he was called, two able, devout young men. They organized and 
established churches at different points in the county, mostly at school 
houses — at Butler, Mulberry, Pleasant Gap. Radford school houses. But 
like most everything else these congregations went to pieces and down 
under the ravages of the Civil War in this desolated county. 

When peace returned the congregation was organized at Butler 

(i6) 



242 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

under the ministry of Rev. J. Cal Littrell and Rev. Riley, with J. M. 
Patty, Washington Holloway and F. V. Holloway as ruling elders, and 
a church building was erected. The congregation at Radford school 
house was reorganized September 28, 1867, under the ministry of Rev. 
James A. Drennan. In 1872 a church house was erected near Spruce, 
during the ministry of Rev. Riley, with William Crabtree, John L. Lud- 
wick and William B. Price as ruling elders, and Andrew J. Jarvis and 
J. L. Peck as deacons. The church at Pleasant Ridge was organized 
under the ministry of Rev. Provine McCluney, August 16, 1866, with 
G. W. Raybourn, and Clark Wix as ruling elders, and G. W. Pharis 
and J. H. Brummitt as deacons, with about thirty lay members. About 
the year 1888 a church edifice was erected on land donated by J. W. 
Brown (now owned by Clark Wix) on the road leading from Butler 
to Appleton City. 

In 1903 the question of uniting the churches having been agitated, 
for several years, action was taken at Spruce. Rev. S. B. Sullivan, 
then pastor of the Presbyterian church at Rich Hill, acted as moderator, 
and Rev. J. W. Mitchell as stated clerk, which action resulted in favor 
of the union. The question was carried throughout the United States 
and the united church is now known as the Presbyterian Church of 
America. 

Dr. Requa and Dr. Jone? above mentioned as pioneer ministers, 
were M. D.'s and D. D.'s and they doctored the l)odies as well as the 
souls of both red and white men ; administering herb decoctions for 
bodily ailments, and old-fashioned Presbyterianism, with a strong 
sprinkling of Calvinism mixed in, for spiritual ills. I can still see in 
memory a little, old, round-faced, pug-nosed man, with curly, grizzled 
hair, sitting before an old time fire-place with cups of brewing decoc- 
tions about him on the hearth — that was Dr. Amasa Jones while treat- 
ing and curing me of a spell of bilious fever when I was a mere boy. 

Latter Day Saints. 

(Supplied by W. A. Searfus.) 

In justice to the Latter Day Saints of Bates county, we copy a pre- 
liminary statement of the organization of the early church as pub- 
lished by the Bureau of the Census, Government printing office, Wash- 
ington, D. C. Religious bodies: 1906, part II, separate denominations: 
History, description and statistics. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



243 



"The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was founded by 
Joseph Smith, a native of Vermont, in 1830, at Fayette, Seneca county, 
New York. About ten years previously when fifteen years of age, he 
had become deeply interested in the question of the salvation of his 
soul and in that of the true church of Christ, and was particularly dis- 
turbed by the variety of denominations and the varied interpretations 
put upon certain passages of the Scripture by different sects. While in 
the w^oods near his father's home, he says he "had a vision of a great 
light and two glorious personages appeared before him and commanded 
him to 'join none of the religious sects, for the Lord was about to 
restore the gospel, which was not represented by any of the existing 
churches.' " 

Three years later another vision instructed him as to the second 
coming of Christ and as to his own relation to the coming dispensa- 
tion. Other visions followed and in one he received directions enabling 
him to obtain "the sacred records," an abridgement of the history kept 
by the ancient inhabitants of America which "were engraved upon 
plates which had the appearance of gold." These records, constituting 
the "Book of Mormon" he translated, dictating the translation to Oliver 
Cowdery and others, who wrote it down, and who, with David Whit- 
mer and Martin Harris, after the completion of the work, gave to the 
world their testimony that they had actually seen the plates. Smith 
and Cowdery also testified that an angel appeared to them, conferring 
upon them authority and giving them instruction which resulted in the 
organization of the church at Fayette, Seneca county. New York, April 
6, 1830. 

There are two bodies called Latter Day Saints, as follow: 

Church of Jesus Chiist of Latter Day Saints, with headquarters 
in Utah. 

Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with 
headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa. 

It is the Reorganized Church with which our "Bates County History" 
deals. The following citation is taken from the "Snecial Reports on 
Religious Bodies by the United States Government," as referred to 
above : 

"The Reorganized Church repudiates the revelation on plural mar- 
riage and maintains 'that marriage is ordained of God, that the law 
provides for but one companion in wedlock for either man or woman, 
except in cases of death or where the contract is broken by transgres- 



244 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

sion; consequently, that the doctrine of plurality and community of 
wives are heresies and are opposed to the law of God.' " 

Beginning with first preaching done by Daniel S. Crawley on the 
streets in Rich Hill in 1881, the Reorganized Church of Latter Day 
Saints has been very active in denouncing Utah Mormonism and appeal- 
ing to the public to make an impartial examination of the difference 
between the doctrine and practice of the Mormon church and the faith, 
doctrine and practice of the original church established through the 
instrumentality of Joseph Smith and others of which the Reorganized 
Church claims to be a legal continuance. 

The claims of the ministry of the Reorganized Church in Bates 
county are that Brigham Young's pretence when he led ten thousand 
of the saints to Utah after the martydom of Joseph Smith was an 
assumption of authority. 

The original church was known by the name "Church of Jesus 
Christ," the phrase "Latter Day Saints" being used to signify of what 
the church was composed. That offense of confusing them with 
the Mormons should be avoided by the public. 

The organization has by action of the body, as well as through 
committees and representatives favored wholesome legislation against 
the crimes of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. 

Many of the most noteworthy articles against the crimes of so- 
called Mormonism, which have been published in some of our leading 
magazines together with an indefinite number of books and pamph- 
lets now obtainable have been written by members of the Reorganized 
Church and it appears that they ought to be recognized as active and 
well qualified opponents of LTtah or polygamus Mormonism. 

Church of the Brethren (Dunkards.) 

(Supplied by Irvin V. Enos.) ' 

This society was formed in Germany in 1708. Eight persons from 
different branches of the Protestant church formed the first congrega- 
tion under the leadership of Alexander Mack. In Germany they were 
called Tunkers or Tauffers because of their belief in immersion. In 
America this nickname was translated to Dunker or Dunkard. They 
believed that faith, repentance and baptism were the steps to salvation, 
baptism being administered by trine immersion. Feet washing as taught 
in John 13 was held to be a devine ordinance. Government was demo- 
cratic in the extreme. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 245 

They avoided legal controversies and refused to take up arms in 
time of war. They opposed secret societies, and they held marriage 
as a divine ordinance that cannot be dissolved by courts of law. Aged 
and poor members were cared for by the brotherhood. These are some 
of the distinctive features of the church. 

In Germany they suffered all sorts of persecution from the state 
and state churches. They grew in numbers but because of persecution 
they separated and in 1715 there were three large congregations. 

In 1719 twenty families came to America. Their first congrega- 
tion was formed at Germantown, Pennsylvania. In 1727 fifty-nine fam- 
ilies came over. Others came later until the church in Germany ceased 
to exist. These people had met the same treatment in Germany that 
the Quakers met in England. In America they grew and worked 
together for a time, but were distinct in organization and doctrine. 
They held their first annual conference in 1742. 

In 1917 the total membership in America was about one hundred 
thousand. They own their printing presses, maintain nine colleges and 
seminaries, have seventy-six missionaries on foreign fields besides 
many home and city workers. 

The first members came to Bates county, and settled near Crescent 
Hill about 1865. Among them were John Kinsly and wife, T. P. Eye- 
man and wife, John Fansler and wife and others. Their first minister 
was W. G. McClintoch. An organization was effected about 1869. 
They had no church house but worshipped in private homes and school 
houses until November, 1890. when their new house in Adrian was 
completed. 

Mrs. John Thomason is the only charter member now living in the 
congregation, which now has a membership of seventy-seven, twenty- 
three of whom live in Pleasant Gap and Prairie township. They have 
their own house and will soon be organized into a separate congregation. 

The Mound (or Adrian) church has preaching and Sunday school 
each Sunday morning, besides the main school they have graded pri- 
mary work in a separate room, home department and cradle roll ; also 
Christian workers meeting each Sunday evening, which supports one 
orphan in China. The church contributes regularly to the support of 
one missionary in India, Sister Jennie Moliler. of Leeton, Missouri, 
besides making quarterly offerings to home missions and offerings to 
general mission work. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



BUTLER. 



LOCATION — ADVANTAGES— ORIGINAL TOWN— NAMING — WILLIAM ORLANDO BUT- 
LER — FIRST SURVEYS — JOHN C. KENNETT — MONTGOMERY — JOHN E. MOR- 
GAN—FIRST HOTEL — GENERAL STORE— McCOMB & ROBISON— LORING & 
BURNETT— FIRST PHYSICIAN— FIRST ATTORNEYS— FIRST TEACHER AND 
SCHOOL HOUSE — WILLIAM HARMANN — VAN BUREN VAN DYKE— FIRST SAW 
AND GRIST MILL — FIRST CHURCH— FIRE— DURING CIVIL WAR— INCORPORA- 
TION — CITY OF FOURTH CLASS— FIRST MAYOR — FIRST CITY OFFICERS — 
CITY OF THIRD CLASS — EARLY ESTABLISHMENTS— OLD SURVEY — DEEDS. 

Butler is located about the center of the central township of the 
county, and is about the center of the county. The location is sightly 
and healthful. It is surrounded by rolling prairies as far as the eye 
can see ; and a view of its environments from the top of the court house 
is inspiring. The panorama thus brought within the vision can not 
be surpassed anywhere. It is a picture for the landscape painter. It 
afTords you at one view the beauty and wealth of this great county. 

So situate and so environed it is natural that the inhabitants of 
Butler should love their little home city with a tenderness not often 
found. The population of Butler is a little less than three thousand 
at this time; but here we have everything desirable in society, churches, 
schools, telephones, municipal water and light, paved streets, opera 
houses, photo shows — everything calculated to afford real pleasure, and to 
build a strong moral and religious sentiment in the hearts of the people. 
Butler is famous for its three strong banks and its large trust com- 
panies, and our mercantile establishments would be a credit to a city 
of ten times our population. 

There is no more desirable place to live in the state. The people 
are progressive, generous, and mutually helpful. Butler is a good place 
to be. It is as free of vice as any city of its class in the state. It is 
"dry" — forever. 

The original town of Butler was laid out on April 19, 1852, not 
exactly where it is now, but very near it. At that time the Hon. Will- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 247 

iam Orlando Butler of Kentucky was very popular with all Southern 
Democrats, and although he had been defeated for vice-president in 
1848 — only six years before Butler was named for him, and which fact 
has kept his name secure in the annals of this era, he was so beloved 
by John E. Morgan, J. S. Wilkins and John W. Montgomery, and their 
associates that they called the surveyed bit of high, virgin prairie 
"Butler." In the "Americanized Chambers' Encyclopedia," printed in 
1880 we find this brief mention of him: 

"William Orlando Butler, 1793-1880; born in Kentucky; served 
in the Indian battles of 1812, and under Jackson at New Orleans, and 
after the war practiced law in Kentucky. He was a member of Con- 
gress, 1839-43, and next year Democratic candidate for Governor; in 
1848 the Democratic nominee for vice-president, but not successful. He 
served as major general of volunteers in the war with Mexico, and 
was wounded at Monterey. He was a member of the peace Congress 
of 1861." 

In 1848, Lewis Cass of Michigan and William O. Butler were the 
Democratic running mates ; and they were defeated after a spirited 
campaign by General Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, the Whig 
running mates. This result was largely caused by ex-President Van 
Buren's defection, who had the support of the organized Free Soil 
party and the faction of the Democratic party known as "Barnburners," 
whose united strength was sufficient to take the state of New York 
out of the Democratic column, and give its electoral vote to Taylor 
and. Fillmore by a plurality and thereby assure their election. In the 
early days of Bates county many of its inhabitants came from Ken- 
tucky and this Kentucky personnel to say nothing of the prevailing 
party sentiment at the time doubtless explains why and how the county 
seat was named Butler. In what follows in our history — the rejection 
of the town plat and the return of the deeds made to lands as a dona- 
tion to the county of John E. Morgan and others, resulting in a new^ 
survey, no change was made in the name. Indeed it seems to have 
been officially recognized as Butler before what was finally determined 
to be the legal plat of Butler, as we have it today, was made. This 
involves a long story; and we must be content to state the facts, with- 
out side remarks, as briefly as may be in order that the reader may 
understand. The details are too technical. 

The first survey, made in 1852, had the public square almost 
directly in front of the present Logan-Moore Lumber Company's 
office. The- Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile building and the Farmers 



248 . HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Bank, or at least a part of it, now occupy what was the pubhc square 
of the first survey. The second survey was made in 1856, as shown by 
plat herewith, and this survey put the public square where it is today. 
John C. Kennett was the original settler on the townsite. His log 
cabin was located on lots 1, 2, and 3, block 1, Montgomery's first 
addition to Butler, beginning with the lot now occupied by the city 
hall and the fire department, and occupying all that block except lot 
4, on south side of the block next to Chestnut street. Montgomery 
bought Kennett out, and Kennett went to California. In 1854 John 
E. Morgan moved onto the townsite and erected a log house on the 
ground afterward occupied by the Christian church building, and now 
by the Logan-Moore Lumber Company. He kept his house as a sort 
of a tavern, and at the time he was the representative of Bates county 
in the General Assembly. His log house may be fairly said to be the 
first hotel in Butler. 

After Butler was laid out Couch & Smith built the first business 
house in 1856, and they ran a general merchandise store. Then came 
McComb & Robison, and they built the next business house on the 
corner where the restaurant (destroyed by fire since the above was 
written) was across Chestnut street north of Bennett-Wheeler Mer- 
cantile Company. Then Loring & Burnett opened a general store in 
1858. Samuel Loring came from Papinsville and William Burnett from 
the southern part of the county. After 1858 others came in rapidly, 
and the town began to grow rapidly. Joseph S. Hansbrough was the 
first physician and surgeon. He was killed during the war by bush- 
whackers from Kansas. Among the first attorneys-at-law were 
Stearns, Hollingsworth and Barrows, all coming up from Papinsville 
after the county seat was located in Butler. Stearns died in Butler 
after the war. Mrs. Martha Morgan opened the first school in Butler 
in 1856. The school house which was also used for preaching, political 
meetings, and for holding the terms of county and circuit court before 
the court house was finished, was situate on Block 5, Montgomery's 
first addition, about where Dr. J. M. Christy now resides. 

William Harmann opened the first saloon in the fall of 1856, thus 
coming with the county seat, the courts and lawyers. His place was 
where the restaurant now is. or was until recently. Van Buren 
Van Dyke obtained the first merchant's license after the county court 
moved up from Papinsville. The first saw and grist mill was erected 




WEBSTER SCHOOL, BUTLER, MISSOURL 




METHODIST CHURCH. SOUTH, BUTLER, MISSOURL 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 249 

in 1867 by M. S. Power, now owned and operated by the Cannon 
Brothers. 

The first church edifice for exclusive worship was erected by the 
Christian congregation in 1860. This church and all the business houses 
around the square were destroyed by fire in 1861. The court house 
was burned at the same time, an old history says: "By a squad oi 
cavalry sent from Kansas for that purpose by the order of Col. James 
Montgomery." The reason given for this incendiary burning was to 
"prevent Southern sympathizers from harboring Rebels." It is related 
that while the town was still burning Col. Sydney Jackman of the 
Rebel army came into town at the head of a cavalry company, and the 
Union soldiers retreated toward Kansas, were pursued by Jackman 
and his men as far as the Miami, and killed and wounded three or four 
of Montgomery's men. 

In April, 1862, Col. Fitz Henry Warren, with the First Iowa 
Cavalry occupied the town, and remained until August, when he 
returned with his command to Clinton, Missouri. About the time of 
his departure Colonel Jackman and Gen. J. S. Cockrell of the Rebel 
army were headed toward Butler: but they continued their march up 
through the eastern part of the county, on north into Jackson county, 
where they were engaged in the famous Lone Jack battle on August 
16, 1862. 

Butler was incorporated June 19, 1872. First trustees: Henry 
McReynolds, chairman; George W. Evans, William E. Walton, Albert 
Harper, Wilson S. Boggs, J. L. Church, clerk; James K. Brugler, 
attorney. 

Butler was incorporated as a city of the fourth class April 7, 1879, 
and William Page, who now resides in Kansas City, Kansas, became 
the first mayor of Butler. The first aldermen were William E. Walton 
and Joseph L. Pace of the First ward; G. W. Patterson and John A. 
Deviney, of the Second ward ; marshal, John C. Bybee ; treasurer, F. 
J. Tygard ; collector. J. C. Clark; street commissioner, James Keep; 
attorney, John C. Hays ; clerk, Thomas W. Silvers. Of this first 
administration of Butler after getting out of the village class, only Mr. 
^^'alton and Mr. Silvers and Mr. Page are still living. The former two 
still reside in Butler. In 1889 Butler was organized as a city of the 
third class. 

In 1877, M. S. Power sold his mill to his sons, E. R. and M. R. 



250 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Power, who continued to improve and operate it until their recent 
deaths, and the mill was then sold to Cannon Brothers, who are now 
operating it in connection with their large elevator situate near the 
Missouri Pacific depot. The old Empire mill owned and operated by 
John F. Lifker has long since ceased to be and a residence now occu- 
pies its former site. The woolen mill and carding machine of McCun- 
tock & Son, which was established in 1868 and for many years fur- 
nished our people through M. S. Cowles & Company with yarns, 
blankets, jeans, flannels, cassimeres, etc.. has passed away under mod- 
ern improvements and economic conditions. The Diamond mill, better 
known as the Fairchild or later as the Fay mill, was burned some years 
ago, and has never been rebuilt. The Butler elevator erected in 1880, 
has been succeeded by the Cannon Brothers' elevator, and the Peoples 
elevator, both now in active operation, and among the largest in this 
section of the state. The planing mill of Wyatt & Boyd, erected in 
1882, has long since been out of existence. The Butler Carriage Works, 
erected in 1882 by Catterlin & Legg, was only recently destroyed by 
fire; and the wagon shops of Robinson & Son, begun in 1873, has also 
passed away. In passing, reference is made to the fact that in 1881. 
a company was organized and put into operation here the first electric 
lighting plant, the first plant of the kind in Missouri outside of the 
city of St. Louis. Four powerful lights were put upon the cupola of 
the court house, which not only lighted the city, but were visible for 
fifteen or twenty miles around. This bit of enterprise gave Butler the 
name of the "Electric City." It was succeeded many years ago by a 
modern plant owned and operated by the city, and Butler continues 
to be the best lighted city of its class in the state. 

At the present time Butler is a well rounded-out and fully equipped 
little city of about three thousand people. A modern opera house, 
three large banks, two trust companies, three modern hotels, four 
garages, all sorts of mer'cantile stores, blacksmith and wood working 
shops — in fact, ever-ything that a city of ten thousand people usually 
have; and a Federal postoffice building now in course of erection will 
soon be completed. A new, modern brick depot affords comfort to 
travelers, and railroad employes of the Missouri Pacific, and the Inter- 
State, with its terminus here. 

Within the last year the Baptist congregation completed a thirty- 
thousand-dollar church edifice, the finest church house in this section 
of the state. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



251 



Survey^ of the Town of Butler, Bates County, Missouri. 



"Survey number 80 made 22nd, 23rd. and 25th of October, 1856. 

"For James McCool, commissioner of county seat of Bates count\% 
Missouri. 

"Beginning at a' limestone standing corner to section 14 and 15; 
22 and 23 running thence south on random variation 8 degrees east, 110.00 
chains, set a temporary ^ section corner post 79.23 chains. A sand- 
stone standing corner between sections 22 and 23; 26 and 27 then con- 
nected for 34 section corner l^etween sections 22 and 23 ; reset a sand- 
stone ; thence north with the line dividing sections 22 and 23 ; 13.50 chains 
or 56 poles and plant a sandstone for N. E. corner to the tract of land 
upon which a portion of the town of Butler is located ; then from a 
point which is 30 feet south and 60 feet west from the last described 
corner, proceed to lay off the town of Butler for the number and size 
of the blocks and lots. 

"R. L. Duncan, County Surveyor. 

"Bates County, Mo. 

"G. I. Cummins, 

"William Able and William Mathes." 



"Survey number 93 made 20th and 23rd of February, 1857 for 
James McCool Commissioner of the county seat of Bates county, Mis- 
souri being a completion of the above survey, also in addition to the 
same, beginning at a limestone, which is thirty poles north of the Y\ 
section corner between sections 22 and 23, the same being N. W. corner 
to block number 47, thence from this point proceed to lay off that part 
of the town being east of the line dividing section 22 and 23. see plat 
above. "R. L. Duncan, County Surveyor. 

"Bates County, Missouri. 

"Riley Anderson. Vanburen Vandike, Stephan Thomas, and Mr. 
Doron; cjualified chainmen. Filed and duly recorded 26th day of Tnne. 
1857. P. B. Stratton, Recorder." 

Deeds Conveying the Streets, Alleys, and Public Square in Said Town. 

"State of Missouri, 

County of Bates : 
"Know all men by these presents that we John E. Morgan and 
Martha W. Morgan, his wife, of the County of Bates and State afore- 
said have this day released and set apart all parts and parcels of land 
on the above plat, which are laid and marked out on said plat as streets, 



-0- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



lanes, and alleys, and which, are on the part of said plat east of the sec- 
tion line, between sections twenty-tw'o and twenty-three, the said 
streets and alleys of the dimentions therein marked out, to be and 
remain public highway forever. Witness our hand and seal the 9th 
day of August A. D. 1853. 

''John E. Morgan (Seal) 

Martha W. Morgan (Seal)" 



"Know all men by these presents that I, John C. Kennett propri- 
ator of all that portion of land constituting blocks No. 8, 9, 10, 11, 1, 2, 
3, 4, and all that part of land included in the Public Square on the 
above plat have this day aleined, released, and set apart for public 
use all streets, alleys, and lanes as marked out on the above plat by 
the surveyor, to the public, and the same to remain common as for 
the public use, and open highways forever. Witness my hand and seal 
the 6th day of August, A. D. 1853. 

"John C. Kennett (Seal)" 



"State of Missouri, 

County of Bates : 
"This day appeared before me, Isaiah Ashley, J. P.. John C. Ken- 
nett and acknowledged the foregoing plat and deed to be his act and 
deed for the purpose therein set forth, and no other. The same John 
C. Kennett is personally know^n to me. Witness my hand and seal 
this 9th day of August, A. D. 1853. 

"Isaiah Ashley, (Seal) 

"Justice of Peace." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



RICH HILL. 



POSTOFFICE— DEVELOPMENT— ORGANIZATION — THE "LEADVILLE OF MISSOURI"— 
"MINING REVIEW" — "TRADE JOURNAL"— CITY OF FOURTH CLASS— TOM 
IRISH— ORGANIZATION— FIRST MAYOR — CLINTON R. WOLFE — THIRD CLASS 
— WATERWORKS — PROSPECTING — GAS PLANT— WATER, LIGHT AND FUEL 
COMPANY — REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH— THE "REVIEW" — TOWN COMPANY — 
LOCATION. 

Rich Hill was the name given to a postoffice, established in 1868, 
about two miles northwesterly from the present city of the same name; 
and consisted of a few dwelling houses, general store, blacksmith shop, 
and postof^ce, and so continued until the new town was platted in 
May, 1880, when the postoffice, country doctor, merchant and black- 
smith moved to start the new city. Having been surveyed before the 
advent of railroads or the opening up of the local mines, the city- 
platting was considered to be on rather a commodious scale. The 
location in the rolling prairie, with a commanding view of the Marais 
des Cygnes river and surrounding country, was most suitable as a town- 
site. The construction of the Pleasant Hill and Joplin branch of the 
Missouri Pacific and the Rich Hill branch of the Kansas City, Ft. 
Scott & Gulf railroads, together with the opening up of the coal min- 
ing industries by the Rich Hill Mining Company, an organization in 
the interest of the Missouri Pacific railroad; the Keith & Parry Coal 
Mining Company in the interest of the Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad, 
brought life and vigor and all kinds of jjusiness were soon represented. 
The shipments of coal grew to enormous quantities from both the 
surface diggings and shaft mines. The town grew and grew. The 
streets had been generously laid off — sixty, seventy, and eighty feet 
wide, and Park avenue, the main business street, one hundred feet. 
The alleys were twenty feet. New additions were required from time to 
time to meet the growth and demand for residence lots until the Town 
Company's first, second, third, fourth and fifth additions; Walton's first, 
second and third additions; \\'illiams' addition; Sperry's addition; Reif's 



254 HISTORY OF BATES COUN'IY 

addition; Glasgow's addition and Connoly's addition, laid off in con- 
formity with the original townsite, had been added. Four blocks on 
either side east and west of the Missouri Pacific railroad had been 
reserved as parks which earl}^ were set in forest trees and otherwise 
improved, made play and picnic grounds — breathing places for the 
present and future generations. School sites and lots for churches w^ere 
reserved and generously donated for use when required. The original 
Town Company was incorporated with the following citizens as offi- 
cers: Ed H. Brown, president; Sam B. Lashbrooke, secretary; F. J. 
Tygard, treasurer; and large dividends from the sale of lots were fre- 
quently made to the stockholders. 

A village organization was soon had and Governor Marmaduke 
appointed Dr. W. H. Allen president and George Reif, Dr. W. L. 
Heymun, and Nat Powell the other trustee. George P. Huckleby, a 
Butler attorney, was first to start a newspaper — "The Rich Hill Gazette" 
— Republican in politics, with the promise of being made postmaster 
to secure a. living. It was not, however, until the "Mining Review" 
with a power press and a five-thousand-dollar plant started, that Rich 
Hill was placed "on the map" and became known as the "Leadville 
of Missouri." The "Review" was at first an eight column folio, home 
print. The first issue, October 21, 1880 of five thousand copies, with a 
second edition of the same issue of three thousand, was easily disposed 
of, and was follow^ed from week to week by large issues, containing 
the advantages and future prospects of Rich Hill and great resources 
of Bates county and the opportunities offered in farming, stock raising, 
horticulture, mining, milling, manufacturing, and indeed all lines of 
Imsiness as well as a good, healthy, temperate climate to live in. 

It is needless to relate that the town grew and grew apace, little 
imagined by the promoters, or the staid old settlers of the county. A 
correspondent of the "Chicago Industrial World," wdio visited the town 
a year after its birth, gave the following report to the "Trade Journal": 

"At a single bound the bantling sprang into vigorous life, defying 
all opposition, and transcending the hopes of its most ardent friends 
who looked and wondered, until the fair young city now looms up as 
the most remarkable and rapidly built movement of ^^'estern pluck 
and Western energy outside the mining regions of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. So rapidly had the town passed from its chrysalis period into a 
full fledged city that one is reminded, when viewing its astonishing 
proportions, of the creation and transformatory powers which oriental 



HISTORY OF BATES CQUNTY 255 

Story ascribes to the lamp of Aladdin, and asks whether some ancient 
Eastern Magi has not here given to the world the most wonderful 
exhibition of his occult skill." 

Nine months after its original organization as a village, it was 
organized as a city of the fourth class, not, however, without some 
legal technicalities to overcome ; as the state law required before organ- 
izing as a city, there must be the requisite number of inhabitants "accord- 
ing to the last National census." Even the new village was not in 
existence when the 1880 census was taken. The growth of the town 
had caught the state napping, or lacking in statutory method to over- 
come such a progressive emergency. 

The village trustees and its officers, marshal, attorney, clerk and 
treasurer, were loth to step down and out of office and give place to 
elective officers under a city charter. So when "Tom" Irish, editor of 
the "Review," had created a sentiment for city organization, he met with 
decided opposition, but nevertheless persisted in his demand, as an aid 
to the development and to make the necessary public improvements 
requisite to meet the demands of the so rapidly increasing population 
and commercial growth. He contended that having the requisite bona 
fide number of citizens, a National census showing was unnecessary 
and arranged to go to JeiTerson City and get the opinion of Attorne}^- 
General Mclntyre. Hearing of this, the opposition employed Mr. 
Lashbrooke, a prominent attorney of Butler, to follow him to Jefferson 
City. There they met and Mr. Mclntyre being out of the city, they 
agreed to file their separate briefs and leave them for his examination, 
requesting his opinion to be forwarded upon his return. It was not 
long before authority came to go ahead and organize as a city. 

On February 21, 1881. Rich Hill, l)y almost a unanimous vote, was 
so organized with Dr. T. B. Hewit, formerly of Norborne, a close 
friend, and family physician of Colonel Irish, elected as first mayor to 
hold office until the following spring election when Clinton R. Wolfe 
who recently died in Wyoming, was elected mayor. Doctor Hewit, by 
the way, was the nephew of Abram S. Hewit, one time mayor of New 
York City. He now lives at Galena, Missouri. A little over three years 
had passed when the city was re-organized as a city of the third class, 
with a population of over five thousand souls. 

In 1883, completed in November of that year. Garrison Brothers 
of St. Louis constructed a system of waterworks with ample water 
mains throughout the city and fifty-five hydrants, at a cost of over 



256 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ninety thousand dollars. The water was forced a distance of three 
miles from the Marais des Cygnes river, east of the city, after having 
been pumped into a large cemented settling basin on the western bank 
of the river. Not a great while after the water works a private electric 
light plant was installed and furnished the streets and business houses 
with arc lights and later on incandescent lights were added. 

The development and utilization of natural gas had been made 
a success, temporarily, at least, at Ft. Scott, and Colonel Irish con- 
ceived the idea of prospecting for natural gas in the interest of Rich 
Hill as it was known to exist in many of the deeper wells in Howard 
and New Home townships and had been troublesome in the entries in 
the different mining shafts west of the city: and he set about to secure 
a franchise for furnishing Rich Hill with natural gas and ultimately 
secured a very liberal franchise, with the privilege of putting in an 
artificial gas plant ; and failed to find, after prospecting, a sufficient 
amount and requisite pressure of the natural gas to be successfully 
utilized. He did the prospecting west of the city and penetrated the 
gas strata but the pressure was not sufficiently strong to be of use for 
the purposes required. Thereupon he installed an artificial gas plant, 
costing thirty thousand dollars and operated the same for several 
years, purchasing in the meantime the electric light plant. A few 
years later when on a business trip to St. Louis he met the Garrisons 
and learned they desired to sell their water plant at Rich Hill and 
figuring out that the three plants could be operated together to advan- 
tage and with economy, he negotiated for the purchase of the water 
works plant at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars, and consolidated 
the three companies under the name of the Rich Hill ^^'ater, Light 
and Fuel Company and as president and general manager of the com- 
pany, operated them successfully for three or four years when he had 
a vision of Rich Hill's decline and sold and transferred all but a few 
shares of the stock to a St. Louis syndicate of capitalists and resigned 
as president and general manager. Several years after this the city 
of. Rich Hill acquired all the interests of the company. 

Throughout the "Great West'' where instances of the rapid 
growth of civilizing influences and development of nature's great 
wealth are of common occurrence, both in the rapid transformation 
of the wild prairie into well cultivated farms and comfortable homes, 
and the almost miraculous building of cities, towns and villages there 
is perhaps not a single illustration, at least upon the wild prairies, more 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 257 

Striking than the founding of the city of Rich Hill, and its consequent 
effect in the founding and growth of other towns and villages and in 
the growth and development of the county seat, Bates county and 
the surrounding country, generally revolutionizing, as it were, and 
putting new life into the older citizenship and bringing in new families 
from the eastern, southern and northern states to engage in the vari- 
ous industries of life and make permanent homes among us. 

The author has often heard it remarked that "Tom Irish and his 
paper made Rich Hill" and it would be like acting the play, of Shake- 
speare's "Hamlet" with Hamlet left out to write anything like a com- 
plete history of Rich Hill and Bates county and the influence his news- 
paper had in the development and political influence in the county and 
state and leave Colonel Irish out. The independent character and 
broad view of its usefulness, taken by the "Review," brought about and 
instilled new life into the entire local press of the state, taking them 
out of the rut of only local interests and the advocating of mere party 
politics, or boosting professional politicians to places of honor and 
trust. The liberal spirit and high minded character exemplified in its 
editorials and general makeup was something to aspire to, and its wide 
circulation, caused it to be more quoted from by the metropolitan press 
and the trade journals of the entire country than, perhaps, all the other 
local papers of the state. The "Mining Review's" "dead head" and 
exchange list was for several years equal to the entire edition of many 
local publications. Every leading paper in all the towns of the state, 
including all the dailies at the time published in Missouri and Kansas, 
also the "New York Sun" and "Tribune," "Chicago Inter-Ocean" and 
"Tribune," "Toledo Blade," "Cleveland Plain Dealer," "Oil City Der- 
rick," and "Boston Transcript"; also all the trade journals and railroad 
journals and most of the magazines of the day were received regularly 
at the "Review" office. It w^as a pleasure as well as instructive to drop 
into Irish's sanctum sanctorium and look over these exchanges, which 
the author often did. The "Review" was also found, each week, on the 
desk of all the leading hotels of the towns and cities of the state and of 
many in other states and in the libraries and reading rooms, and it was 
largely by this means that Rich Hill was "placed on the map" and 
brought together in so short a time a cosmopolitan citizenship of six 
thousand people: unequaled outside the mining towns of the gold, 
silver, and copper bearing states of the Rocky Mountain country.* 

(17) 



258 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

As an illustration of the "power of the press" will relate a joke 
on one of our citizens, told at the time only to close friends. Crit 
Fulkerson, lately a prominent and wealthy citizen of Butler; who, by 
the way, was somewhat jealous of the "Infant Wonder," usually spent 
a few weeks every summer at the fashionable resorts in Colorado and 
as is the custom when strangers meet at these Western resorts, the 
first greeting is: "Well, stranger, where do you hail from?" Crit 
said for many times he answered as he registered: "Butler, Missouri.' 
"Where is Butler?" "The county seat of Bates county." "Oh! It's 
near that miraculous Missouri town, Rich Hill, eh? I've heard all 
about that burg and its wonderful growth and mining industry." This 
happened so often that it got on Mr. Fulkerson's nerves; so he decided 
when questioned in the future, to save embarrassment, to reply: "I'm 
from Rich Hill, Missouri." "I soon discovered," he related, "how it 
was that Rich Hill so suddenly had become so well known by appar- 
ently everyone everywhere: I found the 'Mining Review' in the hotels, 
reading rooms and club rooms, wherever I went." 

Colonel Irish once related to the author his first visit to Butler 
before locating at Rich Hill, and his calling upon his brother editor. 
Col. N. A. Wade, of the "Democrat," whom he had previously met, as a 
delegate from Carroll county and Wade a delegate from Bates, at a 
railroad convention at Lexington. Colonel Wade had been receiving 
Irish's "Norborne Independent" as an exchange and probably did not 
fancy having his kind of modern democracy preached to the good people 
of Bates county and so when asked as to the feasibility of starting a 
Democratic new^spaper at Rich Hill, Wade was very free to give him to 
understand that Rich Hill had been started by a lot of Republicans and 
never would be more than a mere mining camp ; that Mr. George B. 
Huckeby, a Butler lawyer, had already started a Republican paper there, 
the "Gazette," with a patronage of the Town Company and a guarantee 
of being appointed postmaster to insure a living, et cetera. Irish, how- 
ever, investigated further and once the "Review" was in running order 
Wade sure got dose after dose of Tom's kind of democracy but "took 
his medicine" with remarkable equanimity. 

Colonel Irish was well eciuipped for the making of a successful 
journalist. The son of a country doctor; raised on a farm of 240 acres 
fronting on Lake Ontario, Canada; educated at the Brighton Grammar 
School and Victoria University, Cobourg, Ontario; two years clerk in 
a village store near his birthplace; one year salesman in a wholesale 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 259 

and retail store, I. N. Hatch & Co., Boston, Massachusetts; teacher of a 
country school one term in Kane county, Illinois ; one year salesman 
in charge of the carpet and rug department with Duncan & Christman, 
wholesale and retail merchants, Dubuque, Iowa; two years reading 
law in Joliet, Illinois, in the ofBce of Judge Sherman W. Bowen, attor- 
ney of the Chicago & Alton railroad ; followed by two years reading 
law clerk with Hon. Kenneth McKenzie, Q. C. (Queen's Counsel), 
Toronto, Canada ; admitted a member of the Law Society of Ontario 
at Osgood Hall, Toronto, upon examination at Hilary (February) 
term of the Courts of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas, 1868; admit- 
ted to the Illinois bar in May, 1869, by the Supreme Court upon exami- 
nation; admitted to the Kansas bar; improved two quarter sections of 
raw prairie land in Labette county, Kansas, while a partner in the 
law practice with J. S. Waters, prosecuting attorney of that county; 
secretary of the Labette City Town Company and editor for a year of 
the "Labette County Sentinel," Kansas; admitted to the Carroll county 
bar March term, 1877, practiced law at Norborne while living upon 
and cultivating his 120-acre farm half a mile out of town and editing and 
publishing the "Norborne Independent" three years, 1877-1880, when in 
October of that year he located in Rich Hill and for many years while 
attending to his other business looked after a farm of 145 acres which 
he owned adjoining the city. He was an amateur horticulturist, an 
active member of the Bates County Horticultural Societv: for years an 
active member of the State Press Association ; the organizer of the Souths 
west Missouri Press Association and in 1900 wrote the call for the 
organization of the Missouri Democratic Press Association, while spend- 
ing a few days at Warrensburg, the call being pu1)lished in the "Demo- 
crat" of that city and he attended the first meeting at Pertle Springs 
though at that time he had quit the newspaper business. Colonel Irish 
was also one of the Missouri Press Association's delegates to the National 
Press Association when it was organized at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1881 
and was a charter member thereof. For many years he was local 
reporter for the American Press Association and correspondent of sev- 
eral trade journals and occasionally of the metropolitan press, and is 
now, at the age of seventy-six years, practicing law in Kansas City, chiefly 
in equity cases and consulting counsel for the younger men of the pro- 
fession, and yet still interested in horticulture "Hooverizing," cultivat- 
ing a "back-lot" garden, raising enough fresh vegetables and small fruit 
for family use and has pears, quinces, crabapples, cherries, plums and 



26o HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

peaches from trees of his own planting quite sufficient for his family 
use the year around. One session he reported to the "Kansas City Star" 
of his picking 455 quart boxes of strawberries from a plat of ground 
25 X 30 feet, "intensive gardening" to be sure, but anyone in Bates 
county could do quite as well by proper effort. Through the kindness 
of Colonel Irish the author has had the privilege of the bound volumes 
of the "Review" for perusal, but should an attempt be made to go into 
detail regarding the business growth of this remarkable tow^n, or quote to 
any extent from the many generous "write-ups" of Rich Hill, from 
many trade journals, magazines and the metropolitan press, copied in 
the "Review" with due credit, this volume would be doubled in size. 
The city of Rich Hill was surveyed by Civil Engineer B. B. Sing- 
leton for the Rich Hill Town Company in June, 1880. The corporation 
was composed of the following: President, E. H. Brown; secretary, 
S. B. Lashbrooke; assistant secretary, J. N. Hardin; treasurer, F. J- 
Tygard ; trustees, W. H. Allen, president ; George Reif, W. L. Huylman 
and N. R. Powell. The city is located in the south-central part of the 
township, and the Missouri Pacific railway divides it nearly in the center 
running north and south; and the "Frisco" railway comes in from the 
west. The city developed rapidly and at one time had nearly 5,00C 
people. Its marvelous growth was largely the result of the great coal 
industry developed; and besides it is located in the midst of a fine 
farming and stock country. The large mining population has gone 
elsewhere and the city is more stable and prosperous now with a dimin- 
ished population than it was a few years back. Further data will be 
found in our chapter on cities and towns. 




•4 ■■-. 






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BATES COUNTY HOME. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 



INTRODUCTION — MINGO TOWNSHIP — SETTLE FORD — COVE CITY — MAYESBURG — 
GRAND RIVER TOWNSHIP — ALTONA— DEER CREEK TOWNSHIP— ADRIAN- 
CRESCENT HILL — EAST BOONE TOWNSHIP — BURDETT — PARKERVILLE — 
WEST BOONE TOWNSHIP — ROSIER— WEST POINT TOWNSHIP — WEST POINT 
VIlvLAGE — VINTON — AMSTERDAM — ELKHART TOWNSHIP — ELKHART POST- 
OFFICE — MOUND TOWNSHIP— PASSAIC— SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — CULVER. 

In this chapter we give briefly such data as seems to be of historical 
value touching the early settlement pi the several townships, beginning 
with Mingo township in the northeast corner of the county, and fol- 
lowing west and east back and forth, ending with Howard township 
in the southwest corner of the county. This seems preferable to an 
alphabetical basis, as the townships are more familiar in that order. 

Mingo Township. 

Bounded on the north by Grand river, which separates it from 
Cass county, on the east by Henry county, on the south by Spruce 
township, and on the west by Grand River township. It is not quite 
a full congressional township of thirty-six sections, all of sections 1, 
2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 lying north of Grand river in Cass county, and also 
parts of sections 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, all in township 42, range 29 west. 

The land is rich and rolling, and more or less rugged, and is 
drained by Grand river on the north, and by Cove and Peter creeks, 
with Elk Fork touching the northwest corner of the township. 

H. M. White came from Wayne county, Kentucky and settled on 
Elk Fork creek in this township in 1844, and died there in 1872. His 
son, J. M. White, was born there in 1846. Austin and Joseph Reeder 
settled between Elk Fork and Peter creeks in 1832. Alexander Earhart 
a native of W^est Virginia, opened a farm on Elk Fork in 1851, and his 
brother, Stronger, came at the same time. Among other early set- 
tlers were Robert Davis, Jefferson Lake, Morgan Settle, Nicholas Poage, 
Martin Hackler, Hamilton Burris, Joel Sparks, Jonathan Starks, Reece 



262 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Hackler, Fred Hackler, James Settle, John C. Gragg, George Earhart, 
A. M. Gragg, Stephen Williams, the Ashcrafts, Shatleys, and Chad- 
wells. 

The first mill was erected at Settle Ford by Nicholas Poage. Cove 
City, in the north-central part of the township, back in the seventies, was 
a business point, but has practically taken its place with the forgotten 
cities. Mayesburg in the southeastern part of the township was founded 
in 1878, and Mayes & Carlton, merchants, built the first house and con- 
ducted a mercantile business there for many years. L. O. Carlton was 
the first postmaster. R. D. Gerdon the first blacksmith, and Dr. M. 
Duttler the first physician. G. A. Poage and G. W. West conducted 
a drug store there in the early days. The building of the Kansas City, 
Clinton & Springfield railroad through Urich a few miles distant in Henry 
county affected the development of Mayesburg, and the establishment 
of the rural mail delivery eliminated the post office at that village. It 
is still a trading point, but little more. 

Grand River Township. 

This township lies directly west of Mingo, and is also bounded on 
the north by Grand river, which is the line at this point between Bates 
and Cass. It is a rolling prairie, broken more or less by the following 
principal streams which flow in a general northerly direction into Grand 
river: Elk Fork, Mingo and Little Deer creek. 

Among the early settlers may be mentioned Louis C. Haggard, 
Joseph Hilly, George Sears, Richard Dejarnett, John Sigler, Jake Lef- 
ler, Kimsey Coats, \\"illiam Crawford, A\ illiam Edwards, John and 
Joseph Pardee, Hiram and D. C. Edwards, Martin Ow^ens, Martin 
Owens, Jr., Crayton Owens, Sarah A\ hite, M. M. Tucker, James \\'ill- 
iams, Hardway Harrison, James and S. E. Harrison, and William France. 
Many of these names are still familiar in the township, being children 
or grandchildren of the pioneers. 

The village of Altona is situate in the south-central part, and it 
was laid out in January, 1860, by William Crawford, the owner of the 
land. A man by the name of Scoggin erected the first bu'siness house 
in the village. In 1868, Harrison and Shoube erected a grist and saw- 
mill, which was afterward removed to Cass county. In 1878, the Mis- 
sionary Baptists built a church edifice there. J. D. Wright and wife, 
George Moles and wife, August Warford and Mitchell Warford and 
family were among its early members. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 263 

Deer Creek Township. 

Deer Creek township... lies directly west of Grand River township. 
The Missouri Pacific railroad runs nearly directly through the township, 
north and south. This township is principally an undulating prairie, 
wnth very little rough or waste land, and is principally drained by 
Mormon Fork into Grand river, which forms for a short distance the 
northern boundary, and Deer creek, after which the township takes 
its name. 

Among the prominent and know^n pioneers of this township may 
be mentioned the following: Joseph J. McCraw, a native of Halifax 
county. Virginia, came from Jackson county, Missouri, and settled in 
Deer Creek township in 1849. There were eight children in the family. 
He died in 1853. Other than the McCraws in 1850 may be mentioned: 
Richard Barker. Moses Barker, Matt Hill. William Mitchell. Bhuford. 
Stephen and Alfred Haynes, Brown C. Seagraves and a Mr. Adams; 
John Moudy came in 1856; Henry and John Rogers came the same year: 
John P. AA^ells came in 1855; John Murphy came in 1856; John Blunt, 
in 1861; James Howerton, in 1855; W. S. Hughes, in 1854. Other old 
settlers, the exact date of whose coming is not known by the writer, 
are: Oliver Mitchell, Eli T. Sullins, M. C. Hiser, Emanuel Lemon, 
L. F. Kiser, L. C. Oder. Henry Hughes. Samuel Sligar, Isaiah Prebbel, 
Daniel Goodin, Jonathan Adams and Allen. Ingle. 

Adrian is situate in the extreme south-central part of Deer Creek 
township on the Missouri Pacific railroad, and is a town of such con- 
siderable importance that it should be treated separately in another part 
of this book. 

Crescent Hill was located near the center of the township, and 
before the coming of the Missouri Pacific railroad in 1880, was a thrifty 
village but the railroad did not come through the village and when Adrian 
was surveyed and platted the business formerly doiie at Crescent Hill 
naturally drifted to the new and rapidly developing town; and Crescent 
Hill may fairly be said to have taken its place among other extinct 
and almost forgotten cities. 

East Boone Township. 

This township is situate in the north tier and its northern boundary 
is the county line between Bates and Cass. The land is generally 
prairie of good quality, but high and somewhat broken up by Mormon 



264 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Fork and its tributaries. Mormon Fork runs in an easterl}^ direction 
nearly through the center of the township. There are timber and build- 
ing stone and water. 

William R. Marshall, who came from Kentuck}^ settled on Mor- 
mon Fork in an early day. Mormon Fork gets its name from the fact 
that some Mormons driven out of Jackson county in 1833 made a set- 
tlement on the creek in this township. Barton Holderman was a pioneer, 
coming from Illinois. Gaugh L. Smith, Enoch Boiling, John M. Gal- 
loway, Joseph Cook, Samuel Stewart, David Hufft, John PufTer and 
Elias Baldwin wxre early settlers. 

About the close of the Civil War population increased rapidly, 
and among others came Joseph Mudd, Isaiah Brown, Morris and James 
Roach, James and William Bagby, J. D. Masterson, Wilson Swank, 
A. D. Robbins, J. W. Hurdman, Peter Black, P. G. Lightfoot, Rich- 
ard Richardson, John Fenton and R. F. Canterbury. 

The village of Burdett is situate in the western central part of 
the township on Mormon Fork. It was founded in 1870 by Daniel 
Cauthrien and Oliver B. Heath. The first business house was built 
by Tumbleson & Shorb. The first postmaster was F. M. Tumbleson. 
A mill was erected the year the town was laid out, but destroyed by 
fire in 1874. This first mill was built by A. D. Basore, and a second 
one by Lewis Adams, which was moved to Archie, Cass county, in 
1881. Burdett is a community center and considerable business is still 
carried on, but it is an inland village. 

Parkerville was one of the oldest towns in Bates county founded in 
June, 1857, by Wiley Parker, after whom it took its name. It was situ- 
ated about one and a half miles directly south of where Burdett stands, 
but not a vestige remains to mark its grave. It is totally extinct yet 
history records the facts that John Frazier was the proprietor of a gro- 
cery store in its early and ambitious days; that John T. Peck was a 
pioneer; that Wilson & Feely were merchants, and Doctor Thomas 
F. Atherton was the first physician, and W. H. Atherton the first black- 
smith. "The town was destroyed during the war of 1861" but it is 
not recorded how. There is absolutely nothing left to tell of its life or 
death. 

West Boone Township. 

West Boone is the northwest township of the county. It is gen- 
erally a high, rolling prairie, little broken by streams, and is practically 
the watershed of both the Mormon Fork and Miami creeks; the one 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 265 

running northeasterly into Grand river, and the other southeasterly into 
the Marais des Cygnes river. It is distinguished for being the highest 
elevation in Bates county, about 1,000 feet above sea level, or about 
400 feet higher than the lowest levels in the county. 

The first settlers in this township were Alexander, Wilson and 
Norris Feely, brothers, the former two coming in 1842 and Norris ni 
1849. It is recorded that "Alexander Feely served in 1861 as one of 
the county court judges, his associates being Edmund Bartlette and 
Samuel M. Pyle. He died August 27, 1877." Frank R. Berry, a Ken- 
tuckian, came from Jackson county, Missouri, and settled on the head 
waters of Mormon Fork creek in an early day, and soon after a rela- 
tive by the name of.T. E. Strode came and settled near by. Then 
came Joseph Clyner, Joseph and J. P. Taylor, all early settlers, but the 
exact date is not known. Soon after the close of the Civil War, John 
S. Stewart, James A. Stewart. Jacob and William Groves, G. L. Sayles, 
J. N. White, A. Rosier, J. H. Boswell, R. M. Feely, W. B. Akin. Jesse 
Nave, John Riley, Luke Gage, O. W. Stitt, J. C. Berry, and George 
Karter, came and settled in this township. 

The only mill erected in the township was erected at the village 
of Rosier, now extinct, in the older days. Rosier was founded in 1881. 
and Bryant Brothers & McDaniel conducted a general merchandise 
store, and L. R. Robinson established a drug store about the same 

time. 

West Point Township. 

This township joins the state of Kansas on the west, and like West 
Boone, is one of the border tier of townships. It lies directly south 
of W^est Boone, north of Hgmer, and west of Elkhart townships. It 
is a part of the most elevated portion of Bates county; an undulating 
prairie, cut by many streams of fine water, among which the principal 
are the Miami. Mulberry, Plum and Willow branches. 

West Point is among the oldest settled parts of the county. Israel 
Brown was one of the earliest settlers, and he sold his farm to Vincent 
Johnson, a Kentuckian. in 1851. Covington Cooper was an early-day 
settler and died there in 1851. Coming in the late forties, were Benja- 
min Sharp. Henry Schuster, who later settled near Double Branches, in 
south Bates; John Green was an old settler who died during the Civil 
War; then, entitled to a place in the list, there were William Scott, 
Edgar C. Kirkpatrick. William Lamar, Jackson Clark, Nathan and 
Thomas Sears, James McHenry, J. E. Mooney, Samuel and James Forbes, 



26C> HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Emberson Keaton, George Walley, William and Wiley Reed and Will- 
iam Adams.- 

The village of West Point is now extinct, with scarcely a land mark 
to indicate where this western post of civilization once stood, while 
the traffic of the savage and the adventurous pioneer poured through 
its marts and made its streets hum with real trade and commerce. 
Back in the fifties, it had a population of about 700 people, and it was 
the center of a large and growing trade. It was the last "outfitting" 
place after West Port Landing on the Missouri river and hither came 
.that numerous line of adventurers and settlers going south and west 
into the Territory of Kansas. It was located on one of the highest 
points in the township, if not, in fact, the highest elevation in Bates 
county, and the vast view in every direction was unobstructed, limited 
only by the horizon. The point is about 1.000 feet above sea level, 
and overlooks a beautiful country in all directions. 

It was situate less than a mile from the Kansas line in the extreme 
northwest corner of the township. The land on which it was located 
was entered by Thomas B. Arnett and Sydney Adams and the con- 
veyance of the first lot was signed by Arnett and his wife in 1850. 
Arnett was the first clerk of Cass county. Adams sold out to Arnett 
prior to the sale of lots. J. A. Fox was among the first purchasers. 
West Point was the commercial and trading capital of a wide terri- 
tory. Harrisonville and Papinsville were its closest and only rivals. 
It was on the Texas cattle trail. The Kansas Indian tribes visited 
it and traded there. Among its early merchants and business men 
may be mentionel Curd & Barrett, druggists; a dry goods merchant; 
Judge Alexander Feely; William Scott; James McHenry; Chil. Love- 
lace; Thos. Sears and Dr. T. J. B. Rockwell, who were all in business 
some years before the war broke out. William and Joseph Potts, and 
Slater & Stribbens were blacksmiths. John Martin ran a saloon, then 
called a grocery. William R. Simpson and John Roundtree were also 
business men. Henry Schuster erected a mill to grind corn only and 
ran it by ox-power on an inclined plane, or a "tread mill." John Green 
also had a mill at an early day. Wyatt Sanford was postmaster in 
1856, and afterward James McHenry and Irvine Walley. The first 
hotel was kept by Mr. Hedges, who later sold to Judge Alexander 
Feely. 

This hotel was a two-story frame, and was the largest hotel in all 
the western country, having no less than forty rooms; which fact 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 267 

indicates somewhat the great travel and business of the town. Besides, 
there were three other hotels, and sixteen business- houses. 

General Clark came to West Point in the fall of 1856, during the 
border troubles betw^een the pro-slavery and anti-slavery men, with 
about five hundred men, and remained in town about ten days. Dur- 
ing the war the town was burned and scarcely a stone was left to 
tell where it had been. After the war a small business house and a 
postofftce were established there and with a few scattered residences 
the village had a precarious existence until the Kansas City Southern 
railroad crept stealthily by under the hill to the east, and the new 
town of Amsterdam was established a couple of miles south. Then 
the historic town of West Point gave up the ghost, and only debris 
remain to speak its former glory. It is a pitiful story, but one not 
uncommon in this western country. But here was really the westernmost 
post of civilization for a number of years, and if the real history of men 
and women who resided there in the fifties, were known it would 
doubtless be one of tragedy and sorrow. And they had a big school 
and a weekly newspaper. 

The village of Vinton was founded in 1867, in the eastern part of 
the township by a Mr. Swink, who built a corn-grinding mill there 
which was run by steam. Swink sold it to William Morrison in 1872 
and he took the mill to Sugar Creek, Kansas. A. J. Christler- established 
a mercantile business there. Then followed Felix Cox, and later J. P. 
Willis. The first postmaster was A. J. Christler and the first black- 
smith was Thomas Hackett. The village now is only a memory but 
it doubtless had its aspirations. 

The town of Amsterdam was laid out by John L. Rankin. September 
30, 1891, in the western central part of the township, on the Kansas 
City & Southern railroad, and is one of the leading business points on that 
railroad in Bates county. It has a bank, a newspaper, and all the indus- 
tries and commercial establishments to be found in towns of its class. 
It has been rebuilt since a disastrous fire about a year ago. It is a 
prosperous village. 

Elkhart Township. 

Elkhart lies east of West Point and may be said to be an interior 
township. It is watered by the Miami, Knabb's creek, and Lime-branch, 
tributaries of the Miami. 

Elkhart had few settlers prior to the war, and remained very 
sparsely settled until about 1866. It is more nearly level than any 



268 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

township in the county, and is little broken. Among those who are 
recalled as pioneers we mention Jesse Lovelace, Vinson Martin, Elias 
Barnett, Robert Clinging, Torraine Browning, John Ferguson, Rich- 
ard Westover, A. J. Satterlee, Hugh Mills, Robert Evans, John Baker, 
and his sons, Griswold and James, and a man by the name of Montgom- 
ery who settled on the Raybourn place. Among the first permanent 
settlers were the Keatons. Wiles Keaton, of North Carolina, is said 
to have settled in what is now Elkhart in 1845, and Mrs. Keaton died 
there in 1847, leaving a numerous famil}^ some descendants still resid- 
ing in that vicinity. 

After the war and between 1866 and 1869, the following located in 
different parts of the township: F. A. Cox, P. A. Allen, I. N. Ray- 
bourn, Frank Evans, F. M. Neafus, Chas. Lee, W. B. Whetstone, Will- 
iam Tarr, Thadius Cowdry, John Nuble, and George Pubels. The first 
saw-mill was built by Merrit Zinn & Co. about 1870. 

W^iat is known as Elkhart Postoffice, is about the center of the 
township, and is the community center of the township. 

Mound Township. 

Mound lies directly east of Elkhart, south of Deer Creek, north 
of Mt. Pleasant and west of Shawnee, township 41, range 31. 

It is a typical prairie country, undulating, and not much broken. 
Bones creek in the southwest portion, an affiuent of the Miami, is the 
only stream worth mentioning, but the township is abundantly watered 
by wells, ponds, and small streams. 

Being practically a woodless prairie in the early days, settlement 
was slow. It was pre-eminently a cattle and grazing territory. His- 
tory records the fact that Boston H. Bowman and family settled on 
Bones creek in the south part of the township in 1855, and remained 
there till he died. He reared a family and left a widow who told 
the historian that when water was not plentiful in Bones creek, they 
often had to go to Balltown, then on the Little Osage in Vernon county 
to mill, and wait a long time for their grist. She recollected that at 
one time it took a w^eek for her husband to go to mill and return. The 
family went to Illinois the latter part of the war, but returned to 
their home in Mound afterward, and he died in 1868. 

Passaic was laid out July 14, 1891, by Chas. S. Conklin, situate 
on the Missouri Pacific railway, about half way between Butler and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 269 

Adrian. It is a good shipping point. It has a store, elevator and hotel, 
and it is the community center of south-central Mound township. 

Shawnee Township, 

Shawnee lies east of Mound. It is almost wholly a rich prairie, 
broken by no considerable streams. It is drained by Elk Fork and 
Little Deer creeks, which run north to Grand river, and Mound branch, 
which runs south to the Miami. There was little or no timl^er in the 
early days and like Mound, Shawnee was regarded as grazing land. 

The story of the early settlers of Shawnee is shrouded in doubt 
and uncertainty as to date and the permanent settlers, but it appears 
that about 1828 a hunter named Raupe from Lexington had occasion 
to be on Mound, and seven Indians captured him, and after robbing 
him of his gun and equipment, set him free. Then it appears that a 
Mr. Evans was on top of the same mound in the fall of 1835, counting 
the deer within his vision, and viewing the beautiful landscape in all 
directions from that favorable elevation. It is claimed that he came 
to what is now Shawnee in 1832 or 1833 and took up a claim. Will- 
iam Charles settled on Elk Fork in 1837. A man named John Wes- 
chusen, directly from Germany, came and settled on the headwaters of 
Elk Fork. There are others mentioned in a general way, but nearly 
all, after a year or two, w^ent elsewhere. Along in the forties James 
B. Sears, a native of Kentucky, came and settled. The historian alleges 
that the first apple orchard planted in Shawnee was planted by Elisha 
Evans, and that he raised the first wheat crop in that township, "and 
possibly the first crop in the county, outside of the Harmony Mission 
settlement." Upon these meager data and unsatisfactory details hangs 
the claim that the second settlement in the county was in Shawnee town- 
ship, the first being Harmony Mission in Prairie township in 1821. 

Culver has one store, and is a community center and trading point. 
It is located in section 25. or near the southeast corner of the town- 
ship. 



CHAPTER XX. 



TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES— CONTINUED. 



SPRUCE TOWNSHIP — JOHNSTOWN — BALLARD POSTOFFICE — DEEPWATER TOWN- 
SHIP — SPRUCE VILLAGE — SUMMIT TOWNSHIP — MT. PLEASANT TOWNSHIP — 
BUTLER — CHARLOTTE TOWNSHIP — VIRGINIA POSTOFFICE — HOMER TOWN- 
SHIP— MULBERRY— AMORET— WALNUT TOWNSHIP— MARVEL— LOUISVILLE- 
WALNUT POSTOFFICE — WORLAND — FOSTER. 

Spruce Township. 

Spruce lies east of Shawnee, and its eastern hne is the county hue 
between Bates and Henry. The lands are rolling, but it is one of the 
richest corn-producing townships in the county. There is abundant tim- 
ber. It is drained by Peter and Cove creeks, flowing north, and Stew- 
art's creek, flowing southeast, and its tributaries. 

James Stewart was the first settler in 1832. He located where 
Johnstown now is, and Stewart's creek took its name from him. He 
was a blacksmith, came from Lafayette county, remained a few years 
and then went to Johnson county. John Pyle came from Kentucky 
in 1834. He bought the Stewart claim, had the usual pioneer expe- 
riences, remained eight years, and died in 1842. while his neighbors 
were still few and far between. Samuel Pyle, a brother, came to Spruce 
on his bridal tour in a one-horse wagon in 1836. He was a Union man 
and lived in Butler the forepart of the war and was the last to leave 
in obedience to Order No. 11, and looking back, he could see the smoke 
of their burning home when five miles away. James McCool and wife 
came from Ohio, had sickness on the road in Illinois, they sold their 
team and came to Boonville by water, thence to Bates county in a 
hired wagon. They settled one mile north of Johnstown. This was in 
1840. \Adien the war came on he and his sons, except Peter V., adhered 
to the Union. The family moved over into Henry county under Order 
No. 11 and Mr. McCool died there in 1865. Mrs. McCool and her chil- 
dren returned to Spruce township and they lived in and around Johns- 
town many years. 

The first store in Johnstown was established bv Jim and Dan 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



271 



Johnson in 1845. They were followed by Dick McClure and John Har- 
bert & Son. John Hull was the first blacksmith. Harmony Mission, 
West Point, Harrisonville and Clinton were the nearest towns. The 
first postoffice was in 1848 or 1849. Prior to that time the Spruce 
settlers got their mail in Deepwater, Henry county. Johnstown was 
an important business center before the war, and had five stores, two 
saloons, three blacksmith shops, a good mill, a cabinet shop, shoe and 
harness shops. It is said to have enjoyed a larger volume of business 
than any other town in this section prior to the Civil War. Among 
those who dwelt in Johnstown and in that vicinity before that date 
may be mentioned William B. and Nicholas Page, who came in 1842; 
then George Cooper, Nicholas Payne, R. L., B. J., and D. B. Pettus, 
and George Ludwick, but the date of their settlement is not known, 
except that George Ludwick, wife and two of her brothers, Henry and 
Jacob Lutsenhizer, arrived overland from Boonville, after a river trip 
from Licking county, Ohio, in October, 1839, at the home of William 
Lutsenhizer, who had arrived s,ome time before and settled on the 
farm now owned and occupied by Hon. John B. Newberry. John E. 
Morgan and A. M. Odneal were among the pioneers. In obedience 
to Order No. 11, all the people left Bates county, and most of those 
in and near Johnstown went to Henry or Pettis county. It does not 
appear that any great depredations occurred in their absence in that 
vicinity and after the war they generally returned to their homes and 
business; but Johnstown never regained its thrift and importance; and 
it is now a small inland town, a scattering village, with little to indi-' 
cate its former greatness. 

Ballard Postoffice is located in the northwest corner of section 16, 
and is a community center for that part of the township. It has one 
or two stores. 

Deepwater Township, 

Deepwater township is much broken by Deepwater creek and its 
tributaries, and hence it has considerable rough, timbered land ; but the 
soil is generally good, and corn, grass and the cereals flourish. 

It is not known, at least it is not written, when the first settler 
made his home in this township, but Hiram Snodgrass came into and 
settled in Deepwater township, south side of Deepv/ater creek, near 
Henry county line, in section 24, in 1839. He died there in 1881. The 
land had just been sectionized and he entered 300 acres. Others who 
lived there as early as 1839 were C. Schmedting, two Morrisses, Means, 



272 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Arbuckle, Moore, Ballow, and Beatty. Isaac, a son of Hiram Snod- 
grass, married Susan B. Myers, a daughter of Judge John D. Myers, 
in 1853. 

Samuel Scott settled on the north side of Deepwater creek in 1834, 
and was appointed sheriff of the new county of Vernon when it was 
established in 1852, but the organization of Vernon county being after- 
ward declared invalid, he lost his ofifice. He went to Linn county, Kan- 
sas, in 1854, was elected by the pro-slavery party to the Territorial 
Legislature, and was killed by a band of guerillas in 1859. Others who 
came between 1834 and 1845 may be mentioned: Oliver and George 
Drake, James Cummins, Peyton Gutridge, Rev. Milton Morris, James 
Morris, Sam and Matt Arbuckle, and Mrs. Elizabeth McGowen. 

The list of those who came and settled prior to the war is too 
long for the purpose of this chapter, but it includes such distinguished 
citizens as Ex-State Senator John B. Newberry, and Ex-Sheriff and 
Recorder James M. Simpson, many of whom will be adequately men- 
tioned elsewhere in this book. 

Jacob Lutsenhizer was the pioneer miller and erected his mill 
which ground corn only, on Straight branch in 1841. There is no record 
of how it was operated or how long it existed, except a statement that 
Oliver Drake began the erection of a niill on the same spot in 1854, 
but died without completing it. 

The village of Spruce is located near the center of the township 
on section 16, has two stores, a blacksmith shop, two church edifices and 
an Odd Fellows' hall, and two rural mail routes. It is the business center 
of the township, and a prosperous village. 

Summit Township, 

This township is well watered by Mound branch and Deepwater 
creek and their tributaries. The land is rolling, dark and fertile — one 
of the best corn townships in the county. 

Reuben Herrell settled in Summit in 1842. On his arrival he had 
only two neighbors in the township, John McClain and Major Glass, 
who settled there in 1840. Nathan Horn settled in the western part 
in an early day. Arthur and Madison Canady and their father came in 
1861. John Walker was an early settler. He was a member of the 
Missouri General Assembly. Abram P. Wilson, A. Brixner, G. W. 
Cassity, James L. Kirtley, C. T. Hokanson and A. Black may fairly be 
classed as pioneer settlers of Summit but the dates of their settlement 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 273 

have not been recorded by history. There is no village in this town- 
ship. 

Mt. Pleasant Township. 

Mt. Pleasant is the center tow^nship of the county and is bounded 
on the north by Mound, on the west by Charlotte, on the south by Lone 
Oak and New Home, and on the east by Summit — it is township 40, 
range 31 west. It is largely prairie, broken more or less by the Miami 
and Mound branches and their tributaries. Some rock and timber. The 
soil is good mulatto prairie, with rich bottoms along the larger streams. 
Generally speaking it is a beautiful undulating prairie country. 

We gather from an old history of Bates county that all the fol- 
lowing were early settlers and made their settlements prior to 1861 : 
George W. and Alexander Patterson, William Hurt in 1858, George 
W. Pierce, Alfred Miller, Jacob D. and Joel B. Wright, Henry Mills, 
Lewis Dixon, in 1861, several families of the Robinsons, Ham Case, 
Nathaniel and D. Porter, Reverend Phoenix of the Christian church, 
John Morris, in 1843, Dr. Giles B. Davis in 1843, Thomas and William 
McCord sometime prior to 1843, Wilds, a Mormon, settled on section 19 
in 1838. 

Butler is the county seat, and is about the center of the township, 
and near the center of the county. Its location is sightly and well 
drained, and sanitary conditions by nature are good. Mound branch, 
a short distance east, is the only considerable stream near it. 

For further data about Butler, her people and business, see chap- 
ter on Butler. 

Charlotte Township. 

Charlotte is z rolling prairie land, fertile and productive. It is 
watered and drained principally by the Miami and Pecan branches of 
the Marais des Cygnes river, which for a short distance in the south- 
east corner of the township, form the township line. 

Samuel Dobbins settled in northeast Charlotte prior to 1843. James 
Ramey settled on section 24, in 1840. James Browning settled near 
Ramey about the same date. James McCool settled in the northeast 
portion at the time he was one of the county seat commissioners for 
Bates county. He moved to Texas in 1861. Clark Vermillion settled 
on section 10 before the war. William Conley, Oliver Elswick, Samuel 

(i8) 



274 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Martin, J. C. Toothman, J. B. Moody, Samuel Park, Hamilton Case, 
Joseph Caze, and M. A. Morris were all early settlers some time prior 
to the Civil War, but the dates of their settlement have not been 
handed down. 

Virginia became a trading point upon the establishment of a post- 
office there in 1871, and hence it has always been known as the Virginia 
Postoffice. Thomas Steaver was the first postmaster, and his office was 
a half mile east of the present village store or center. James Orear 
built and started the first store in 1874, and was postmaster. In 1875, 
S. P. Nestlerode purchased the stock and became postmaster. In 1877, 
Arbogart & Armstrong became the merchants and in 1879 H. H. 
Fleisher opened a drug store. About the same date Roberts & Presley 
bought out Arbogart & Armstrong and soon moved the stock of goods 
away. Fleisher became postmaster. James S. Pierce was his partner 
at this time. In February, 1882, Pierce sold out to W. N. Hardinger. 
February, 1879, J. W. Manahan opened a stock of furniture and in 1880 
sold out to B. F. Jenkins, who added hardware. He sold in 1881 to 
Drysdale & Son; and the same year Fleisher & Pierce sold their drug 
stock to Williams & Drysdale. For a number of years Judge John 
McFadden ran the only general store, and the days of its business 
and mercantile importance, at this time, seem to have departed. It is 
a community center and the center of a fine rural district. Good 
roads and automobiles have ruined it as a natural trading point. A 
number of the early settlers in and about the village were Virginians 
and hence its name. 

Homer Township. 

Homer is bounded on the west by the state of Kansas. It is an 
undulating prairie country, of fair up-land, and rich bottoms, along 
Mulberry creek and the Marais des Cygnes river. It is well watered 
and has abundant timber and coal. 

Among the pioneers of Homer in the ante-bellum days may be 
mentioned Jeremiah and Thomas Jackson, and another Thomas Jack- 
son, called "Yankee Jackson" to distinguish him, H. B. Frances, Thomas 
Francis, William Braden, Pierce Hackett, J. M. Rogers, Bluford Merch- 
ant, Chesley Hart, and D. R. Braden. The Francis brothers were 
from Illinois, the Bradens from Ohio and Hackett from England. 
Among others who came near the close of the war, and wdio helped 
shape the progress of the township were, Robert Leech, Judge Lyman 
Hall, James W. ancl J. T. Whinnery, R. M. Brown, Dr. J. M. and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 275 

Hugh Gailey, Jeremiah Rankin, Wilham and Judge D. V. Brown, James 
Pilgrim, William Rodgers, David Braden, and Judge John A. Lefker, 
who erected a saw mill on the Marais des Cygnes river in 1870, at 
what is now known as Hawkins' Ferry, and in 1875 he made it a 
grist-mill as well. 

About the year 1867 the government established a postoffice at 
Mulberry, on Mulberry creek, at the home of Robert Leech, and soon 
became and continued for some years to be, quite a trading post, 
store, blacksmith shop, school, etc., but as to the village it may now 
be said to have taken its place among other promising villages and 
towns of the early days, which are now .extinct. 

Amoret is situate on the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad, 
and was laid out in 1890 by the Missouri Coal & Construction Com- 
pany. It has a bank, several stores, other shops, an elevator and 
warehouses. It is just one mile from the state line in the south-central 
part of the township. The great Darby orchard of 800 acres comes right 
up to the city limits and the fruit industry affords employment for 
many laborers. It ranks among the best business towns on what is 
called the Kansas City Southern railroad in this county. 

Walnut Township. 

Walnut is a border township, with Kansas on its west. Homer and 
Charlotte townships on the north, New Home on the east and Howard 
on the south. 

With the Marais des Cygnes river forming the division line most 
of the distance between it and the two townships to the north. Wal- 
nut has much valuable timber and large rich bottom lands. The land 
not timbered is rolling prairie and splendid agricultural land. Mine 
creek comes out of Kansas and waters the extreme northwest part, 
and Walnut creek enters the township in the southwestern corner and 
flows in a northeasterly direction entirely through the township and 
enters the Marais des Cygnes river in the northwest part, of New Home; 
with its tributary streams it waters and drains almost the whole town- 
ship. The township and creek derive their names from the enormous 
black walnut trees that grew in the bottoms and valleys. In 1880, 
before there was any railroad in Bates county, except the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas at Rockville, D. W. Laughlin, an old citizen of Walnut 
township, sold six great walnut trees for fifty dollars each to be cut 
and floated down Walnut creek, thence down the river to the Osage, 



276 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

thence to the Missouri river. Our informant says he counted 384 
annular rings on one of the stumps, which would make the tree sprout 
in A. D. 1496, or just after Columbus discovered America. A Mr. 
Cox, on Walnut creek, made a record in the early days by splitting 
1,250 ten-foot rails out of the big walnut trees. There were numerous 
fords across the river: the government ford and ferry in section 33; 
Gritton ford, north of where Foster now is; Whitewash ford across 
Walnut in the center of section 11. The Government road from Lex- 
ington. Missouri, crossed here on its way to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Goods 
were brought up the Missouri river to Lexington and then freighted 
along this road to supply the country which could not be reached from 
the White river in Arkansas. Marvel bridge was the first bridge built 
across the river, in 1879, in section 1. Since then a number of sub- 
stantial bridges have been built across the main streams and the river 
in the township. Abundant coal exists in this township, and coal mining 
is one of the chief industries. 

One of the earliest settlers was Hon. John McHenry. He was 
a Kentuckian and a Democrat. He came to Missouri in 1840, and was 
elected the first representative to the General Assembly in 1842. A 
year later, November 15, 1841, his son, James McHenry, came to 
Walnut township. James Goodrich, a nephew of the elder McHenry, 
came about the same date, but went to California in 1844. William 
Cooper came from Pettis county in 1840. One of the pioneers of the 
county was Lewis Gilliland, who settled in \\'alnut some time prior 
to 1840. He went, with others, to California in 1850. Mark West, 
the father of Gentry, was an early settler, and died in 1851. Thomas 
Woodfin and his sons came from North Carolina to Johnson county, 
Missouri, and thence to Bates in 1839 and 1840. Shelton and Gilliland 
were the only settlers who preceded the Woodfins. Cooper, McCall 
and Hedges catiie soon afterward. Judge Edward Bartlett came to 
Walnut township in 1844. Under Order No. 11, Bartlett went to Kan- 
sas but returned in 1866. 

Marvel was first located on the Marais des Cygnes river in section 
1, but was moved to section 2, and later abandoned or discontinued. 
The first postmaster was in 1846. A small stock of goods was opened 
at Marvel in 1868 at the residence of James Campbell by Kincaid & 
Park. The first store in the township was established in section 1. by 
a Mr. Jewell before the Civil War. James McDaniel also sold goods 
before the war at a little place called Louisville in section 5, near the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 277 

mouth of Mine creek. Both Marvel and Louisville belong in 
the extinct village class. 

. Walnut Postoffice, located on section 16, came into existence in 1872. 
Berry kept a drug store there in 1879. Lee Peak sold dry goods in 
1878. A. H. Lloyd and John Craig were the blacksmiths and Dr. 
Splawn the physician. When Foster, or W'alnut, grew up in a night, 
just two miles away, \\'alnut Postoffice went out and took its place 
in the extinct class. 

Worland was laid out September 4, 1888, by Arch L. Sims and 
James M. Tucker, and took its name from Harry W^orland, a druggist, 
who did a flourishing business there. It has at this time, about 100 
population, and is situate about a mile from the Kansas-Missouri state 
line in section 7, on the St. Louis & Eastern railroad, often called 
the Madison branch of the Missouri Pacific railway and near the cross- 
ing of the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf railroad. 

Foster was born in 1884. It was a typical western boom town, 
and within a few months had a population of 2,000 people, and was a 
hustling driving place. It went up like a rocket and came down like 
a stick. We cannot go into its wonderful history at this place, designed 
for mere mention of the upstanding facts of each township. The Wal- 
nut Land & Coal Company, with a million dollars capital, was indirectly 
behind the boom, and the town was first called Walnut, but when the 
people asked for a postoffice they had to change the name, as there 
was already a postoffice of W^alnut about two miles away. In due time, 
the town — it was really a small city by this time — was re-christened 
Foster, after Governor Foster, then everywhere known as "Calico Char- 
ley" of Ohio who was secretary of the W^alnut Land & Coal Company. 
Two years after it was founded what is now known as the Inter-State, 
or Madison branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad, was builded to and 
through the town. After a sensational and precarious career it soon 
settled down into the village class and its glory departed. At this 
time it has a population of about 400, has a bank, lumber yard, depot, 
express office, two blacksmith shops, and seven stores, and does a healthy 
country business, the surrounding territory being a fine grain and stock 
growing country. Much coal has been mined all about the town, and 
the vast coal deposits yet await the call of labor and capital. The 
town of Walnut (Foster) was laid out by E. A. Henry as trustee for 
Thomas M. Nichols, Phil L. Spooner, Jr., Charles Foster, Amos Town- 
send, J. Warren Kiefer, Warner Miller, B. J. Waters, J. L. Pace, and 
John Scullin, on July 3, 1883. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES— CONTINUED. 



NEW HOME TOWNSHIP — NEW HOME VILLAGE — SHOBETOWN AND RIVELY — 
CORNLAND— LONE OAK TOWNSHIP — PERU AND ATHOL— PLEASANT GAP 
TOWNSHIP— PLEASANT GAP VILLAGE— STUMPTOWN — HUDSON TOWNSHIP- 
HUDSON— LAHIA—ROCKVILLE TOWNSHIP— ROCKVILLE TOWN— PRAIRIE 
TOWNSHIP— HARMONY MISSION — PAPINSVILLE — PRAIRIE CITY— OSAGE 

TOW^NSHIP- HOWARD TOWNSHIP— SPRAGUE — HUME 

New Home Township. 

The Marais des Cygnes river finds its tortuous way entirely through 
this township in a general southeasterly direction. Its bottoms are 
wide, rich and largely covered with valuable timber — oak, hickory, pecan, 
elm, sycamore, cottonwood, etc. The only tributaries worth mention- 
ing are Burnett's branch, Island slough, and Cottonwood branch. For- 
merly there were numerovis lakes in the bottoms, but many have been 
drained and are no more. 

Mark West appears to be the oldest settler. He came in 1834, and 
bought a claim in section 6, from Daniel Woodfin. Mrs. West was a 
daughter of Col. James Atten. who came to Harmony Mission in 1834. 
She died in 1842 while struggling with her husband to establish a pio- 
neer home in an unsettled country. Mrs. Charlotte Miller was among 
the pioneers, settling in New Home in 1841. Jackson ^^^all came into 
this township some time prior to 1843, and located near the center of 
the township on a high mound, and died there in 1849 or 1850. George 
W. Turner, of Virginia, came in 1843, and died before 1860. Jere- 
miah Burnett came in 1849. Daniel settled here before 1843. went 
west to California in 1849, ?.nd died there. Lewis and Levi Deweese 
came from North Carolina and settled in the township about 1841. 
The brothers both died and their widows returned to North Carolina. 
James Poag opened a claim prior to 1843 and O. H. P. Miller and Will- 
iam Powers were early settlers. 

A man named Haymaker built a mill — saw and grist — on the Marais 
des Cygnes river about 1870, in section 6. It washed away in 1880 
and nothing is left to mark the spot. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 279 

The village of New Home was founded in 1869, on the southwest 
quarter of section 20, township 39, range 32. Colonel, afterward Judge, 
Samuel F. Hawkins owned the town site, and built the first house in 
the town in 1870. J. E. Thomas built the first business house in the 
town in 1870. Hiram Slater was the blacksmith. Dr. P. E. Calmes 
was the first doctor. Dr. R. F. Hulett, now living at Galena, Mis- 
souri, came and opened an ofitice in 1875. Edmond Cope was the first 
postmaster in 1873. Other merchants were Morlan Brothers, Fisher 
& Givens, and Fisher & Thomas. 

Shobetown and Rively, once active mining towns, have passed 
away and are now enjoying the obscurity of all extinct villages. 

Cornland, once an important trading point, on the Marais des 
Cygnes at the iron bridge on the road to Rich Hill, has ceased to be 
of commercial importance since Athol, a short distance away, became 
a stopping place for trains on the Missouri Pacific railroad. 

Lone Oak Township. 

Lone Oak township is irregular in shape and is bounded by its 
sister townships as follows: On the north by Summit and Mt. Pleas- 
ant, on the west by New Home, on the south by the Marais des Cygnes 
river and on the east by Prairie and Pleasant Gap. 

Lone Oak has abundant water and timber, and a variety of soil 
from low bottoms to blufTs, from bluffs to high prairie land, all good 
grass, grain and stock lands. The principal tributaries of the Marais 
des Cygnes in this township are Miami, Mound branch. Double Branches 
creek and Willow creek, with smaller streams tributary to these. For- 
merly some large lakes were along the river, but with the recent drainage 
projects they are nearly all dry land now. 

Among the pioneer settlers of Lone Oak was Dr. William C. Requa, 
who bought out a Mormon fugitive from Jackson by the name of Daniel 
Francis, in 1837, just before that part of the county had been surveyed 
and sectionized by the government and he continued to reside there with 
his family until he died, about 1886 at the ripe age of ninety-one. The 
story of Doctor Requa will be found elsewhere in this book. William 
R. Thomas located in section 11, township 39, range 31, in 1844, and 
died there. Abraham Towner and Daniel Francis, Mormons, who had 
been driven out of Jackson county, came in 1835. Francis died here 
before the Civil War and Towner moved to California some time in 
the fifties. Philip Stanford lived north of Doctor Requa. He went to 



280 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Texas. George Requa settled in the township in 1834. He was one 
of the Union missionaries in 1820. He died here before 1860. He' left the 
following children and his widow: William, Austin, James, George, 
Cyrus J., Martha ]., and Lucy E., several of whom, and possibly all, 
are now dead. James H. Requa opened a farm in 1840, and he was 
probably the first school teacher in the township. 

Enoch Humphreys, A. G. Ellidge, Lindsey Wine, John H. Thomas, 
Joseph Jones, John and C. Columbus Blankenbaker, John O. Starr and 
John Daniel were all pioneers and good men and farmers. 

The first apple orchard in the township was set out by Dr. W. C. 
Requa and it was probably the first one in the county after the one set 
by the missionaries at Harmony, a few miles south of Prairie township. 

W. R. Thomas erected a windmill in 1856 which ground corn and 
wheat. He operated it until the war came on and it was destroyed. 

Lone Oak has never had a town or village, but Peru is the com- 
munity center of the township. Athol is a railroad coal station, and 
while several families and a club house are near the stopping— not a 
station — of the trains, it has never been laid out into lots or become 
a village. 

Pleasant Gap Township. 

The topography of Pleasant Gap township is broken, mostly what 
is called locally, high prairie ; but it is good agricultural land. It is 
watered principally by Double Branches and A\'illow creeks. Some 
timber is along the creeks. 

History has written that those who settled in this township prior 
to 1839 were: the Osbornes, a large family from Illinois; two families 
of Requas in the southwest ; Daniel Francis and two sons-in-law, 
Arthur and Constable; and Abram Towner, these latter being refugees 
from Mormon settlements in Jackson county, Missouri. Two families 
named Harris and Collins lived near the center of the township. Jimmy 
Ridge, the Walker family, and a family named Beatty. AVilliam Harvey 
came in 1842 from Texas and left for California in 1849. \\'illiam Hagan 
located two miles north of the village of Pleasant Gap and went to 
California in '49. His brother who came at the same time, and at one 
time county surveyor, left for California in 1852. Joseph ^Vix located, 
where his son now lives, in 1843. James Cockrell came some time prior 
to 1843, also James Cockrell. Jr. and also Larkin Cockrell and James, 
Jr. All went to California in '49. Henry Beaver came from Kentucky 
and w^ent with the others, William Deweese and his sons, Jesse, Evan 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 28 1 

and Eliph, came from Illinois in 1844. Evan was killed in the battle of 
Lone Jack. 

For further mention of Joseph Wix see chapter on Biographies. 
Among other old settlers entitled to mention were : Dr. John H. and 
R. W. McNeil from New York, Peter Trimble, Horace Milton, Cor- 
nelius Nafus, S. S. Burch, George M. Requa, John Dillon, W. H. Pitts, 
J. M. Rogers, William Campbell, Jesse Rinehart, W. B. Young, John 
Haskins, Philip Standford, James Coe, W. L. Campbell, and John Sis- 
son. The old settlers were generally from Kentucky, Virginia and 
Tennessee. 

The first postoffice in the east part of the county was established 
in 1840, near where Pleasant Gap village now is and an old man named 
Anderson Cockrell was the first postmaster. A mail route was estab- 
lished from Boonville, Clinton, Pleasant Gap to Balltown, on the Little 
Osage river near where Horton now is. 

The first store in Pleasant Gap village was opened by Joseph Smith 
about 1850. It became quite a business center before the war, and 
when the county was re-organized after the war Pleasant Gap was the 
temporary seat of government until it was finally moved to Butler. 
Pleasant Gap continued to be a good business point for many years 
and is still a community center. 

Stumptown. formerly called Lone Oak Postoffice, was established 
in 1854 in the central western part of the township near the confluence 
of the north and south branches of Double Branches creek. W. B. 
Young was the father of this village and opened the first business house 
in 1854. History records that he carried a stock of general merchan- 
dise, the predominating articles, however, being tobacco and whiskey ; 
the latter being almost universally used as the matutinal drink of the 
old pioneer. Young was noted for his bonhomie and was the recognized 
fiddler of that vicinity. In addition to being the life of every rural 
gathering, day or night, he was the sole editor and proprietor of the 
"Stumptown Clipper," which appeared at regular intervals in manuscript 
form. The happenings, the doings, the sayings of the neighborhood 
were all faithfully gathered by this original chronicler, who read his 
"Clipper" aloud to his own admirers in his own inimitable style. So the 
historian has set it down, and it is to be regretted that nothing fur- 
ther is known of the "Clipper." It seems it had no circulation except 
vive voce, and no files were ever put up or preserved, so it is lost to 
the world. 



282 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Hudson Township. 

Hudson township is fairly watered and drained by Panther creek 
and Camp branch and their tributary streams. Timber is along the 
creeks. It is a fine agricultural township. 

Rev. Israel Robords, a Missionary Baptist, came in the spring of 1843 
and settled near the then town of Hudson. He was a New Yorker, 
from Saratoga county. Col. George Douglas came to America from 
Scotland, and settled in the northwest part of the township in 1837. 
Before the war he owned eight thousand acres of land in one body, 
and was one of the largest stock raisers in the state. He was one of 
the first judges of the county court. \\'hen the war came on he went 
to Texas and took w4th him forty-five slaves. He died there in 1869. 
George Rains was an early settler, but we have been unable to learn 
the date. John D. Myers came to Hudson township in 1842, and he 
became one of the forceful men of the early building days of the county. 
Hence larger mention of Judge Myers will be made elsewhere. The 
Gilbreaths, William, Simeon and Stephen came and settled in Hudson 
in 1840. John Gilbreath, the father of the three sons, died in 1865. 
aged eighty years. 

The town of Hudson was located April 10, 1867 by Judge Charles 
I. Robards who purchased the land for a company of twenty-one men. 
The first building was a general store, erected by Smith Brothers of 
Clinton, and William E. Brinkerhoff and Y. A. Wallace put in charge. 
The second house was a residence erected by Judge Robards. Then 
a business house owned and operated by James Hodkins and E. M. King. 
The first blacksmith was Alexander Gordon. Joel Pratt was the first 
postmaster. The ambitious little village had visions of greatness, but 
when the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad went by and Appleton City 
was started three and one-half miles east its dreams faded, and the 
village has for years been only a memory. Its fate was only typical 
of many others — predicted too much upon what never occurred, and 
hence death. In 1877 a postoffice was established called Labia which 
was discontinued after four years. John W. Brown was the first post- 
master and Clark Wix the second and last.. 

Rockville Township. 

Rockville township is in the southeast corner of Bates county. It 
is mostly rolling to level, and is watered and drained by Panther, Camp 
and Shaw branches, flowing into Osage on the south line. Plenty of 
timber and fine soil. It is. according to the government soil survevors 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



283 



elsewhere quoted in this work, the lowest area of the county, being 
about four hundred feet lower than West Boone township in the 
extreme northwest part of the county. 

Robert Belcher settled in Rockville township in section 11, in 1838 
and he died in 1856. A man by the name of Bridges, a blacksmith by 
trade, settled on the Osage river south of the town of Rockville about 
this time. William Anderson settled two and a half miles west of 
Rockville in 1837. and died in 1858. Berry Hunt, the first shoemaker, 
came in the fall of 1838, and settled on the river in the southeast corner 
of the county and township. Matt Millering and John N. Belcher came 
respectively in 1856 and 1855. William and Wiseman Hollingsworth 
were early settlers before the war, in the eastern part. David O. 
Deever, and his father and family; Frank Logan, John H. Walker, 
Thomas Belcher and William Shaw were all old settlers, and all came 
before the war. 

The town of Rockville was laid out July 29, 1868 by William L. 
Hardesty on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad, and it has always 
enjoyed a good trade. It is the shipping point for a wide territory. 
The township and town seem to have derived their name from a great 
sandstone quarry which was largely worked in an early day not far 
from the town. It is excellent building stone and formerly was shipped 
all over the country; but in recent years seems to have been neglected. 
The town was incorporated in 1878, the first board of trustees being 
J. M. Boreing. chairman; A. C. AVood, W. F. Fiquet, L. Johannes, and 
W. A. Cooper. It now has two banks, a high school, churches, a mill 
and elevators, and is a thrifty little town, largely surrounded by a good 
class of good American German farmers. 

Prairie Township. 

In Prairie township the Osage and Marais des Cygnes rivers, with 
their tributaries afford abundant water and also, the means of drain- 
age. Abundant and valuable timber along the rivers and smaller 
streams Large, fertile bottoms — somewhat subject to overflow — and 
rich, rolling uplands. 

Excluding the settlement of Harmony Mission from the discus- 
sion of this place and in this connection — because any adequate story 
of this township's historical worth requires a separate chapter — we 
endeavor at this place to treat Prairie as other townships are treated. 

Among the early settlers outside of Harmony Mission, was John 



284 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

B. Chorette, a Frenchman, who built a mill about two miles up the 
jMarais des Cygnes river from Harmony Mission in 1833 or 1834. The 
precise date of his settlement is not known. He operated the mill for 
several years and sold it to another pioneer by the name of John M. 
Parks and while he owned it, sometime during the Civil A\'ar, it was 
destroyed. This was doubtless the first mill in the county, other than 
the one at the Mission. 

Freeman Barrows settled near the Mission in 1838, coming from 
Middleboro, Massachusetts. He came about the time Harmony Mis- 
sion was discontinued, and worked in the store of Capt. William Waldo 
at the Mission until he was appointed county clerk upon the organiza- 
tion of the county. Freeman Barrows was so connected with the early 
history of the county that he will receive further mention in the proper 
chapter. Mr. Barrows settled about a mile and a half southeast of 
what is now the village of Papinsville, or about two and a half miles 
southeast of Harmony Mission. About a mile further in the same gen- 
eral direction was his nearest neighbor. Peter Colin (said to be pro- 
nounced Colee), a Frenchman; and still about two miles further south- 
east Melicourt Papin and Alichael Geraud, two Frenchmen, had settled, 
on the bank of the Osage river at a place known as Rapid de Kaw, 
because the Kaw Indians were in the habit of crossing the Osage at 
that point on their hunting trips. The place is now known as Colin's 
Ford. Papin and Geraud came from St. Louis and were connected with 
the American Fur Company and were Indian traders. It is certain 
they settled there as early as 1834, and probably earlier. Other settlers 
were R. A. Baughan, G. R. Garrison, John Zimmerman. Thomas 
Scroghern, George W. Hopkins, Daniel Johnson, A. Goodin, John Hart- 
man, A. B. Bradley, Phillip Zeal. James INIcCool. ]\Iai. J. X. Bradley, 
H. A. Thurman. D. A. A\'. Moorehouse. Thurman & ]\Ioorehouse were 
attorneys-at-law. Alexander Waddle was another old settler and set- 
tled in the northeast part of the township. 

The history of Harmony Mission requires a separate chapter, and 
hence we merely mention here that it was the first American settle- 
ment in all this section of Missouri, and occurred the year that Mis- 
souri became a state of the Union. 

The village of Papinsville was laid out in April. 1847. and was 
named after Melicourt Papin. a French Indian trader. The owner of 
the land was George Pierce who settled, or "squatted"' there about 
1844, and was a farmer. 

Dr. Samuel Hogan was among the early settlers in the new town. 



. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 285 

The first drug store was opened by Dr. Zachariah Anderson in 1854. 
Augustine Deville, a Frenchman, was the first blacksmith. Benjamin 
Richardson operated the first mill in 1853. It was a portable ten-horse 
power, but afterward located on the bank of the Marais des Cygnes 
and improved by substituting steam for horse power. It was destroyed 
by fire in 1861. Thomas Burnside was the pioneer attorney-at-law. 
S. H. Loring opened the first merchandise store ; F. F. Eddy, the sec- 
ond. Each of these men moved their stock of goods from Harmony 
Mission in 1848, when the county seat was located at Papinsville. The 
first postmaster was Dr. Z. Anderson. F. F. Eddy kept the first house 
of entertainment. Wiseman Hollingsworth, Preston Denton and 
Jonathan Kemper, a Baptist minister, were early residents. From 1852 
to 1855 Papinsville was the center of much business and was a flourish- 
ing town. In the early days small steamboats came up the Missouri 
and the Osage to Papinsville and brought merchandise. During the 
years mentioned Papinsville had five general stores, and other business 
and trades in proportion. It was the center of a large circle, and men 
came many miles to mill and to trade in the most important town in 
the country at the time. 

Prairie City was laid out by Joshua N. Durand May 2, 1858. It 
is nicely located in the center of a fine farming country; but it has 
never been anything more than a country village and a pleasant com- 
munity center — a school house and one or two stores. 

The proud Osage Indians lived about Harmony Mission and 
where Papinsville was located after their removal to the West, and 
this township is peculiarly rich from an historical viewpoint, and it 
will be found adequately treated in tkJs volume. 

Osage Township. 

Out away from the river, Osage township is a rolling rich prairie 
land, with a little broken land along the streams, and wide, low, flat 
bottoms along the river. Timber is in abundance on the river and its 
tributaries, the principal being the Big Muddy. Large sections of the 
township are underlain by fine bituminous coal. 

Osage had few settlers before the Civil War. It was an open 
grazing country. But among the earliest settlers we may mention 
Hardin Summers, Prudence Smith, Widow Powers, L. Culbertson, M. 
V. Berry and William W^ear. Settlers soon after the war, we may 
mention George Reif, John D. Moore, J. A. Barron, Rufus Ross, James 
Kelly, John S. Craig, Isaac Neat, Ed Crabb, S. G. Rhodes. Allen 



286 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Haworth, W. C. Hedden, J. P. Moreland, W. B. March. F. M. Dejar- 
nett, Allen Johnson, E. C. Miller, Alfred Miller, Robert Hamilton, 
William Barnhill, and Benjamin Vance. 

Howard Township. 

Howard is the extreme southwestern township of the county. It 
is a high, rolling, fertile prairie, very little broken by streams, and 
scarcely any waste land or timber of importance. It is one of the best 
grain townships in the county. 

A. B. Willoughby was one of the first settlers and came from Jack- 
son county, Missouri, and settled in the southeast part in 1857. Guy 
Smith came and settled in the same vicinity before the war. Rev. Will- 
iam Rider settled in this township before the war. John Patton, a 
brother-in-law, lived near him before the war; and James Hardin, a 
son-in-law of Guy Patton settled on the headwaters of Reed's creek 
in an early day. Among those who came and settled in the township 
immediately after the war are: A. B. Wilkins, Richard Miller, John 
Badgett, J. J. Franklin. John Rush, J. Frank, J. J. Bearden, R. N. 
Covert, U. McConnell, C. W. Hollenback and E. C. Maxwell. 

Sprague was laid out in the fall of 1880 by A. Blaker of Pleasanton, 
Kansas, and was surveyed by Edwin Butts. The first house in town 
was moved from New Home by Charles \\^ilson, who was a farmer 
residing in Howard. He occupied it as a residence and store. The 
next business house was occupied by J. W. Maker as a general mer- 
chandise store. The first board of trustees were : J. R. McDonald, 
chairman; B. H. Smith, clerk; J. W. Bobbitt; W. A. Williams; Alex- 
ander Willoughby; and Dr. R. F. Hulett. Sprague is on the "Frisco" 
branch which comes in from Miami to Rich Hill. 

Hume was laid out in 1880 by Noah Little. In 1882, S. L. Standish 
laid out an addition north of the "Frisco" right of way. Hume has a 
public square in the center of business. D. H. Hill built the first business 
house and put the first stock of goods in. He came from Walnut Post- 
office in Walnut township. Messenger, Fisher & Kell erected a grist 
mill in 1882. Hume is situate on the "Frisco" at or near the crossing 
of the Kansas City Southern as it is now called ; and is a thriving, 
business-like town. It is claimed that it is the "best town on the Kan- 
sas City & Southern in Bates county." Through the influence of its only 
newspaper, the "Border Telephone," every house in town was painted 
white, and hence it is known as the White Citv on the border. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE MARAIS DES CYGNES AND OSAGE RIVERS AND 

VALLEYS. 



CONFUSION— DERIVATION AND MEANING— EARLY OFFICIAL MAPS — ERRORS- 
CONTROVERSY — MILTON WHITING — ERRONEOUS PLATBOOKS— EARLY WRIT- 
ERS — LOCATION OF OSAGES — THE MARAIS DEiS CYGNES A PART OF BOUND- 
ARY — A BEAUTIFUL SCENE— HAPPY HOME — BIG TREES — CROOKED STREAM 
— DESCRIPTION — FISH STORIES — RECLAMATION — CAPTAIN A. B. DICKEY— C. 
G. GREEN — DRAINAGE COMPANY — "VALLEY OF THE NILE"— EXTENSION. 

As many erroneous notions have arisen from the confusion by 
early writers of the Osage, the Little Osage gnd the Marais des Cygnes 
rivers some comment seems proper, and really important to a right 
understanding of history as it is written. The words "Marais des 
Cygnes" are French, and everything indicates that the river was so 
named by French couriers, hunters or traders long before Capt. Zebulon 
B. Pike's expedition came up the Osage and pitched camp above its 
mouth on the Little Osage near the confluence of the Marmiton, in 
1806. The name literally means "the marshes of the swans." both 
being in the plural. For an authoritative and technical explanation of 
its origin and meaning reference is here made to the letter to the 
author, to be found elsewhere in the Appendix, from Judge Walter 
B. Douglas, president of the Missouri Historical Society of St. Louis. 
He is most competent authority on early Missouri history and a scholar 
and linguist. We accept his statements, and regard them as important 
and conclusive so far as they touch this matter. 

Livestigation of all the early official maps to be found in the State 
Historical Society at Columbia disclosed the fact that the words "Mar- 
ais des Cygnes" did not appear on any of them in connection with this 
river until 1838;"aTrd yet the journal of the Harmony missionaHes and 
some of their letters written in 1821 and 1822 designate what Pike 
called the "North Fork" as the "Marais de cien." So we mav reason- 



288 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ably infer, from a date prior to the settlement of the missionary family 
at Harmony on its bank, that from its junction with the Little Osage, 
north and northwest it was known as the Marais des Cygnes river by 
all who were familiar with it, notwithstanding the fact that the early 
map makers of this region continued to mark it for many years as the 
Osage river; and some very recent maps of Missouri do so. A strik- 
ing instance is the official soil survey map of Bates county published 
by the Government in 1908, which shows this river as the Osage entirely 
through this county. In response to a letter from the author an explan- 
ation will be found in the Appendix in this book from Milton Whiting, 
chief of Bureau of Soils Survey, United States Agricultural Depart- 
ment, Washington, D. C, February 2, 1918. Touching the controversy 
as to whether it is the union of the Little Osage with the Marais des 
Cygnes, or the union of the Marmiton (formerly designated as Manitou 
creek) and the Marais des Cygnes, which forms the Osage river, the 
reader is referred again to a former letter of date January 17, 1918, by 
Milton Whiting in the Appendix of this book which is exhaustive, and 
seems historically conclusive. It sustains our contention that the cur- 
rent platbooks of both Vernon and Bates counties are erroneous in show- 
ing that the Marmiton unites with the Marais des Cygnes to form the 
Osage river. The fact is the Marmiton flows into the Little Osage 
river some miles southwest of the confluence of the Little Osasre with 
the Marais des Cygnes, and it ought to be so shown on our platbook, 
at least, if shown at all, as the Marais des Cygnes for some distance 
down to its junction with the Little Osage is the line between Bates 
and Vernon. 

All this has to do with the confusion found in the early writers, 
even some of the Harmony missionary writers being in error. One of 
the missionaries states that Harmony is "situated on the north bank 
of the Marais de Cien, a branch of the Osage river, about six miles 
above its mouth, one mile from the United States Factory, which was 
built during the last summer and fifteen or twenty miles from the largest 
of the Great Osage villages." This statement apparently has had more 
to do in misleading other writers than any other one statement eman- 
ating from an apparently authoritative source ; but it is impossible to 
say who is the author of the statement. We infer it was made by the 
secretary of domestic correspondence of the United Foreign Mission- 
ary Board, as it is found in the proceedings of the board at the meet- 
ing held in New York City, May 8, 1822, only about eight months after 



, HISTORY OF BATES COUMTY 289 

the mission family had become located at Harmony; and it must be 
remembered that in those days mails were few and early communica- 
tions from the family possibly were inaccurate and so misled the secre- 
tary making the report. As tending- to show this the statement is 
made that Harmony is about "six miles above the mouth of the Marais 
de Cein" whereas the plat herewith certified by the land office at Wash- 
ington shows Harmony not to be over three and a half miles from the 
mouth of the river. The country was wild, and the missionaries may 
be pardoned for not knowing everything about the country about them 
in so short a time after their location; and so may the secretary mak- 
ing this report be reasonably excused for saying that Harmony was 
"fifteen or twenty miles from the largest of the great Osage villages." 
The fact that the United States Factory was erected the same year, 
just before the arrival of the missionary family, and just one mile from 
Harmony, as the secretary states, indicates that the body of the great 
Osages resided at that time in that vicinity, wherever they may have 
resided when De Tissenet, the French-Canadian, came up the Osage 
in 1719, and visited some Indian villages in that section; or when Capt. 
Z. B. Pike visited the village near the mouth of the Marmiton on the 
Little Osage river in 1806. It will be noted that De Tissenet's visit 
was more than a century before the coming of the mission family — 
more than two hundred years ago now. The great Osages doubtless 
moved their chief village many times during the century prior to 1821, 
and from all the evidence and all reasonable inferences we believe it 
to be historically true and correct to say that in 1821 the main body of 
the great Osages resided in what is now Bates county, Missouri, and 
that at least one of their principal villages was the "one village" men- 
tioned by Sibley as "seventy-eight measured miles directly south" of 
Ft. Osage, on the Osage river, or within a mile or two of the site of 
Harmony Mission. To assume that the Osages resided fifteen or twenty 
miles away in a low, flat, marshy, swampy section of country where 
neither they nor their children could, only under great difficulties, get 
to Harmony negatives all the purposes in view by the mission family. 
Besides the records of the missionaries show that they considered well 
the choosing of a site, and with the purpose to establish a great school 
among the great Osages it is unreasonable to suppose that they did 
not consider the residence of the people whose children they had come 
to educate. Every fact and everv reasonable inference from the facts 
(19) 



290 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

leads to the conclusion that they settled as nearly as they could in the 
midst of the homes of the children of the great Osage tribe. No ques- 
tion can arise here about the location of the Little Osage tribe; for 
these missionaries were sent to the Great or Grand Osage tribe, and 
very little mention is anywhere made of the Little Osage tribe whose 
principal dwelling place at that time seems to have been near what 
was known afterward as Little Osage or Bulltown on the Little Osage 
river above the mouth of the Marmiton a short distance. 

Reminiscences of the Marais des Cygnes. 

(By Lucien Green.) 

The Marais des Cygnes river flows across the southwest corner 
of Bates county, and unites with the Little Osage near Papinsville, thus 
forming the big Osage river which, together with the Marais des 
Cygnes, forms part of the boundary between Vernon and Bates coun- 
ties. My first sight of the beautiful valley of the Marais des Cygnes 
^as in the fall of 1874, and from the height of land eight or ten miles 
north of the river, the vision extended twenty or more miles to the 
south and fully two hundred feet above the bed of the river, and about 
one hundred feet above the top of the big timber adjacent. Li the 
spring of 1875 I visited the river and the valley and was charmed with 
what I saw. The adage, "Distance lends enchantment to the view" 
did not appeal to me. To one reared among the hills of southern Ohio 
where the forests confined the landscape to two or three miles and 
where fifteen or twenty acres of level bottom land were large fields, 
the sight of several hundred — perhaps one thousand acres — in one 
meadow level as a floor, was a revelation. After seeing these big 
meadows hundreds of times they have always been beautiful and charm- 
ing to me. Here where the Osage Lidians lived one luindretl or two 
hundred years ago, was a paradise for civilized beings, and it would 
be almost impossible for a tribe of wild Indians to find a pleasanter or 
happier home. Here was rich pasture for their ponies, little lakes dec- 
orated with beautiful lilies, the waters on their surface carrying flocks 
of wild fowl, and in their depths schools of choice fish. The forests 
between the river and the meadows supplied the Lidians with bear, 
deer, coon, opossum, squirrels and other four-footed game for their 
meat; the groves of pecans, hickory-nuts, hazel nuts and walnuts, with 
nuts to crack and eat. The Christmas and Thanksgiving turkeys 
awaited the swift arrows to make them ready for the dusky squaws 
and maidens to pick and roast over the coals for the feast. Yes, indeed, 



1^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 29I 

the wild Indians had "the great Spirit" and why shouldn't they have 
the fruits of the spirit — trust, hope and thankfulness. 

I looked at the big trees. Here was a giant elm and there a great 
oak, fit emblems of the Washington Elm and Charter Oak. We tried 
to girdle some of the trees to estimate their diameter, but like the 
young man, our arms were too short, and we had no chalk. I found 
pecans and hickories almost three feet in diameter, burr oaks, cotton- 
woods and maples four or more feet in diameter. Many large yellow 
Cottonwood trees grew near the water, where getting them up the bank 
was a difficult task. I was informed that the river and the land to the 
top of its banks belonged to the government ; also that many of those 
big cottonwoods had suddenly parted from their stumps and when 
their tops became detached, floated down to a convenient saw-mill. 

The Marais des Cygnes is a very crooked stream, the water flow- 
ing to every point of the compass except due west. I visited the river 
when conditions were different. The low lands were covered with 
yellow water, the meadows were hidden from view\ Armed with a 
long handled pitchfork, I walked out on a dry point in search of a 
mess of fish. A chunk, of rotten wood floated by carrying a water 
snake as a passenger. A big mudcat showed his periscope in search 
of a frog or young mud hen but quickly submerged when he saw my 
harpoon poised for a strike. I saw the fan of a big buffalo as it stood 
on its head and used its tail as a fan to preserve its equilibrium while 
nosing in the mud for a succulent grass-root. Yes, buffalo fish eat 
grass, sweet roots, corn and all kinds of bread when they can get it. 

Right now I cannot refrain from telling a few fish stories, and they 
are true ones. Matt Adams, my near neighbor, a good farmer and an 
expert fisherman and hunter, studied the habits of the buffalo fish. He 
told me that they went in schools of about the same age and weight ; 
also that during the floods they swam in the same channels that other 
schools used perhaps hundreds of years ago. It was during the big 
flood about 1877 or 1878 that Matt set his long trammel net nearly a 
mile north of Cornland. The next morning the net yielded him sixty- 
nine buffalo each weighing eight or ten pounds. Another one. Capt. 
E. P. Henry and P. L. Wyatt. both old Ohio neighbors and friends, 
went to the river fishing. They used bull-head catfish for bait and they 
set their trot-lines in what was known as "the big blue hole" a half- 
mile up the river from Bell's Mill. The next morning when they went 
to run their lines they took a shotgun in the boat to use in case of 
emergencies. They took off a fine lot of catfish, some large ones. One 
very large one refused to be tired out, but after much effort they got 



292 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

it to the top of the water, when one of the fishermen said, '"Let's shoot 
it." "Oh! no," said his companion, "let's take it alive to show our folks 
at home." While devising plans to get the fish into the boat, it gave 
a great flop and lunge and broke the hook. Reader, what would you 
or I have said, thought or done? Henry and Wyatt were different; 
they didn't say it, think it, nor do it. Another. A few years ago Kan- 
sas City fishermen speared a one hundred-twenty-six pound mud- 
cat in the flood waters north of Rich Hill. One more, and many fisher- 
men will vouch for the truth of it. I spent two nights and one day 
fishing in the river and caught enough little fish — to give the skillet a 
delicious odor. 

It had long been a problem how to reclaim these Ijottom lands and 
add them to the farming area of Bates county. Perhaps to Capt. A. 
B. Dickey of Athens county, Ohio, belongs the honor of being the pio- 
neer in efforts to reclaim the swamp and overflow lands of the Marals 
des Cygnes valley and enable it to produce farm crops worth a million 
or more dollars annually. It was about 1872 that Mr. Dickey came to 
Bates county to invest in land. Being an ardent sportsman with rod 
and gun he soon saw the big Goose lake of four hundred acres lying 
near Cornland, which he purchased along with several hundred other 
acres, part dry, adjacent. Ditches were cut which removed the sur- 
face water but did not fit the land for crops. Levees were built and 
a large stone gate was erected to keep the water from the Miami from 
flowing into the lake. But the flood waters were not yet ready to give 
up their own. Finally G. G. Green, the millionaire patent medicine man 
of Woodbury, New Jersey, who was a cousin, by marriage, came to 
the aid of Mr. Dickey. Much money was spent and large levees were 
built but to no purpose. The big waves from thousands of acres of 
flood waters washed the levees away. Mr. Dickey traded his equity 
in the land for a hardware store in Chillicothe. Ohio. 

Owners of the overflow lands formed a Drainage Company under 
a law enacted by the Missouri Legislature for the reclamation 
of the swamp and overflow lands of the state. A large ditch, with 
many small ones, was cut which it is believed will add twenty thou- 
sand or more acres of land, as rich as the valley of the Nile where 
Joseph's brothers went to buy corn, to the farming area of Bates county. 
An extension of this drainage system is in contemplation, along the 
Osage about ten miles in length to the southeast corner of Bates county, 
which when completed will add five thousand or more acres to the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 293 

present crop area. Along- the Marais des Cygnes, big farms of hun- 
dreds of acres each produce forty bushels of wheat per acre, and three 
to four tons of alfalfa per acre and the reclaimed land is found to be 
adapted to the grains, grasses, vegetables and fruits of the most fav- 
ored sections of the West. With four million, seven hundred fourteen 
thousand, two hundred forty-eight bushels of corn raised in Bates county 
in 1917, a dry year, these reclaimed lands with the addition of several 
thousand acres on the hills and along the many small streams that 
eventually will be put under cultivation will easily place Bates county 
to the front among the one hundred fourteen counties of the state in 
the production of corn, tame hay, and other agricultural productions. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE BIG DRAINAGE DITCH. 



THE EGYPT OF BATES COUNTY — "MARAIS DES CYGNES" — RECLAMATION — PRE- 
TENSE — NO FEASIBLE PLAN UNTIL 1906 — PETITION PRESENTED — VIEWERS 
AND APPRAISERS — PROPOSED PLAN— REMONSTRANCE — REPORTS — JUDGE 
McFADDEN — REPORT APPROVED — PERMANENT BOARD APPOINTED — DUTIES 
OF BOARD AND COST OF WORK — OBJECTIONS — CONTRACT— BONDS; — CON- 
STRUCTION — LITIGATION— COMPLETED — RESULTS — J. F. KERN. 

In the south half of Bates county Hes its Egypt. Along the Marais 
des Cygnes and Osage rivers is a wide extended valley of rich black 
soil, formed from the silt deposits of frequent floods of these streams 
for ages. Their courses are so tortuous that it is out of the question 
for their channels to carry the rains off from their water sheds. "Marais 
des Cygnes" is a French phrase meaning "River of Swans," the curves 
and bends resembling the curves in the swan's neck, making the name 
suggestive. These rich valley lands have been recognized since the 
first settlement of the county as very valuable, if reclaimed. The state 
gave the land to the county with the understanding they should be 
reclaimed from the proceeds of their sale. Some pretense of reclama- 
tion was done, but the larger part of the proceeds from the sale of 
these lands was passed to the county school fund. Various plans of 
controlling the flood waters of these streams were agitated in a mild 
way for years, but not until 1906 was there any feasible plan ofl^ered. 
The state had passed laws enabling owners of such lands to form drain- 
age districts and assess the lands therein for such improvements as 
was decided upon by engineers and approved by the court. 

In that year a petition was presented to the land owners with a 
view of forming such a district, and was signed by the owners of a 
large per cent, of the land. This petition was addressed to the county 
court, consisting at that time, of J. W. McFadden presiding judge, P. 
A. Bruce and John Armstrong associate judges. 

The court appointed A. H. Bell of Bloomington, Illinois, an experi- 
enced drainage engineer, Cyrus Requa, Charles Van Benthusen, and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



295 



Robert Johnson as a preliminary board of viewers to go over the route 
of the proposed plan and report on their practicability. 

The proposed plan was to dig a new straight channel for the river, 
commencing near what is known as the Marvel bridge and outletting 
in the Osage river about a mile below old Belvoir Ferry. This channel, 
cut as straight as possible, would be about twenty-five miles long, wdiile 
the river the same distance flowed seventy-three miles. After spend- 
ing a few days going over the proposed route the viewers brought in 
their report or tried to. The owners of about twenty-five per cent, of 
the land, but representing a large majority of owners, had gotten busy 
with a remonstrance and had tried to inject politics into the matter 
and succeeded in getting Robert Johnson to bring in a minority adverse 
report. The other three made a favorable report to the court. This 
remonstrance was signed by some two hundred thirty owners and some 
who were not owners while the petitioners had only about seventy-five. 

These remonstrators, encouraged by Johnson's adverse report, got 
very much in earnest and held meetings largely attended, to try to 
influence the court to deny the petition. The history of Bates county 
will not be justly written that does not give Judge McFadden and his 
court everlasting credit for being far-sighted enough and broad-minded 
enough, and having back bone enough to decide in favor of this improve- 
ment over such a large opposition. 

The court approved the majority report of the preliminary viewers 
and then appointed a permanent board of viewers and an engineer. The 
court appointed A. H. Bell as engineer, J. J. March, J. W. Bard and 
Estes Smith as permanent viewers. The duty of this board was to go 
over the land, locate the improvements, classify each tract of land for 
benefits and estimate the entire cost of the work and assess each tract 
of land a sufificient sum to pay for the cost of the work in proportion to 
the classification. This work took about five months to complete. The 
entire cost of the work was estimated at three hundred eighty-six thou- 
sand dollars, and lands receiving one hundred per cent, benefits were 
assessed ten dollars and ninety-three cents per acre. 

When this report was made the court advertised a day to hear any 
objections to the classifications. It took the court about eight days to 
go over the objections to the classifications, but the changes thev made 
were only slight and reduced the total assessment only about eight 
thousand dollars. The court then approved the report of the perma- 
nent viewers and advertised a day for letting the work. At the letting 



2g6 HISTORY OF BATES COL'NTY 

there was a large attendance of contractors from many states. The 
bid of Timothy Faahey & Sons to take the entire work at the estimated 
cost of eight cents per cubic yard was accepted. Bids were all made 
subject to the money being available from the sale of the bonds issued 
against the assessments. The sale of three hundred seventy thousand 
dollars of the bonds of the district was then advertised and the sale 
was attended by bond houses from many cities. The bid of fifteen 
thousand dollars premium made by McDonald-McCoy & Company of 
Chicago was accepted. The bonds were sold subject to the approval 
of the proceedings by Wood & Oakley, attorneys of Chicago, Illinois. 
Judge Wood required consent of the Missouri Pacific railroad to cross 
its tracks before he would approve the proceedings. This required 
tedious negotiations. The viewers had assessed the railroad company 
fifteen thousand dollars for benefits and could not comply with Judge 
Wood's requirements until the assessment against the railroad company 
had been cancelled by a court decree. This done, the contractors at 
once commenced moving in their machinery. The work was all done 
by floating dredges. There were live at work at one time, two of them 
machines with two and one-half cubic yard buckets. 

The construction work was completed in 1909, except some rock 
work in the lower end which the contractor had sublet to A. V. Wills 
& Sons. Litigation over this matter is still pending in the Federal 
Court. The county court relet the rock work and it was removed. 

Some long continued rainy spells had demonstrated to the land 
owners after the ditch was completed that its capacity was not suf- 
ficient to carry all floods and a second proceeding was taken through 
the county court and an additional sum of one hundred seventy-one 
thousand dollars was raised to dig the ditch ten feet deeper and to cut 
off four big bends in the old channel. This was done and the second 
work was completed in 1911. This work has so reduced the flood hazard 
that large acreages of this rich land are producing heavy crops of wheat 
and corn. The wheat crop of the valley in 1917 alone would pay for 
the last assessment against the land to deepen the ditch. There 
is not a doubt but this work and supplementary work that will follow 
by individuals will ultimately entirely reclaim all these lands, and the 
"History of Bates County" would not be complete without the history 
of this, the biggest and most important work ever done in and for Bates 
county. There are forty-orte thousand acres in this drainage district 
and when producing the added wealth to the county together with 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



297 



added conveniences and improved health conditions will make this dis- 
trict a real Bates county Egypt. 

Many of the land owners did much to help put this great work 
through to completion, but to the untiring push, energy and stick-to- 
itiveness of J. F. Kern, the chief promoter and originator, belongs the 
credit of its completion. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE. 
(By Liicien Green.) 



IN KANSAS— THE GRANGERS— POOR CROP YEARS— INVASION— J. C. TAYLOR- 
SMALL DAMAGE — THE "JUANITA OF THE WEST" — JOURNEY TO BATES 
COUNTY — D'ESTINATiON^RECEPTION— JOHN McCONNELL— CAPTAIN JOHN W. 
HANNAH — THE ATTACK— LEAVE TAKING — GOOD FEELING — CROPS. 

Our recollections of the invasion of the grasshoppers began in 
Cofi'ey county, Kansas where we located in 1873. Lest the inquisitive 
inquire w^hy any one should leave Ohio for Kansas will explain : We 
were looking for health and more acres of land. We did not find health 
and acres grew less. Was a charter member of Hampden Grange of 
the Patrons of Husbandry. No more intelligent, helpful and sociable peo- 
ple can be found anywhere than were those grangers of the community. 
The years 1873 and 1874 were poor years for crops except on the Neosho 
bottoms where wheat was very good. The invasion of the grasshoppers 
in August, 1874, together with the great financial panic added to our 
discontent. When the hoppers came farmers hurried to put their nub- 
biny corn in shock, and the hoppers hurried to crawl into the shocks 
and eat the green blades and shucks. Other hoppers ate the green 
blades and shucks from the standing corn. The hoppers did not observe 
usual rules of travel; when a house or barn was in their path they 
climbed over. They ate all green and succulent vegetation except milk 
weed. They tried their teeth on hoe, pitch-fork, axe and shovel handles 
and left them rough as files or rasps. Muskmelons were their choicest 
food. When a ripe melon was covered several deep they tried to pull 
each other aside to get a place at the feast. In the spring of 1873. 
J. C. Taylor, now of Adrian, Bates county, became a member of our 
family. Esquire Taylor, Jim's father, was an early Bates county pio- 
neer and died on the farm later owned by Fred Cobb who was here 
before the Civil War. Jim's mother died early in 1873. His step- 
father was not good to him and Jim had no place to call home. We 



* HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 299 

met and stayed together. Jim had staked buffalo hides and fried buf- 
falo steaks over a fire of buffalo chips, on the plains of central Kansas. 
He could break a bronc and milk a wild Texas cow and was the most 
helpful and dependable sixteen-year-old boy we have met in the West. 
We can't follow the grasshoppers without using Jim, so "more anon." 

The hoppers did not do much damage in Coffey county. The long- 
drouth with hot winds had made prairie grass too dry and tough to be 
palatable and most garden vegetation had perished. Early in January, 
1875, we sold our surplus effects — except two large fat hogs, which 
Jacob Menzie, the big jolly Burlington butcher, would not buy at a 
fair price ; so we butchered them and put meat, lard and sausage in a 
box for future use. Before leaving Kansas we wish to commend the 
people of Coffey county, the rich soil, the beautiful Neosho river — 
the Juanita of the West — :to all homeseekers. 

On our journey to Bates county we saw piles of ice at most farm 
houses. The summer and fall of 1874 had been very dry and early 
winter very cold, with but little snow, and small branches and creeks 
were dry and larger ones frozen with ice a foot thick. Our first stop 
in Bates county was at the home of C. W\ Wolf east of Trading Post. 
Mr. Wolf was raised in Athens county, Ohio, and was and is yet the 
prince of good fellows. Don't know v/here Mrs. W^olf was raised but 
evidently in a Christian community vvhere good housekeeping and 
entertaining sociability were the rule. As we neared our new home 
Jim frequently hopped out of the wagon for pieces of dry wood with 
the remark, "We'll need that pretty soon." After crossing the Miami 
Jim frequently said, "My, but ain't that dirt black. Guess it will raise 
corn if the hopper's don't eat it up." We finally got to the place we 
called home for seven years on what was later known as the Hartwell 
farm. Wagons unloaded, stove set up and fire started, we went to the 
Miami for a load of ice, and then to the woods for a load of seasoned, 
knotty double and twisted w^ater oak tops at forty cents. Wire was 
not much used for fencing and farmers were saving of their timber. 
The soil about our home was black and in places when disturbed 
revealed many little white eggs, glistening in the sun like little drops of 
sleet. Our neighbors were kind and communicative but none of them 
could tell us where we could get work, or buy feed for our team. The 
hoppers were discussed from every angle. "When will they hatch? 
How long will they stay and will they destroy the corn, gardens, etc?" 

John McConnell, from Illinois, who owned the Judge B. F. Thorn- 
ton farm south of the Tripp school house, went to Illinois and returned 



300 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

with fifty bushels of corn, a part of which he divided among his neigh- 
bors. Mr. McConneh was a splendid citizen, intelligent, a good farmer, 
and sympatjietic to the unfortunate. His son, Lemuel, has been an 
honored and influential citizen of Hume for more than forty years and 
he and his wife with the presence of many friends celebrated their golden 
wedding some time last year, so we were informed. 

Capt. John W. Hannah got a lot of corn from somewhere which 
he divided among the farmers wdio were not able to buy corn for seed. 
Notes were given but never presented for payment. Some corn was 
brought to Butler from Cass county and sold at one dollar a bushel 
straight, or one and a quarter sorted for seed. We divided our land 
and Jim prepared twenty acres for corn and planted early, a rule he 
always followed as long as he was on a farm. After corn and potatoes 
were planted and gardens made farmers were in the condition of an 
army of soldiers who "lay on their arms" expecting an attack by the 
enemy — the hoppers — at any time. Finally after a spell of warm 
weather early in May the word went over the neighborhood, "The 
hoppers are hatching!" We went to our garden but could not see 
either onions or lettuce, but a lot of little wingless hoppers who had 
eaten the onions off below the surface. Jim returned from his corn- 
field and exclaimed, "The hoppers have eaten off every blade of corn 
and I am going to look for a job." Many farmers replanted their corn 
while others waited. East of Butler the corn was not badly damaged. 
Early in June the hoppers first hatched were almost full-grown and a 
few of the largest seemed to be uneasy; they would hop about with 
wings stretched as though learning to fly or teaching the young to fly. 
About the middle of June the hoppers, at what seemed to be a precon- 
certed signal like a wireless message, arose like a cloud as big as a 
county and drifted to the northwest. Gloom gave way to joy and an 
era of good feeling prevailed among the people. Men and boys who 
had not puckered their lips for months, wdiistled and sang as they fol- 
lowed the cultivators through the rank corn. Neighbors who had been 
estranged met, shook hands, and said, "Do come and see us." They 
put off the frown and put on the smile. The corn crop of 1875 broke 
all previous records. Theo. Shaw and Captain Hannah built large cribs 
in town and filled them with corn at sixteen to twenty-five cents per 
bushel to feed their big herd of steers on Mound branch. The seasoii 
was just right for corn and rains came wdien needed. Many of the 
best showers came Saturday night or on Sunday allowing the farmers 



HISTORY 01- BATES COUNTY 301 

to work six days in the week. How about that box of meat and lard 
and sausage? We sold sixty dollars worth and by eating many meat- 
less meals had enough for home use. We took two forty-pound hams 
to Butler to trade for flour and groceries. The merchants were sus- 
picious. Mr. Rafter looked at us with an eye and countenance of a 
detective and inquired "Where did you get those hams?" We pointed 
to the pile of thin bacon on the counter and replied, "You know they 
were not made in Bates county, and we assure you they were not 
stolen." We sold them on the west side at thirteen cents a pound. 
The year 1875 will be remembered as the year of the big corn crop; also 
for the great immigration to Bates county and western Missouri. 

And what became of Jim? He worked by the month for John H. 
Williams, Sherman Humphrey, and others for several years. He had 
a good time, dressed well and was respected and trusted by all who 
knew him. He finally met a fine girl. Miss Laura Rosamond, a sister 
to Frank, the painter, and they married. After about twenty years 
of hard work, economy and good management they sold their one hun- 
dred-acre farm, made a sale and with seven thousand dollars went to 
Adrian, and are respected and influential citizens of that little city. 
Their son. jimmv, was assistant postmaster under our old friend War- 
ren Parrish. Mattic, their daughter, married a good man and all are 
happy and contented. 

We think it was Professor Wiley who twenty or twenty-five years 
ago ate a dinner of grasshoppers at Lawrence, Kansas and found them 
palatable. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



REMINISCENCES. 



OLD SETTLERS AND EARLY INCIDENTS— INTERESTING FACTS — RECOLLECTIONS 
OF HARMONY MISSION — BATES COUNTY IN THE FIFTIES— SIXTY-EIGHT 
YEARS AGO — EVENTS OF LONG AGO— TALKS AND TALES OF OLDEN TIMES. 

Old Settlers and Early Incidents, 

The recollection of a conversation with Mr. AA'illiam Harkins on 
the porch at his home near old Rich Hill in the summer of 1887 leads 
the writer to think that possibly others may be interested in simple 
incidents and folk lore of former days. Mr. Harkins had been a soldier 
of the War of 1812 his home at that time being in the wilds of western 
New York state. A typical pioneer he soon found that the environ- 
ments of that vicinity were changing too fast for him and he gradually 
drifted with the tide of emigration west until he reached his last abid- 
ing place near Rich Hill when Bates county was still in the wilds. He 
loved to tell of the incidents of the early settlements of the country 
from New York state west to Bates county, Missouri. He died near 
Rich Hill about 1886, one of the last survivors of the War of 1812. 
He was a type of the first settlers, honest because it was natural to 
be so, he wore his rough side out. and what would have appeared to 
the refinement of the present day, as bruskness was simply the influence 
of surroundings that called for positive actions and resolutions to meet 
conditions; and under the hardened exterior there glowed a kindly dis- 
position that had none of the cultivated exuberance bred by hope of 
gain. He was neither rich nor poor as we term it today. When the 
conversation turned to acquiring property he would say, "I have always 
been careful and have succeeded in keeping enough property to be 
independent." That sentiment prevailed largely with the early settlers. 
To him "independent" meant the having of enough to eat and wear 
and be comfortable in his home and sufficient land and stock to rea- 
sonably assure the continuance of that condition. I use him as a type 
because he was one of the most typical of the type that formed the 
better element of the first settlers. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3O3 

Mr. James Rand, another old settler, typified another class of old 
settlers in that he occupied a position between the real pioneer class 
and the modern settler. Mr. Rand and Mr. H. P. Robinson entered 
land early, in the vicinity of where Rich Hill now stands, and soon 
after the war settled on this land. Mr. Rand took. great interest iii 
the development of the country and had much to do with the making 
of the present west road between Rich Hill and Butler and superin- 
tended the making of a dirt grade across the bottom, much of the work 
yet remaining after more than forty years of use. W. H. Ratekin, 
another pioneer, should be mentioned in this article as he was the mov- 
ing spirit in securing the establishment of the postoffice of Rich Hill. 
Mr. Ratekin was a carpenter and farmer and not only built many of 
the first houses built in the neighborhood but also made many of the 
cofTfins in which the dead were buried. He had traveled quite exten- 
sively and being a great reader, being one of the very few who regularly 
took metropolitan papers, he was a man much sought in the country 
postoffice gatherings because of his knowledge of events. To disabuse 
the mind of any who have it in mind that "carpenter" did not sig- 
nify a workman as applied to pioneers I will just add that just prior to his 
settling at Rich Hill, Mr. Ratekin had personally fitted and superin- 
tended the fitting of every door and window in the finest hotel then 
building that St. Louis had at that time. I mention this because it is 
a fact that younger people too frequently form an idea that everything 
• pioneer was on crude or ignorant lines while the facts are that many 
of the men whom we now call pioneers were familiar with college 
curriculum or were skillful in their lines. It may sound strange to many 
when I say that I took lessons in vocal music in a country school house 
from the same teacher who taught Ira D. Sankey in a musical con- 
servatory, but such is the fact. Many men of experience and standing 
in their lines in older settled countries tired of the confinement or 
limited opportunities in their country and came West for greater oppor- 
tunities. Such a one was the late H. Philbrick who settled near Rich 
Hill soon after the war. He was a college-bred engineer and a man 
of afifairs. Few men had a larger acquaintance in Bates county and 
none knew the county better than he. He was county surveyor for 
many years. 

In about the year 1867 or 1868 the Missouri, Kansas & Texas rail- 
road was projected and it being generally assumed that it would follow 
near the old Booneville-Fort Scott road by way of Papinsville, W. A. 



304 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Newton thought he saw that it would be necessary for shippers of 
stock to have a feeding station between Denison and Hannibal and he 
determined in his mind that this station could well be located near 
where the road would come out of the Marais des Cygnes river bottom 
onto the high land. Following this conclusion to the practical point 
he purchased several thousand acres of land southeast of where Rich 
Hill now stands and proceeded to get ready to carry out his well laid 
plans, but he did not reckon with Nevada's money and influence and 
the railroad missed him in its route. He then set about making a 
stock farm of his land which later came to be known as the "McGinnis 
Ranch." Mr. Newton being disappointed in his first plans did not show 
the white feather and give up but on the other hand he pushed on and 
became one of the most influential men in Bates county and wJien the 
railroads were built into Rich Hill he sold his holdings to good advan- 
tage and died at the ripe old age of nearly ninety-one years one of the 
wealthiest men in the county. 

O. Spencer was another old settler that requires more than pass- 
ing mention. He was a well educated man and a minister by profes- 
sion. He settled near Rich Hill in an early day and divided his time 
between farming and preaching. Later in life he was largely engaged 
in coal business and breeding fine horses, many of his horses taking 
high rank on the great tracks of the country. Mr. Spencer engaged in 
the horse business purely from his love of fine horses. He was largely 
instrumental in the establishing of the Rich Hill track which became 
one of the best known tracks in the state. Mr. Spencer died at his 
home adjoining the city of Rich Hill in 1916. 

Among the old settlers, few were better or more favorably known 
than William Wears, in whose home the postoffice of Rich Hill came 
into actual working condition under the administration of Mr. Rate- 
kin, the first postmaster. It was at the home of Mr. W^ears that most 
of the railroad promoters and coal prospectors made their headquar- 
ters. Here the engineers stopped when in 1887 a road was proposed 
from a point near LaCygne to Springfield, the proposed route being 
between Brushy Mound and the lake of the same name, thence south- 
easterly along the first high land along the river past where old Rich 
Hill was located. Mr. Wears kept abreast of the times in those days 
and was wide awake to the opportunities that the building of a rail- 
road would give to the people here. While the road proposed at that 
time did not get further than a paper road Mr. W^ears lived to enter- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



305 



tain the road builders when both the present roads were projected and 
built. For many years after realizing the ambition he had of living 
near a live town, he lived in peace and plenty. 

Considering the high standing of the class of people who early 
settled here it is not difficult to see why Rich Hill school was one of 
the best in Bates county. While the three R's were the basis of the 
rudiments taught, it is still a question which is best. Here the pupils 
learned to spell and the higher classes would soon put down the best 
high school team of today. They also learned to ''figger" and sought, 
rather than evaded difficult "sums." And write, yes, they learned to 
write a neat, smooth hand, writing that would pass anywhere. It would 
not be correct to say that all who went to school did these things but 
the per centage of those who left school prepared for future schools or for 
actual life, would compare favorably with our most enlightened com- 
munities of the present day. The very surroundings bred an inde- 
pendence of action and thought that produced results. The annual 
school "exhibition" was the great event of the year in the neighborhood. 

It would be too much to assume that there were not many ludi- 
crous situations, many arising from ignorance and others bred by the 
independent happy-go-lucky surroundings of new countries. While as 
a rule people "got along" with each other amicably there were excep- 
tions to the rule and one of the principal methods of expressing one's 
dissatisfaction or contempt of another was "not to speak" to the 
offender. The custom of the country being to speak to every one you 
met, it was a sure sign of enmity when one person would meet 
another and not speak. 

Speaking of ludicrous situations this story, a fact, will illustrate 
one such case. Names omitted. T. and W. lived on adjoining farms. 
T. raised corn in summer and taught school in winter. W. raised hogs 
and had somewhat of contempt for his neighbors. W.'s hogs got into 
T.'s corn too often to keep up good feeling of friendship. With the 
aid of dogs and clubs T. was making it unpleasant for W.'s hogs when 
W. took a shot at long range with bird shot into mixture of hogs, 
dogs and Mr. T. Mr. T. proceeded at once to get out a "state war- 
rant" for W. W. H. Gotten, who still lives near Rich Hill, then a 
young man, held the exalted position of constable. The warrant being 
delivered to him he forthwith arrested Mr. W. and brought him before 
the "squire," who instructed the officer to take the prisoner to Butler 

(20) 



306 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

jail. Mr. Gotten seeing the humorous side of the question protested 
that the offense was a bailable one and stated that the prisoner was 
ready to give bond, whereupon Mr. T. rose and addressed the court 
in this manner: "May it please your honor this is not a bailable case, 
it is murder in the first degree and I object to prisoner being released 
on bond." At this the "squire" said he did not know what was best 
to do and told the constable to take the prisoner. Mr. Gotten took the 
prisoner and laughingly told him to go home till he was called for. 

Goming now to the city of Rich Hill, proper, Gol. Ed Brown has 
been, and properly, too, called the "Father of Rich Hill." A graduate of 
an Eastern college, an officer in the army in the Givil War, a promoter 
of rare ability, he it was who succeeded in enlisting capital to build the 
Missouri Pacific railway from Pleasant Hill to Joplin. It is said that he 
went to New York and called on Jay Gould and informed him that he 
was going to build a railroad through the Rich Hill coal fields and after 
showing the advantages of such a route to Mr. Gould he told him that 
if he would furnish the money to build the road it could be made a 
part of the Missouri Pacific system, but if he did not care to consider 
it, then it would be an independent line. The result was that the road 
was built. The Kansas Gity, Ft. Scott & Gulf Railway Gompany had 
long had an eye on the coal fields here and as soon as it was known 
that another road would be built they set to work to build in from 
Miami, now Linton, Kansas, hence both roads came in the same year. 
As stated above, Golonel Brown was a high-class man in his line. He 
planned well, possessing the energy of a dynamo he inspired those around 
him with the same spirit and everything went with a rush under his 
guiding hand. Having secured the financial aid to build the railroad, 
he proceeded to secure coal lands and organized a coal company and 
the land for a town site and laid out the town, so that while the rail- 
road was building the coal fields were being opened up and the town 
was building up all in the Golonel's own way, with a rush that sur- 
prised everyone. It was said of him that he seldom slept, and then 
with one eye open. He would work all day in his office in Rich Hill 
and then drive forty or fifty miles to other work during the night so 
as to be on the job at the other place when business started for the 
day. Like so many other men of ability, he did not possess that equili- 
brium that make men permanently successful for it was not long before 
the quarter of a million dollars made in the venture had faded and a few 
years ago he died in comfortable poverty. 



^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3O7 

Before the railroads were built John Greenhalge and J. S. Craig 
were farming and stock raising just east of Rich Hill. Soon after the 
town was laid out they started a brickyard in the southeast part of the 
city, which soon. grew into a large manufacturing enterprise under the 
name of Craig & Greenhalge, and for many years they manufactured 
large cjuantities of brick which were not only used in buildings in Rich 
Hill but were shipped in large numbers to Kansas City, Wichita and 
other places and through their effort Rich Hill came to be known as 
one of the large brick manufacturing centers. This enterprise had a 
large pay roll and in many ways contributed to the upbuilding of the 
city. Mr. Greenhalge died a few years ago on his farm on the Rich 
Hill-Butler road. Mr. Craig still lives in Rich Hill. 

About the year 1890 Maj. D. H. Wilson, T. B. Farmer and Ben. 
Evans, all pioneers of Rich Hill, started manufacturing paving brick 
and drain tile on a limited scale. While the product of the plant proved 
to be of fine quality it was, from lack of finance, closed down and finally 
sold to Mr. H. M. Booth, who interested Mr. James Hedges, of Spring- 
field, in the enterprise and after operating the plant for some time 
they sold to W. S. Dickey at Kansas City and the plant is now being 
extensively operated by the Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company of 
Rich Hill. 

Interesting Facts. 
(By John H. Thomas.) 

The founders of Harmony Mission came from New York in 1861, 
as missionaries to the Indians. There are none of them now living. 
The Mission was abandoned in 1837 when the Indians were moved 
AVest. The government paid $8,000 for the property and the money went 
to the society which had sent out the missionaries. The first postof^ce 
established in the county was at the Mission, but was called Bates- 
ville. It was afterwards moved to Papinsville. Harmony Mission was 
also the first county seat, so established in 1841, but moved to Papins- 
ville, in 1848. The first court house was at Papinsville, completed in 
1855. When the county seat was moved in 1856, the court house was 
sold to Philip Ceal. It was burned in 1862. The first bridge across 
the river was built at Papinsville in 1853 or 1854, and was burned in 
1861 by General Price's men. A commission appointed by the General 
Assembly located the county seat at Butler, in 1856, and a court house 
was built there in 1857. This was burned during the war, and a frame 



308 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

house was built in 1866. This was in turn replaced by the court house 
built in 1870 and that one was torn down and replaced by the present 
one, built in 1900. The first voting precinct in the county was at 
Harmony Mission, and the first election held there was in 1841. The 
first grist mill I remember was the Charrett mill, built in 1833. He 
also ran a saw-mill and was succeeded by John Parks. William and 
Aaron Thomas had a grist mill in 1848; the first mill in the county was 
run by a treadwheel. They worked oxen on the wheel. George Thomas 
had a carding machine, run by the same kind of power, and worked 
horses on it. It was erected in 1848. He also bought a threshing 
machine at West Point in 1859, which was the only one I knew of 
before the war. Coal was dug out of the ground in several places as 
far back as I can remember, for use mostly in blacksmithing, but was 
not mined to any extent before the war." 

In addition to the foregoing borrowed from the "Old Settlers' His- 
tory" we give the following interesting facts gathered from a biographical 
sketch of John H. Thomas, written by this author and approved by 
him at the time and published in the "Butler Free Press," September 24, 
1897: "In the spring or summer of 1839 my parents, George and Mary 
Thomas, came to Lone Oak township and settled in section 11 and 
built the first frame house on the prairie. Everybody told father he 
could not build a house strong enough to stand the prairie winds, but 
he thought he could. There was a famous spring on the place and 
he wished to build near it. Nearly everybody since has hauled water 
from the spring in a dry time. The timbers in the house were all hewn; 
the sills were 10 x 11 inches; the plates 8 x 10; the studding faced six 
inches, the joists eight inches and the braces 6x6 inches. It had a large 
chimney built inside the house. In a few years the early settlers began 
to build little houses on the prairie. They braved many hardships to 
get homes for. their families and they shared all dangers in sympathy 
with one another, and were always ready to lend a helping hand. Most 
of them were God-fearing men. They did not try to see who could 
acquire the most wealth, but were willing their neighbors should share 
with them. Oh ! for the spirit of the olden time ! 

"My father owned and operated a carding machine on the farm 
now owned by A. M. Thomas (since dead), and when a boy I knew 
many of the old settlers who came there with their wool. Among others 
I remember Mark West, father of Gent. West ; John AVoodfin, father 
of A. H. and Jason Woodfin; Melvin Dickey, who lived near "Dickey 



^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3O9 

Ford" on the Marais des Cygnes river. We lived and worked in peace 
until the war broke out in 1861. On August 9, 1861, my brother and 
myself were ordered to report at the Confederate camp somewhere 
near Butler; but instead of obeying we left for Mound City, Kansas, 
and in August, 1863, I enlisted in the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry Volun- 
teers, and served throughout the rest of the war. Our father was taken 
from home in December, 1861, and killed somewhere near 'Dickey 
Lake' on the river, as near as we could learn. His body was never 
found, nor do any of us know to this day the place of his burial, if 
buried at all. I returned to Bates county in 1869, and have seen it grow 
from small beginnings to wealth and power. The past is past; and 
the bitterness of the war and the separation and estrangement of neigh- 
bors are ended." 

Recollections of Harmony Mission. 

(By J. N. Barrows, of Rich Hill.) 

I was born within three miles of Harmony Mission site in 1847, 
and have lived all my life in Bates county, and in the vicinity of Papins- 
ville and Harmony. As a boy, youth and young man, I was familiar 
with the site of the Mission and the habitations of the Grand Osages. 
I played about the apple trees planted by the missionaries, drank out 
of the well they digged, and remember the Mission house well. It 
was a large two-story building, weatherboarded with walnut which 
had been sawed out by a whip-saw, dressed, but never painted. The 
sills and other dimension lumber were all hewn out or whip-sawed. It 
was all builded from trees cut right at their door from the tract of 
land ceded to them by the Grand Osages. I can recall that there were 
other smaller houses, built on the log cabin order, scattered about the 
premises when I was a bo}'. 

Harmony Mission was situate about one and a quarter miles up 
the Marais des Cygnes river northwest from where Papinsville was 
afterward laid out and now is. In 1852, a Mr. Scroggins bought the 
main Mission dwelling, in which he lived until 1856. at which time 
he moved the building to Papinsville, where it. with two other buildings, 
was burned by unknown parties in the winter of 1863 and 1864, some 
months after General Ewing's "Order No. 11" became effective and 
everyone had left Bates county. The town of Papinsville had been 
principally burned by a battalion of a Kansas regiment under Major 



3IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTV 

Anderson on December 20, 1861, — I think that is the correct date — 
about that date at least. 

I can remember back to 1854-5 and I know that there were some 
Indians, mostly half-breeds, scattered along up the Marais des Cygnes 
river, where they fished and hunted unmolested. They were peace- 
able and harmless. This was not Indian country after the treaty of 
1825 ; but I have always understood that the main body of the Grand 
Osages did not move beyond the borders of this state for several years 
after the treaty — in fact, somewhere about 1836 or 1837; and they 
returned and temporarily dwelt and hunted along the Marais des Cygnes 
and Little Osage as late as the latter fifties — a sort of nomadic life, 
living in tepees and few together. A good many would come out of 
their own country in Kansas Territory, spending the summer and 
autumn along these rivers, and return to their principal village for the 
winter. 

The missionaries arrived in August, 1821, got their cession from 
old White Hair and the lesser chiefs, and settled on the margin of the 
Marais des Cygnes river at the point stated above. I ought to state 
that Harmony Mission was about three miles from the junction of the 
Marais des Cygnes with the Marmiton river almost directly south of 
the village of Papinsville; thence east from this confluence it is the 
Osage river proper, which finds its way to the Alissouri river at Osage 
City about eight miles east of JefTerson City. 

The missionaries continued their labors at Harmony Mission until 
the body of the Grand Osages had gone West into their own country, 
and did not abandon the mission until 1837 or 1838. 

I know there has been some confusion among wa^iters as to the 
exact location of the principal village of the Grand Osages at the time 
the missionaries settled at Harmony in 1821 and thereafter until they 
went further W^est. On this point I can give only my best information 
and the reader will take it for what it is w^orth. WHiile many of the 
incidents making history for southern Bates county come directly under 
my own observation, much has been obtained from my father and 
mother, my father having come to Harmony Mission in April, 1838, 
where for two years he assisted Captain W^illiam Waldo in the sale of 
goods. In 1840. Bates county was first organized into a county. My 
father. Freeman Barrows, was elected the first county clerk and by vir- 
tue of this offirs became ex-officio recorder and circuit clerk, which 



, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3II 

office he held for twelve years. During this period father bought and 
improved a farm two miles east of Papinsville, where I was born, Decem- 
ber 17, 1847. He continued to occupy this place until his death, April 
26, 1861. My mother was a Miss Asenath A. Vaill, daughter of a 
Presbyterian minister, a graduate of Yale College, who under the auspi- 
ces of the Board of Foreign Missions, established in 1819 the Union 
Mission fifteen miles east of what is now Ft. Gibson in the state of 
Oklahoma, where mother was born, January 5, 1822. After her edu- 
cation was completed at Munson and Mount Holyoke seminaries in 
Massachusetts she returned to western Missouri to visit her sister, wife 
of Capt. William Waldo. There she became acquainted with and mar- 
ried Freeman Barrows, August 23, 1842. Hence the early arrival of 
my parents to this country put them in a position in after years to 
give me an account of incidents occurring before my time and recol- 
lection. The main town of the Grand Osages was one-quarter mile 
north of Papinsville, w'hich would fix the village about three-quarters 
of a mile a little southeast of Harmony Mission, on the high land there, 
in the edge of the timber, some of which is still there ; and as a boy 
and young man, living within tw^o miles of the spot, I often visited it. 
It was perfectly plain then where the principal village had been. They 
had killed out the timber in a considerable tract where their houses had 
been and where their ponies had been kept. 

In 1853, the contractor who built the first brick court house in 
Papinsville discovered suital:)le soil right where the Grand Osage village 
had been, for brick-making and erected his kilns there, and made the 
brick there that went into the walls of the first brick court house in 
Bates county. The Indians always built their principal villages on 
high land, above overflow, and mostly in the timber, but close to the 
edge of the open prairie. This was that kind of a location. Of course, 
the Indians were doubtless scattered about, as was their custom, but 
I always understood, and so did all the early settlers, that here was 
the principal Grand Osage village when the missionaries settled at 
Harmony and builded their school house and opened their school for 
Indian children in 1822. There may have been other villages south 
of the Osage and on the Little Osage river in what is now Vernon 
countv, at an earlier date. The fact that the missionaries selected, in 
conference with the chiefs, the place they did select, is strong presump- 
tive argument that the principal village was not far away, or where I 
sav it w^as. For, if the main body of the Grand Osages lived near the 



312 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

junction of the Marmiton creek with the Little Osage river where Gen. 
Z. B. Pike's crude map locates them in 1806, a distance of about eight 
miles as the crow flies from Harmony, and ten or twelve miles around 
by rivers, by land it would have been necessary for parents and chil- 
dren to come through a heavily timbered swampy bottom covered with 
tall grass, full of surface lakes and lagoons, and to cross the Little 
Osage, Muddy creek and the Marais des Cygnes river to get to the 
Mission school. It is not reasonable that a school and a religious estab- 
lishment, bottomed upon the purpose and hope to reach these Indians, 
men, women and children, would have been located so far from the 
main village of the tribe. So, whatever may be thought of Pike's 
map, or wherever the principal village may have been in 1806, it is 
certain that the main body of the Grand Osage dwelt about a quarter 
mile north of the present village of Papinsville and about three-quarters 
of a mile from the Mission school and other buildings, on the Marais 
des Cygnes river, at least three miles north of the head of the Osage 
river, in Bates county, in 1821, and thereafter until they moved to 
their new country further west. 

I have read what some of the missionaries and travelers have said 
about a ''solid bed of stone coal" existing in the bed of the river, but 
I never saw, or heard of any such thing; and I am sure I would have 
known about it, if true, during the half century that I lived in the 
immediate vicinity. There was, and I presume there is yet, a thin out- 
cropping in the bank of the Marais des Cygnes river just in front of 
the Mission buildings : and this may have been the basis of the story. 

There was quite a settlement in an early day at Rapid de Kaw, 
or Colin's (Kolee's) Ford on the north bank of the Osage river about 
a mile from where I was born, about three miles southeast from Papins- 
ville, and when a boy I frequently picked up arrow heads and the con- 
choidal chips of flint thrown off in the making or manufacturing of 
arrow heads. I have also picked up similar relics across the river about 
the base of Halley's Bluff. 

Among the earlv events or occurrences of southeast Butler county 
was the enterprise of Captain William Waldo in bringing two steamboats 
up the Osage loaded with merchandise from St. Louis to Harmony 
Mission — the "Wave" in 1844, and the "Maid of the Osage" in 1845. 
Captain Waldo was in the mercantile business at Harmony from 1837 
to 1846. It was through his enterprise and foresight that the naviga- 
tion of the Osage was greatly improved by the construction of "wing 
dam" which threw the volume of water that spread over a broad shoals 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 313 

into a narrow channel. This was done in removing by a primitive dredg- 
ing system the gravel and other stony formation from this artificial 
channel for the formation of the wing dam. To carry out this plan 
Captain Waldo secured an appropriation by the state of the sum of 
$25,000 to complete the work. This improvement proved to be of very 
material aid to navigation in times of low water. At the time of these 
events, which occurred between 1840 and 1848, the county seat of Bates 
county was at Harmony Mission and might have remained there indefi- 
nitely; but on account of the narrow channel of the Marais des Cygnes 
(the river on which Harmony Mission was located), it was thought best 
to lay out a town for the county seat at some suitable place on or near the 
banks of the main Osage river, which was a convenient stream and navi- 
gable for boats most of the time. This plan was conceived by three 
men of this portion of Bates county, William Waldo, George Douglass, 
and Freeman Barrows. Accordingly, a site was selected on the north 
half of the northeast ^4 of section 23, township 38, range 30. two miles 
east of Papinsville, and one-half mile north of the banks of the Osage 
river at Rapid de Kaw. This place was agreed to, there being no apparent 
opposition. This was in 1842. The town was laid ofif in lots, blocks and 
streets, and named Selden ; and settlement of the townsite commenced; 
but when it came to moving the county seat from Harmony Mission, 
there arose an opposing faction, which was headed by John McHenry, 
Bates county's representative in the Legislature, and the leader of the 
Democratic party of the county. The opposition claimed it should be 
more centrally located in the county ; and another argument was intro- 
duced against the establishing of the county seat at the new town of 
Selden was the fact that its three projectors were all "old line Whigs." 
The matter of the locating of the county seat was very hotly con- 
tested. In one of McHenry's speeches he called it the "town of Sel- 
dom," and said it was appropriately named, as it was very "Seldom" 
that anyone ever went to the place. The factions however finally com- 
promised the matter by placing it at Papinsville, Mr. Papin, of St. 
Louis, one of the American Fur Company, donating forty acres of land 
for the townsite, this point being once famous in Indian history as 
one of the most celebrated Indian towns and the home of the most noted 
Indian chiefs. All that had been done for the laying out of the town 
of Selden was promptly revoked. Freeman Barrows, one of the pro- 
moters, bought the land and much of that adjoining it. upon which he 
built a house. . 

The steamer "United States Mail" came up from St. Louis to Har- 



314 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

mony Mission in 1858, stopping at Papinsville on its way up and down. 
Harmony was only about a mile or two by water up the Marais des 
Cygnes river. Then the Civil War came on and no more steamboats 
arrived until 1867, when the large steamer, "The Osage," came as far 
as Rapid de Kaw and there unloaded, not being able to get up over 
the rapids to Papinsville. She made, two trips up, and the "Tom 
Stephens" made three that year, and being a lighter boat was enabled 
to reach and land at Papinsville. In 1869 the "Tom Stephens" made 
six trips from St. Louis to Papinsville and that was the end of merchant 
marine service on the Osage and the Marais des Cygnes. But about 
1905 or '06, Congressman David A. DeArmond and a party of friends 
chartered a little steamer at Monegaw Springs and came up the Osage, 
thence up the Marais des Cygnes to a point near Cornland or Athol, 
where they disembarked and the congressman took the Missouri Pacific 
railroad train for his home in Butler, about six miles north, and the 
party of friends returned on the steamer to Monegaw Springs, stopping 
at the towns and villages along the way. Since then no attempt has been 
made to navigate the Osage above Osceola, and for some years not 
above Warsaw, the county seat of Benton, and in fact nothing like reg- 
ular transportation by water above Tuscumbia 'in Miller county is 
maintained on the beautiful Osage. Railroads reaching Bugnell, A\"ar- 
saw, and Osceola, put river service out of business. 

Bates County in the Fifties. 

(By Hon. J. B. Newberry.) 

To the Reader. — The following personal recollections have been 
written wholly from memory, and as I have not attempted to write 
anything like a history of Bates county, many incidents of interest have 
been left out which are matters of record. The effort to recall and 
record some of the incidents connected with my early residence in 
Bates county has awakened many pleasant memories of the past, for 
truly I can look back to those early times with the very pleasant con- 
viction that they were among the most happy of my life and, if I have 
succeeded in writing anything which will interest or amuse the reader 
of the history of Bates county, I shall feel amply repaid for the effort. 
I think I can safely claim the indulgence of the reader to overlook 
the faults and shortcomings of the writer in his efforts to contribute, 
however slightly, to the history of Bates county previous to the war 
of 1861 to 1865. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



315 



Bates County As I Saw It in 1853. — I came to Bates county in 
the spring of 1853, and located at Papinsville. There were seven fami- 
lies living there at that time: S. H. Loring, F. F. Eddy, F. H. Eddins, 
Geo. L. Duke, S. S. Duke, D. B. McDonald and James McCool. S. H. 
Loring was engaged in merchandising, as was the firm of Eddy & 
Eddins. James McCool kept a dram shop. Geo. L. Duke operated a 
wool carding machine, the motive power of which was an inclined wheel. 
S. S. Duke worked at the carpenter's trade. D. B. McDonald was clerk 
in Eddy & Eddin's store. There were several others employed at work 
of various kinds about town. Papinsville was at that time the county 
seat of Bates county, which at that time comprised the territory out 
of which Vernon county was erected. I shall not attempt to give a 
history of the changes in the county lines of the causes which led up 
to the same. An old log building was serving as a court house at this 
time. In 1854 a new brick court house was erected, which enlivened 
and greatly added to the business of the town. Newcomers began to 
arrive, new buildings were erected and the population continued to 
increase until the county seat was removed in 1856. During the year 
1853 Richardson & Onay brought in and operated a saw-mill, for which 
eight or ten horses furnished the motive power. Onay was accidentally 
thrown against the saw in the summer of 1854, receiving injuries from 
which he died in a few days. Richardson, assisted by Eddy & Eddins, 
soon changed the motive power to steam and operated it until his 
death, when it was taken charge of by others. 

In the season of 1854 or 1855 a bridge was built across the river, 
which was a great convenience to the traveling public as well as to 
the community. 

In 1852-3-4 and 1855 there was considerable immigration to Cali- 
fornia and thousands of cattle were brought to be driven across the 
plains, leaving thousands of dollars of gold coin in the hands of the 
people, which made prosperous times for the country. In fact, it was 
sometimes boastingly said that the people all had their pockets full 
of twenty dollar gold pieces. 

The immediate vicinity of Papinsville was sparcely settled at this 
time. Freeman Barrows lived about one and one-half or two miles 
southeast of town; Peter Colin (pronounced Collee), lived about one 
mile south of him ; J. N. Durand lived about three miles due east from 
town. There were quite a number of settlers living along Panther 
creek and its tributaries, among whom I remember W. PI. Anderson. 



o 



1 6 HISTORY OF i?ATES COUNTY 



James S. Hook, who still lives at the same place, Jacob Housinger and 
several members of his family who had families of their own, Robert 
Bilcher and family, William Milton, John Gilbreath and sons, William, 
Simeon and Stephen, were living in what was called Round Prairie, as 
did Richard Stratton, Peter B. Stratton, who was afterward elected 
circuit and county clerk, lived farther west and on the north side of 
the creek and William Hedrick, who is still living and has passed the 
ninety-fifth mile-stone on life's journey, and is hale and hearty. John 
D. Myres, also afterward elected circuit and county clerk. Col. George 
Douglass, George Rains, Widow Blevins and family, mother of Judge 
C. I. Robards ; hers was the first house I saw the inside of in Bates 
county, and I have greatly held in remembrance her kindness, and 
also the cup of cold coffee she gave me, for I was very thirsty as 
well as weary, and was greatly refreshed by it. The next settlement 
north of Panther creek was on Deepwater. Among the settlers I might 
mention Hiram Snodgrass and his sons, Isaac, Richard, William and 
James V., the latter of whom and two sisters, Mrs. \\'hite and Mrs. 
Jennings, are still living in Bates, widow Lutsenhizer's family, two of 
whom, T. B. Lutsenhizer and Mrs. Simpson, wife of J. R. Simpson, are 
still living here, George Ludwick and family of whom John L. and Mrs. 
Vanhoy are living in this county, and William is temporarily staying 
in Colorado, Oliver Drake, Peter Gutridge. W. B. Price, Samuel Scott 
and Joseph Beatty. 

On north Deepwater at Johnstown and vicinity, were living John 
Plarbert and family; John Hull lived in the town; R. L. Pettus, J. B. 
Pettus, Samuel Pyle, James McCool and others. 

In the north part of the county on Peter creek. Elk Fork and Grand 
river there were settlements, among others whom I remember, Martin 
Hackler, J. Leakey, Alexander Erhart, Austin Reeder, Joseph Reeder, 
J. C. Gragg, Joseph Highly, George Sears, William Crawford, Martin 
Owens, Hiram Edwards, William France, R. Dejarnett, Lewis C. Flag- 
gard, John Pardee, John Evans, John S. McCraw, the last two of whom 
are still living at the same place they were then, Enoch Rolling, George 
L. Smith, Barton Holderman, Alexander Feely, Frank R. Berry, Joseph 
Clymer, Vincent Johnson and John Green. 

On the Miami. Mulberry and Marais des Cygnes there were a num- 
ber of settlers, among whom were Samuel Dobbins, Clark Vermillion, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 317 

Oliver Elswick, H. B. Francis, Bktford Merchant, Messrs. Ramsy, Jack- 
son and J. Rogers. 

On Mound Branch Hved Major Glass and widow Hersell and family 
and probably others. 

About Pleasant Gap and Double Branches the following names are 
remembered: James Ridge, Joseph Wix, William Deweese and sons, 
Jesse, Evan and Elijah; Livy Bethol. Peter Trimble, Doctor McNeil, 
Cornelius Nafus, Hugh Campbell, John Dillon, Dr. William Requa, 
William, George and Aaron Thomas, John, Lindsey and Thomas Wine, 
James Coe, Enoch Humphrey, George Requa and family including Aus- 
tin, James, George and Cyrus, Jesse Rinehart, J. O. Starr and John 
Hartman. 

On Mission branch and Sycamore I remember George Weddle, 
Abraham Goodwin, Widow Zimmerman and family, Mrs. Charette and 
family, also an Osage Indian half-breed named Gesso Chouteau, who had 
been educated at Harmony Mission, but who still retained the Indian 
characteristics of shiftlessness and laziness and was fond of whiskey, and 
wdiile possessing a fairly good education, gave little evidence of it except 
when his tongue got limbered up with liquor. 

Of those who were living on the south side of the Marais des 
Cygnes river I remember M. Parks, Jeremiah Burnett, William. Thomas 
and B. F. Jennings, O. H. P. Miller, Widow West and family, Edmund 
Bartlett, Jason and A. H. Woodfin. 

In the foregoing list of names I have intended to include only those 
who were living in the county at the time of my coming to the county, 
but as it is written from memory it is possible it may contain names of 
some few who came to the county after 1853. 

There are many left off for the reason that their names have escaped 
my memory at the time of writing, but whom I formerly was well 
acquainted with. 

From this time (1853) on, the county settled up very fast. Many 
immigrants came from other states every year, aside from those who 
came from other countries within the state. New farms were opened 
up, new houses built and improvements of all kinds were added. New 
settlements were made out on the prairie, miles away from timber, which 
was a surprise to some of the old settlers most of whom came from 
sections of countrv heavilv timbered, and I have heard more than one 



3l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of them sagely assert that the wide open prairies of Bates county would 
always remain so, as people could not settle them up and live upon 
them so far away from timber; and furthermore, there was not enough 
to support more than a small area near the streams. How greatly 
those first settlers were mistaken in the capability of the county for 
the support and maintenance of a large population we can now realize 
when we see some of the finest and best improved farms miles away 
from timber and the owners not caring to possess any timber land. It 
has been abundantly demonstrated that much less timber is needed than 
the early settlers supposed was the case. Hedges and barbed wire sup- 
ply the place of rails for fences, and the rail roads bring in building 
material for other improvements, thereby lessening the demand for 
native timber. 

From 1853 to 1861 the county continued to increase rapidly in popu- 
lation and wealth. By the end of 1857 practically all government land 
had been entered, and mostly by actual settlers. 

The border troubles between Missouri and Kansas wdiich com- 
menced in 1856 over the question of slavery in Kansas, retarded the 
growth of the country somewhat but probably not to a great extent, 
but when the war commenced in 1861, the people began to move away 
from the border on the west, some going south and some north, while 
others further away from Kansas into the interior of the state; the 
movement gaining impetus as the war progressed, until the promulga- 
tion of General Thomas Ewing's celebrated "Order No. 11," which was 
on August 25, 1863, then all went, and stood not on the order of their 
going. Such property as they were not able to take with them was left 
behind, and the amount so left was neither small in bulk or insignifi- 
cant in value and most of which was an utter loss to the owners, it 
afterward being either stolen or destroyed. In the fall of 1863 there 
was not a single family left within the confines of Bates county which 
three short years before contained thousands of contented, prosperous 
and happy people. As a proof of the number of citizens in the county at 
that time, I will mention that more than 1,200 votes w^ere cast at the 
general election in 1860. 

I shall not attempt to write about the return to and resettlement 
of the county after the war was over, by those who had been compelled 
to leave their homes by reason of the war, to find in a majority of cases 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY .319 

that their houses were burned or destroyed together with the other 
improvements on their places, finding a waste and desolation in place 
of any of the comforts or conveniences of the home they had left behind 
them when they were compelled to abandon the county. 

The early settlers were generally honest, industrious, frugal and 
contented. They were also very free hearted, charitable and always 
willing and ready to assist their neighbors or others needing assistance 
such as they were able to give. There were very few of great wealth 
but nearly all in circumstances to live comfortably according to the cus- 
toms of the country. Nearly all had some education, there being some 
highly educated, while there were others whose educational advantages 
barely enabled them to read and write. 

Newspapers were not so plentiful or cheap as at present. Neither 
were mail facilities equal to those we now enjoy. The mails were car- 
ried on horseback and once each week only, but quite a number of 
papers were taken, and those who received none got the news from their 
neighbors, and the people were generally well informed about the 
world's doings. Generally a goodly number of people went to town 
on Saturday, for the purpose of trading at the stores, to get their mail, 
have their plows sharpened or work done, hear the news, meet their 
neighbors and some went on general principles and to have a good 
time. 

As there were no means of transporting farm products to market 
there was no inducement to open up large farms and raise large crops 
as there is at present, in consequence of which, the people had more 
leisure for visiting and hunting; and game, such as deer, turkey and 
waterfowl, was abundant, and fish were plentiful in the streams and 
lakes. Visiting was indulged in as if it were a duty as well as a pleasure. 
Neighbors living ten or fifteen miles apart would often exchange visits, 
while those who lived from three to five miles from each other would 
go still more often, frequently spending a day and night or a longer 
time with their neighbor. House raising, corn-shucking and such like 
occasions called out the neighbors for miles around, and after the work 
was done, usually a dance would follow, when all both young and old, 
participated if they chose to do so, and usually kept it up all night. 

Shooting matches were frequently arranged when the people for 
miles around would meet and contest for the championship, sometimes 



3-0 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

a beef would be contested for, with first, second, third, fourth and fifth 
choice, the hide being fifth. Occasionally, one person would win all 
five parts and could drive his animal home if he chose to do so. 

Education for their children seems to have been early looked after 
and provided for by the early settlers. Schools were established in 
each district, where from three to six months school was held each 
year. Subscription schools were frequently provided for when the public 
funds were inadequate. While the public schools of that day were 
probably not up to the high standard of the present, yet they were sufii- 
cient to furnish a really good and useful common school education, 
quite as helpful and practical as that obtained in our more modern 
schools; and very few children were permitted to grow up without hav- 
ing at least the rudiments of an education. 

The interest taken by the early settlers in education has con- 
tinued to grow and increase with those who came after them until at 
the present time I think it no exaggeration to say that no county in 
the state has better public schools, or where the people more liberally 
and earnestly support them, materially and otherwise, than in Bates 
county, and her citizens all feel proud of them and the excellent public 
school S3^stem of the state, and no fears need be felt but that they will 
be kept at their present high standard. 

Sixty-eight Years Ago. 
(By Judge C. I. Robards.) 

No man will ever be able to imitate the beauty of landscape and 
variety of scenery of the natural prairies of the great West, because 
of their vastness and their variety of products, many of which are extinct. 

Flowers that grew spontaneously and occupied every season, from 
earliest spring to latest fall, excelled any collection man could gather 
in a life-time. Lilies, roses, phloxes, violets, wild chrysanthemums, 
single petunias, crimson asclepias, snow drops — brilliant and gorgeous 
flowers for every season — were here to be enjoyed for their beauty 
as landscape decorations, or to be plucked at will. The air was redolent 
with their perfume ; their sweets were free for the honey-makers. 

The grass that grew everywhere was more nutritious than any 
meadow of modern days. Fruits in great variety grew in the wooded 
districts along the water courses and ripened in succession — an abundant 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 32 1 

supply for the wants of all. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, 
dewberries, wild apples, blackhaws, grapes of large size and excellent 
flavor, persimmons, pawpaws, pecan nuts, black walnuts so plentiful that 
they could be scooped up with a shovel. 

Bees stored their honey in hollow trees so abundantly that it could 
be gathered by the barrel-full. Everywhere nature provided so abund- 
antly for man's wants that no one could doubt the Bible representation 
of "The land that flowed with milk and honey." 

Apple and peach orchards planted in those primitive days knew no 
insect pests and no failure of crops. Watermelons and muskmelons 
planted in freshly turned prairie sod covered the ground with the luxu- 
riance of their vines, and without cultivation produced monstrous melons 
so abundantly there were more than could be consumed. Water, pure and 
fresh, stood in the open prairie in sunken basins or pools that seemed 
to have neither inlet or outlet. Fish occupied these natural ponds. 
Wild animals and fowls found food, water and shelter in these great 
natural fields. Wooded streams afforded protection and water for fish 
and fowls. Along the margins of these water courses grew wild climb- 
ing roses ; in the ponds and lakes grew water lilies, and beavers and 
otters had their homes here. 

When this immense growth of vegetation was killed by frosts in 
the fall, grand and w^onderful sights were presented in the burning 
prairies, for the wild grass grew in some seasons' to the height of eight 
or ten feet. Then these furious fires would create destruction to the 
lives of stock and occasionally a human life would be sacrificed by the 
intense heat. But as the prairies became more densely inhabited, bet- 
ter regulations were established for protection, and whole neighborhoods 
would form lines of men armed with different weapons of defense against 
these dangers. In the highest fury of these fires the flames would leap 
over creeks and rivers, destroying houses, fences and trees. Then the 
only means of defence was to build counter fires to advance and meet 
the oncoming flames until the two lines united and there was nothing 
more to destroy. 

But man's progress and civilization have destroyed that which can 
never be reproduced. The plow and the railroad have developed a 
different order of things and whether better or worse, it remains for 
(21) 



322 HISTORY OF BATES v^OUXTY 

those who loved the beautiful prairie to know them only in memory. 

A Model Log House. — In the eastern part of Bates county, in Hud- 
son township, there stands a log house in a good w^ay of preservation, 
now owned and occupied by Thomas J. Pheasant, that was built on my 
father's farm almost fifty-five years ago. All the logs in this building 
are of wdiite oak or black walnut hewn wath smooth surfaces by the 
broad ax and adz, leveled at top and bottom, dove-tailed and matched 
at the end. As the logs were laid in place each one was bedded in 
mortar, and to add to the security of their position, holes were bored 
through every log from top to bottom of the whole wall on each side 
of every door and window, on each side of every corner and held in 
place by an inch iron bolt the full height of the wall. This log house 
has been re-roofed four or five times, first with black walnut rived boards, 
then with best sawed shingles and now" wuth pine. The flooring w^as all 
cut with a whipsaw, the log being placed on a strong frame and one 
man standing above the log to pull the saw up while another stood 
beneath the log to pull it down. The upper floor was cut from large 
pecan logs, the lower floor large black walnut timber. The reason my 
father had for having this house built so substantially was to resist high 
winds. 

I do not remember that we feared cyclones in the early settlement 
of this country, but w'e could often see the tracks of terrific tornadoes 
and hurricanes in the timber districts. Our house was built and stands 
on a high limestone table-land at the head of Panther creek. From this 
eminence we could view a beautiful landscape five miles in extent in 
nearly every direction. 

Game of nearly every kind was abundant and from our hill we 
could see deer every fair day in the year. Indians from different tribes 
came to visit us every spring and fall to ask permission to hunt game, 
until we became so accustomed to seeing them that we did not fear 
them. 

My father settled in Bates county wdien I was ten years of age. 
I had four sisters. When the Indians came to see us, sometimes a 
dozen or more at the same time, we would go out and meet them and 
exchange pork or corn or some article that they wanted, for their veni- 
son. They invariably had one interpreter or spokesman, all other mem- 
bers of the party giving us to understand that they could not speak 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^2^ 

our language. When they returned the next season some other mem- 
ber of the party would act as interpreter and the speaker of the former 
season would be silent, pretending not to understand. But they were 
jovial among themselves and much given to laughter. 

During our early acquaintance with the frontier tribes of Indians 
we never heard of more than one act of hostility. About the year of 1840 
a band of Osage Indians obtained permission from their agent, located 
in what is now Kansas, to come over the border into Missouri to hunt. 
While hunting game in the woods they killed some hogs belonging to 
white settlers. In haste, and angered at the depredations of the Indians, 
an armed band of whites suddenly appeared at the Indians' camp to 
bring them to account for their conduct. The first unfortunate impulse 
of the Indians was to fly to their arms and resist what they supposed 
to be a determination to butcher them. The Indians opened fire on 
the white men and killed a Mr. Dodge, one of the most useful and 
influential pioneers of the county. Finally the Indians were induced 
to surrender, and after being informed that they must not return, the 
locks were removed from their guns and they were sent back to their 
agency in disgrace. The Indians' visits were not so frequent for sev- 
eral years after this event, but finally under promise of good behavior 
they began to return in small bands and always asked permission when 
they came to hunt. 

One day a wounded deer came bounding into my father's corn- 
field. My dog gave chase and soon caught it. Just then a large Indian 
with a gun in his hand ran to me and gave me to understand that it 
was his deer, and pointing to its hind foot showed me it had been shot 
ofif; of course I could but submit. He proceeded to dress the deer in 
a hasty but neat way, and after it was all ready to pack he cut ofT one 
of the hind quarters and gave it to me as my portion for the service 
my dog had rendered. I thought then, as I now think, he proved him- 
self to be better than most white men in manliness and gratitude. 

My Watermelon Patch. — I planted a little watermelon patch in the 
center of the cornfield where from the hill-top at the house I could look 
down into. it. As I looked into my melon patch one day I discovered 
that a number of deer and wild turkeys had taken possession of it and 
that after they had dined on melons at my expense were engaged in a 
little innocent dance among the vines. The turkeys would flap tlieir 



324 



HISTORY OF BATFS COMNTY 



wings and strike and jump against the deer, while the latter danced 
and jumped around the turkeys like lambs at play. 

They were so intent on their amusement that they did not notice 
me as I quietly crept down among the corn to within a few feet of 
the little open square. Here I lay quiet a few moments, then raising 
my head discovered that a turkey was my nearest game. Leveling 
my gun I pulled the trigger, but to my disappointment the gun had 
been loaded so long that it failed to discharge and I feared the explo- 
sion of the percussion cap would scare the game away. I remained 
very quiet for a little while until assured that there would be no gen- 
eral alarm, then placed a fresh cap on the tube. By this time a deer 
stood, broad-side, within a few feet of where I lay. I took ste'ady aim, 
but to my increased aggravation my gun again failed to do service. 
I now felt sure I should lose all opportunity to capture any of the 
game, although within reach of it. The turkeys began to be suspicious 
and I knew by their notes of alarm that they were warning each other 
to be on the lookout for danger. I determined, however, that as long 
as the game remained within reach of a shot I would continue to try 
the obstinate gun. The third time I took more care to prepare my 
gun for service. Having come prepared with powder-horn and shot, 
I opened the tube wdth a pin, poured in fresh powder and primed it 
to the top, then placed on a new cap and raising my head cautiously, 
saw a fat, half-grown deer less than twenty feet away. This time 
my gun did full execution and there immediately occurred a rush- 
ing flight and stampede of all the game except the animal at which I 
had aimed, and that one I dragged proudly home. 

Shooting Wild Turkey. — We kept a flock of tame turkeys. One 
fall a wild turkey came from the woods and, although it always seemed 
a little shy, stayed all winter with the tame ones. In the spring he 
became discontented and began to evince a disposition to return to 
his haunts in the woods. He would make frequent attempts to lead 
our whole flock of tame ones away to the place of the home of his 
wild companions. I then determined that if he was so ungrateful as 
to desert us after all our kindness and after having shared our hos- 
pitality a whole winter I would rather have his dead body than to 
have his living memory. I carefully loaded my rifle, but to my great 
chagrin, found that my cap box was empty. In those days it was not 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 325 

easy to obtain supplies when they were exhausted, as it was six miles 
to the nearest store. 

I had determined to shoot that turkey, however. By this time 
the turkey had perched himself on a fence within twenty feet of the 
house. Having raised the window quietly, I told my mother to take 
the tongs and bring a coal of fire from the fireplace and when I raised 
the hammer of the gun as I took aim at him, to touch the live coal to 
the tube of the gun. The discharge, of course, was simultaneous with 
the application of the coal. My mother was greatly frightened; but 
we shot the turkey and ate him for dinner. 

Language of Birds. — I noticed a remarkable proof of the com- 
munication of the wishes of birds. As I stood on our hill one day at 
noon I noticed a large hawk slowly and laboriously approaching the 
limestone bluf¥ to the west of the house. The direction the bird was 
flying was bringing it nearly over my head. The hawk was evidently 
carrying a heavy prey for its young and as it came nearer I discovered 
that its burden was a rabbit hanging down from its talons. At this 
moment I noticed the hawk's mate dart rapidly away from the cliffs and 
fly directly under its mate at a distance of fifteen feet or more below, 
then suddenly the upper hawk dropped its burden, I supposed acci- 
dentally, but it was caught by the mother hawk, as I believed the 
lower bird to be, who turned herself feet up in the air and received 
the rabbit as dexterously as ever baseball catcher caught a ball, then 
turned and hurried back to feed her brood, while the tired master hawk 
flew slowly after. 

Events of Long Ago. 

(By William E. Walton.) 

You ask me to write about Bates county as it appeared twenty-seven 
years ago. 

I came here in July, 1870, and began the making of a set of title 
abstract books. Butler was a small village, and Bates county one big 
prairie with timber along the streams. 

Where Rich Hill, Adrian, Hume, Foster, Merwin and Amsterdam 
now stand was then wild prairie land. Our court house was being built 
by John B. Tinklepaugh, a contractor, but he failed, and it was completed 
by his bondsmen. None of the streams were bridged, unless there was 



326 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

one bridge at Papinsville. After big rains we had three ways of crossing, 
viz. ; wade, swim, or wait for low water. 

Times were good and everybody making money. Non-residents 
owned the big prairies and paid taxes while our farmers and stock raisers 
grazed thousands of cattle on the land and grew rich on "free range." 
Immigrants with money were coming from everywhere, but principally 
from the north, buying the rich, low priced land, plowing up the sod, 
building houses and making farms. In fact, we were at the high tide 
of prosperity in 1870. 

The war lasted four years and had closed five years prior to that 
time. During its continuance it brought sorrow and death to a million 
homes, and reduced the South from a condition of affluence to that of 
poverty. On account of the war the government had paid out hundreds 
of millions of dollars, and this vast sum was in the hands of the people. 
True, the government had borrowed this money by selling to Europe 
interest-bearing bonds, but we had the money and they had the bonds 
and pay day was a long ways ofT. It was an era of speculation and money 
making. The mints were open to the free coinage of both gold and silver, 
but neither metal was in circulation. Gold was at a premium, and had 
been for years. This was before the crime of 1873. Our money was all 
paper. We were getting rich and getting in debt both. In 1873 the Jay 
Cooke bank failed. This startled the country and was the beginning 
of a panic that covered the United States and ruined thousands that were 
in debt. Although money was plenty and business good, in 1870 interest 
rates ruled high. Money was active and in great demand, for everybody 
speculated. From 15 to 18 per cent, was the rate for short-time loans, 
and on five-year farm loans from 12 to 15 per cent. I frequently borrowed 
money then, and was considered fortunate when I could get it at 15 
per cent. 

The first bank in Butler was owned by the "Dunbaugh Brothers." 
It failed in October, 1870, owing its depositors $70,000. Immediately 
after this failure, Mr. Cheney, F. J. Tygard and P. A. Burgess came 
from Holden, Missouri, and opened the Bates County Bank, which was 
for several years the only bank here. There are now (1918) fifteen banks 
in Bates county, and two trust companies. 

Courts were held upstairs in the room now occupied by Sam Levy 
Mercantile Company. Church services were frequently held in the same 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 327 

room. Politically, times were hot in 1870. Our congressman was S. S. 
Burdett, a lawyer living at Osceola. He was a Republican, and had 
defeated for Congress John F. Phillips, late federal judge at Kansas 
City. During the Bryan-McKinley campaign he visited Butler after an 
absence of twenty-five years and spoke in our opera house. Our circuit 
judge was David McGaughey. The writer was clerk of election in 
Clinton, Missouri, in 1868, and counted the votes when he defeated Judge 
Foster P. Wright. Both are now dead. John D. Myers was county clerk, 
circuit clerk and recorder of deeds. He was the father of Mrs. Judge 
Steele of Butler. Judge Myers was "Southern raised," but was a "Union 
man." He had troubles during the war and sincerely believed he had 
been badly treated. He was positive and outspoken. Such men always 
have enemies. He was an honest man, always true to a friend. Our 
county judges were B. H. Thornton, who owned and lived on the Badgley 
farm two miles southwest of Butler, L. E. Hall of Homer township, and 
J. N. Crigler, of near Johnstown. Wesley T. Smith was sheriff and tax 
collector. He was a defaulter for $18,000, but $10,000 was paid by his 
bondsmen. H. C. Donnahue, who recently ran for Congress on the Popu- 
list ticket, was county treasurer. 

C. C. Bassett, A. M. Christian, C. F. Boxley, A. Henry, William. 
Page, P. H. Holcomb, Sam Riggs, L. D. Condee, T. J. Callaway, C. H. 
Wilson, N. A. Wade, A. T. Holcomb, J. K. Hansburg, J. K. Brugler 
and J. J. Brumback were our lawyers. Bassett was a candidate for cir- 
cuit judge in 1872, but was defeated by Foster P. Wright. Henry and 
Bassett were each candidates for Congress several times, but neither 
secured the Democratic nomination. 

Doctors Boulware, Pyle, Frizell, Carnal, Martin, Patten and Heath 
were the physicians. All are yet living except Frizell and Carnal. A. H. 
Lamb was postmaster and kept the office in a one-story frame that stood 
on the lot now covered by the wxst half of the Palace Hotel, now Ameri- 
can Clothing House. 

The Republicans held all the offices. They had passed a law^ in 1865 
that "Confederates" and "Southern Sympathizers" were disfranchised. 
This law was not repealed until 1870. In that year the Republican party 
of Missouri "split" on the question of enfranchisement. B. Gratz Brown 
and Carl Scliurz, both original old line Republicans, bolted the conven- 
tion and became leaders in favor of restoring the ballot to all Southern- 



328 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ers. They were called "Liberal Republicans" to distinguish them from 
the "Regular Republican party" that opposed enfranchisement. The 
Democrats of Missouri made no nominations but voted the liberal ticket. 
The result was B. Gratz Brown was elected Governor and Carl Schurz 
elected to the United States Senate. The Republicans lost control in 
Missouri and the ballot was. restored to all Confederates and Southern 
sympathizers. In Bates county the ticket elected was a combination of 
"Liberal Republicans" and Democrats, viz.: John B. Newberry, sheriff; 
F. V. Holloway, treasurer; John R. Walker, representative; S. H. Geisel, 
circuit clerk; William Smith, county clerk. All were Democrats except 
Geisel and Smith. 

John R. Walker was then a young, wealthy farmer living eight miles, 
northeast of Butler. He is now United States district attorney at Kansas 
City. 

O. D. Austin was then editor of the "Record." W. A. Feely had 
recently begun the publication of the "Democrat." The writer in Octo- 
ber, 1870, assisted John R. Walker, N. A. Wade and others in carrying 
the type and material of the "Democrat" up-stairs in a frame building 
that stood where the Missouri State Bank now is, and from that room 
was published the "Bates County Democrat." Feely died several years 
later and is buried in the old cemetery. There was much of bitterness 
in politics then. The Republicans called the Southerners "Rebels." The 
Southerners called the Republicans "Radicals," neither side showing 
much liberality. We had not then learned this truth — that each man's 
peculiar views are the natural outgrowth of his environment — that 
education and surroundings in youth largely mould and shape opin- 
ions. 

Had Jef¥ Davis been born and raised in Maine he would doubtless 
have been an abolitionist, and John Brown if born and brought up in 
South Carolina would in all probability have been a secessionist. 

We had no railroads but our people were anxious to secure one. 
Under the law. bonds could be voted by the tax-payers to aid in 
building railroads. In a year or two almost every county in Missouri 
had issued two or three hundred thousand dollars in bonds, sold them 
in the market for cash and afterward paid the money to wild cat compa- 
nies that had nothing to build railroads with outside of this money. The 
roads were half finished when the money gave out. Litigation followed 
for years. The courts generally held the bonds legal. 



, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 329 

In September, 1874, grasshoppers came. Being late in the season 
but httle damage was done crops. They deposited their eggs in the 
ground and early in the following spring hatched out by the million and 
proceeded at once with voracious appetites to devour everything green. 
The whole country was covered with them. They were as thick on the 
ground as bees sometimes get on the outside of a hive. Our people were 
much discouraged for it looked as if nothing could be raised. But to our 
great joy one day late in the spring the "hoppers" took flight, and we have 
never seen them since. 

Talks and Tales of Olden Times. 
(By Clark Wix, of Deepwater Township.) 

My father, Joseph Wix, came from Fulton county, Illinois, and set- 
tled in Bates county (being then only nineteen years old), in October, 
1839, two miles northeast of Pleasant Gap, where I was born February 
5, 1850, on the farm where my youngest brother, Seth Wix, now lives. 
My father boiight a claim and continued to live on the same farm until 
his death in February, 1895, except three years during the Civil W^ar 
we lived in JefTerson county, Kansas. We returned to the old home, 
the well and land still there, April 10, 1866; and by hard work and close 
application soon had several hundred acres fenced with eight-foot rails 
hauled with ox-teams two and three miles; and I had some of the honor 
of the rail-hauling and splitting, too. Deer and wild turkey were plenti- 
ful ; also prairie chickens by the thousands. I have seen my father 
many times shoot wild turkeys of¥ the oat stacks with a trusty old 
rifle, as they were among our tame ones on the stacks. On one occa- 
sion we had hauled shock corn out to our cattle. There was a big snow 
on the ground. I saw my father kill two big deer feeding among the 
cattle at one shot with a rifle — got them in range. 

Among the first settlers that I can remember in and around Pleas- 
ant Gap in my childhood days were Uncle Joe Smith, the merchant at 
Pleasant Gap; James S. Ridge; Horace Melton; Jesse, Ivan and Elijah 
Deweese ; Levi Bechtal ; Peter Trimble ; George and Boly Rains ; Richard 
Andrew; Jonathan and Riley and Daniel Blevens; Jacob Freeman and 
three sons, Jonathan, Jake and William ; Judge John D. Myers, his son, 
John, and foiir step-sons, James H., Elihu, W. B., and George Ray- 



330 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

bourn; John M., W. G., Ben and Alvis Cumpton; Hillery Pitts; the 
Doyles; John Dillon; Doctor McNeal; John Wix, R. B. Wix's father 
and a brother to my father. He settled on the farm that his son, Robert, 
now owns in the year 1840, and died in 1862. Corneal Nafus and Daniel 
Smith and my uncle, Joseph Beatty; Uncle Martin White and his three 
sons, James M., Wesley and Griffis; Uncle Billy Campbell, Judge Camp- 
bell's father; and a Mr. Beckelhammer — all were among the very early 
settlers that I can remember. Uncle Martin White was an "old school" 
Baptist preacher, and a good man. I can remember on one occasion he 
came to preach at the Wix school house. He preached for about two 
hours, while I sat in the line on a puncheon seat. Uncle Martin went 
home with us for dinner; and before dinner was announced my father, 
knowing the hard work of a two hours' effort, got the old five-gallon 
demijohn from under the bed, and Uncle Martin took a glass tumbler 
full and remarked that it was a good article. Most every man kept it in 
those days to ward off chills and fever and to cure snake bites, and very 
poisonous snakes were plentiful. So were the chills, also, in those days. 
We would butcher eighteen to twenty-five big hogs for our meat and 
what we could not use would trade the bacon to some fellow for his work 
making rails or hoeing corn. There was no market for hogs on foot as 
there is now. All the neighbors were good, honest people and would go 
for miles to help each other butcher or build a log cabin. I remember 
going to mill, with a sack of corn, eight miles north. Went to a little tread 
mill owned and operated by Thomas and Jesse Fowler — Thomas being 
Isaac Fowler's father; on the farm where Willis Walbridge now lives. It 
was a very industrious little mill, as fast as it ground one grain it jumped 
on another one at once and ground it. I have waited all day for my grist. 
I told the miller one day I could eat it all as fast as it ground it out and 
he said, "How long would you live and eat all that?" I told him until I 
starved to death. In going to this mill on an old sorrel mare I went as the 
crow flies and only passed two houses in the eight miles, all open prairie 
and tall prairie grass. Saw lots of deer, wolves and prairie chickens on 
the way. Land was then worth three dollars to five dollars an acre ; 
now all fenced and fine houses and barns on it and selling for sixty-five 
to one hundred dollars an acre and more ; and it is owned by a prosperous 
and up-to-date class of people. Many of them are the descendants of the 
very early settlers, who came mostly from Tennessee via Kentucky, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 33 1 

North and South Carolina, and a few from Ilhnois and Indiana. As a boy 
I have been in old Pleasant Gap on Saturday afternoons, and have seen 
a dozen drunks and soon some fellow would announce that he was the 
best man in town and it was sure to be disputed ; and from one to a half 
a dozen fights would follow as a result of a lot of bad booze ; but all this 
has changed and Pleasant Gap is surrounded by a good, law-abiding, 
Christian people, who frown on such things; and all are prosperous, good 
citizens and all believe in good roads, good churches and school houses, 
and neat, well-improved farms. 

I well remember when I was about seventeen years old I fell in love 
with a little golden-haired girl over in Lone Oak township and I learned, 
by note of course, that she would be at my aunt's. Bob Wix's mother, on 
a certain Saturday night. So I greased my shoes with sheep's tallow, put 
some bear's oil on my raven locks and walked over there to meet her, 
only a five-mile walk, and I made good time. She had to milk the cows; 
so I went along to mind the calves away while she pailed the cows. She 
said there was to be a "singing" at Major Hancock's just north over the 
creek, and said: "Hadn't we better go?" and I bit my finger and said, 
"I 'spect so." So after supper several young people came by my aunt's 
on their way to the singing — Bob Walters, Bob Wix, and others — so 
we all started. The girls ahead of us caught the boys in the elbow; then 
I was scared and walked apart from my girl but she did look sweet to 
me. There was a big foot-log to walk across the creek on, and water 
w^as high. I lived on high, dry land and had never walked a foot-log — nor 
had hold of a girl's hand; but I saw the other boys take hold of their 
girls' hands and lead them over. So I tremblingly took a firm hold 
on my girl's hand and got as far as mid-stream. My head began to 
swim and I went off that foot-log and forgot to let loose of her hand. 
But while all the boys and girls laughed we waded ashore and got to 
the singing and dried our duds by the big fireplace by standing in 
front of it; but my raven locks never appeared to appeal to her after 
that. 

The first mowing machine I ever saw in this country was an old 
John P. Mannie, one big wheel, bought by my father, and hauled from 
Boonville, Missouri, in 1857. It took four horses to pull it to cut prairie 
grass. People came for ten miles to see it cut grass, it beat a scythe 
so bad. We made a wooden rake. 



33^ HISTORY OF DATES COUNTY 



The first railroad engine I saw at Otterville, in 1862, after night. I 
was scared and looked closely to see if that train was coming end-ways 
or side-ways, for I knew if it did come up side-ways it w^ould kill us all. 

I have threshed wheat and oats with a hickory flail and rode one 
horse and led another to tramp out wheat and oats when a boy. We 
had no saddle and some days I would make the horse's back very sore. 
Those were trying times for the early settler, but after all, w^e look back 
to those days with a degree of pleasure. If a neighbor needed $50 or 
$500 no chattel mortgage was needed or given, nor bankable note 
required. They all did what they agreed to do with each other; but 
this was in the days before the wooden nut-meg was put on the market. 
At this date almost all of the early settlers I have mentioned above have 
long since been called home. I will mention a few more early settlers 
that I have overlooked": William, Simeon, and Stephen Gilbreath; Ava 
E. Page; Uncle Jim Hook, father of Emmett and Ed; Henry Myer; 
John Klostermier; Capt. John B. Newberry; Davis and Charles Rad- 
ford; James M. Simpson; T. H. Dickison. Most of these men came to 
Bates in the early forties. 




^"- ^lZ/^^Cc^ 






Biographical History of Bates County 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Theodrick C. Boulware, physician, a native of Missouri and leader 
of the medical profession of Bates county, was born in Callaway county, 
son of Stephen G. and Mary (Ratekin) Boulware, the former, a native 
of Kentucky and a son of Theodrick Boulware, Sr., who was born in 
Essex county, Virginia in 1780. Early in the life of Theodrick Boul- 
ware, Sr., and in the year 1784, his parents removed from Virginia to 
Kentucky. At that time, he was a mere child but, wdth the rest of the 
family, walked the entire distance, the packhorses being employed to 
carry the necessary household goods. The records of that state show 
that they were numbered among the founders of the commonwealth. 
They were constantly surrounded by dangers incident to life in the 
wilderness at that period, and it is related of them that when they 
went to church the head of the family always carried his musket on his 
shoulder in order to protect his family in event of an attack by Indians, 
who were then numerous and warlike in that region. The Boulware 
family is of Scotch descent, though the date of the original ancestor's 
coming to America is not known. Several representatives of the family 
have risen to prominence. An uncle of the subject of this sketch was 
for many years a resident of Albany, New York and was known as 
one of the most prominent physicians and surgeons of the Empire 
State. 

Stephen G. Boulware, the father of Dr. Boulware, accompanied 
his parents from Kentucky to Missouri in 1826, in the pioneer days of 
this state. His father finally settled in Callaway county, near Fulton, 
where he developed a fine farm and also preached in Fulton and the 
vicinity for many years. He died in 1868 on his daughter's plantation 
near Georgetown, Kentucky. As indicating his character and the prin- 
ciples which governed him, we transcribe the following rules which he 
adopted soon after his marriage, wdien quite young, and to which he 



334 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



adhered throughout life : "First. Read the Scriptures and worship 
God in the family. Second. Use regular industry and prudent econ- 
omy. Third. Never deal on credit or go in debt, except through 
unavoidable necessity. Fourth. Make expenses less than your regular 
profits. Fifth. Keep a regular book both of profits and expenses." 
Reverend Boulware was not a voluminous writer, but he published 
an autobiography, two or three volumes on doctrinal subjects, and a 
considerable number of sermons. Stephen G. Boulware grew to man- 
hood on his father's farm, married, and reared a large family. His 
son. Dr. Theodrick C. Boulware, was reared at the old homestead and 
began his education in the common schools of the neighborhood. 

After completing his preparatory course, Dr. Boulware entered 
Westminster College, a Presbyterian institution at Fulton, where he 
pursued the scientific course. Upon leaving this school, he became 
a student in the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, from which he 
was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1868. In 
the same year, he located for practice in Walnut township. Bates county, 
but one year later moved to Butler, becoming one of the pioneers of 
that city, where he has remained ever since. At the time he located 
at Butler, there were but eight or ten small houses in the town. Deer 
and other game were abundant in the neighborhood and he could ride 
a distance of ten miles on the prairie without seeing a single house, for, 
by Order Number 11, issued by General Ewing on August 21, 1863, 
all houses in the surrounding country had been burned for the purpose 
of depriving the Confederate forces places of refuge. The court house 
of Bates county was a small frame building and the town had no rail- 
road facilities. At that time, Butler was the principal station on the 
stage route between Pleasant Hill and Fort Scott, this route having 
been established in 1865. No roads had been laid out and no bridges 
spanned any of the streams in this vicinity. Horses were not thought 
to be capable of breaking sod on the raw prairie and oxen were employed 
in the work. The doctor relates that he has seen as many as one 
thousand prairie chickens at one time, while herds containing a dozen 
or fifteen deer were not uncommon. In the fall of 1874, he witnessed 
the memorable plague of grasshoppers. In the middle of the day, the 
hoppers began to descend like snowflakes, literally covering the ground. 
Everything growing, in the line of vegetation, was completely destroyed 
in a few hours. Even the bark of trees was eaten. The insects deposited 
billions of eggs in the ground and, with the amount of warm weather 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



335 



in 1875, the new generation created even greater havoc than the origi- 
nal pests. So general and complete was the devastation resulting from 
iheir ravages, that the inhabitants of western Missouri were compelled 
to apply to the outside world for food to keep them from starvation. 
Even the common weeds were destroyed. But the marvelous part of 
the story is that the destructive visit of these pests was followed by the 
greatest yield of farm products that this section of the country has ever 
known. 

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Doctor Boulware, then a lad 
of sixteen and a student in Westminster College, was seized with the 
martial fever, so common with boys at that time, and enlisted in the 
Confederate service. Though his expectations were that the demand 
for his services would cease at the end of two or three weeks, his ser- 
vices covered a period of four years, or until the close of the war. He 
at once became a member of the personal escort of Gen. Sterling Price, 
remaining with that noted commander until the close of the conflict 
and witnessing all the campaigns in which he participated. He was 
never seriously injured, though he had more than one narrow escape 
from injury or capture. 

Dr. Boulware has always exhibited a deep interest in matters per- 
taining to the advancement of his profession. For many years, he has 
been a member of the American Medical Association, the Missouri 
State Medical Society, of which he has been vice-president, the Inter- 
national Association of Railway Surgeons, and the Hodgen Medical 
Society, of which he has served as president. During the second admin- 
istration of President Cleveland, he was chairman of the local board 
of pension examiners, and for thirty years Dr. Boulware was the local 
surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. 

Though a lifelong Democrat, Dr. Boulware has never sought or 
consented to fill public ofifice. Fraternally, he is a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is one of the incorporators and 
still a director of the Missouri State Bank and he is identified with 
other interests calculated to promote the welfare of the city, of which 
he has been a prominent and influential citizen for nearly fifty years. 

Dr. Boulware's first marriage occurred June 21, 1877. He was 
married to Nettie Humphrey, a native of Iowa and a daughter of A. 
H. Humphrey, who was for many years a resident of Bates county, 
Missouri. Dr. and Mrs. Boulware had one child, who died in infancy, 
and Mrs. Boulware died in 1882. October 25, 1887, Doctor Boulware 



336 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

married Miss Dixie Ostrom, of St. Louis, Missouri. She \vas formerly 
a resident of Butler. She died April 26, 1896, leaving one son, John 
B., now a citizen of Butler. 

Doctor Boulware is a man of the highest moral character, and his 
professional career has been without spot or blemish. Of great liber- 
ality of heart, deeply interested in all matters pertaining to the well 
being of the community in which he has resided so long, he has assisted 
in the promotion of numerous measures calculated to advance the 
material welfare of Butler. His record is that of a liberal, broad-minded, 
upright, and useful member of society. Doctor Boulware has been 
practicing medicine longer than any doctor in the county and he is still 
an active practitioner, thoroughly alive to the new things that come 
up in the medical profession. The long experience under the trying 
conditions of the early days has given him a fund of anecdotes, which, 
when related by him in his inimitable, humorous art, delight his hearers. 
At the meetings of the medical associations in the state, a talk from 
Doctor Boulware will receive the closest attention and the point he 
desires to make is so well placed, with his original humor interspersed, 
that the audience never fails to get the full benefit of the lesson he 
intends to convey. 

Doctor Boulware states that a Mr. McFarland, a pioneer of the 
early seventies, was the first man to introduce barbed-wire fencing in 
this vicinity. He fenced his farm with wire and one night a party of 
men, residing in the neighborhood, destroyed the fence, claiming that 
it was dangerous to stock. In time, this prejudice was overcome and 
a few years later all the farms in the county had more or less wire 
fencing on them. Farm land in 1869 sold here for from two to four 
dollars an acre and when land rose in value to six dollars an acre there 
were many who thought it too high and the same land today is worth 
more than a hundred dollars an acre. Doctor Boulware says that if 
steamboats then had been selling for five dollars, he couldn't have 
bought a skiff. 

In the early days in Bates county, in the days when the rivers and 
streams were unbridged and at times of high water were practically 
impassable. Dr. Boulware conceived the idea of building a vehicle which 
should be so high that any swollen creek or stream in the county might 
be forded in safety and comfort by the occupant. Accordingly, a buggy 
was specially made to order for the doctor, a buggy having unusually 
large, high wheels, high springs, and seat, the running gear costing 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 337 

one hundred ten dollars, and when complete two steps had to be added 
so that one could climb into it. Doctor Boulware then could travel 
on the worst roads and in the worst weather and no swollen stream 
might delay him on any journey for his horses would swim across and 
the doctor, "high and dry," would land in safety on the opposite bank. 
Doctor Boulware's buggy became as famous in its day as Doctor 
Holmes' "Wonderful One-Hoss Shay" and throughout the countryside 
was known as Doctor Boulware's "Two-Story Buggy." 

J. B. Rice, farmer and dairyman, Mound township, was born in 
Nicholas county, Kentucky, near the town of Carlisle, September 20, 
1856. He is a son of Morgan and Courtney (Dayton) Rice, both of 
whom w^ere born and reared in Kentucky, where they spent their lives 
in the honorable pursuits of agriculture. They were parents of seven 
children, as follow: William, Indianapolis, Indiana; Lynn B., Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky; Mary, deceased; Alice, deceased; Courtney, wife of 
Marion Buchanan, now deceased; Mrs. Sally Martin, Paris, Kentucky; 
and J. B., subject of this review, who was reared and educated in his 
native state where he resided until he attained the age of twenty-eight 
years. 

Mr. Rice came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1884 and here purchased 
a tract of one hundred six acres of land, upon which he has been suc- 
cessfully following farming, stock raising, and dairying. He keeps a 
herd of ten milch cows and hauls the cream from his dairy to the nearest 
shipping point. He also raises and feeds a large number of hogs each 
year and has become fairly well-to-do and is prominently identified 
with Bates county interests. 

J. B. Rice was first married in 1881 with Emma Barnett, of Ken- 
tucky, who died in 1907, leaving three children: Walter M. and Dayton 
E., who are conducting a general store at Passaic, Missouri, under the 
firm name of Rice Brothers; and Vesta L., wife of C. A. Falk, of Pas- 
saic, Wyoming. Mr. Rice was married, on May 10, 1911, to May Craw- 
ford, a native of Fleming county, Kentucky. Mrs. Rice accompanied 
her parents to Bates county in 1879. She is a daughter of William 
Crawford, who settled in West Point township, near Amsterdam, in 

1879. 

Mr. Rice is a leader of the Democratic party in this county and 
has served two terms as township assessor. His conduct of the duties 
of his office was such as to give satisfaction to all concerned. He has 

(22) 



338 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

been closely identified with party affairs and has served as a member 
of the county central committee for six years. He has several times 
served as delegate to county and state conventions and wields much 
influence in political affairs. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen 
of America and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. 
Mrs. Rice is a member of the Baptist church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rice 
have many friends in Bates county and they tai^e an active part in 
social affairs in their neighborhood. 

. A. C. Rosier. — The individual who enlarges his sphere of usefulness 
and extends his activities beyond the immediate confines of his own 
personal needs is conferring a benefit upon his home community and 
doing some good in the world other than reaping the profits of his own 
enterprise. Endowed with ability of a high order, equipped with a 
broad education, which fitted him for the role which he has played in 
the social life of Bates county, A. C. Rosier, successful farmer and stock- 
man of Mound township, has devoted his life to the cause of Christian- 
ity and has spent his spare time in religious and Sunday school work, 
thereby preparing the youth of his neighborhood to lead more upright 
lives. Mr. Rosier was born in Fayette county, Iowa, in 1864, a son of 
J. K. and Susan Ann (Chambers) Rosier, both of whom were born and 
reared in Logan county, Ohio. 

J. K. Rosier was married in his native state, and, doubtless, being 
of pioneer stock, he and his devoted wife, located in the territory of 
Iowa, in Fayette county, at a period when settlers were few and far 
between. Their home w^as situated forty miles from the nearest rail- 
road. Here they built a rude house and began the work of founding 
a homestead on the rich soil of Iowa. They endured the hardships of 
frontier life and withstood the rigors of the severe winters of their 
adopted state, until prosperity was their inevitable reward. Both Mr. 
and Mrs. Rosier were cultured, refined people of excellent education. 
Both were great readers and it was the custom of the mother to gather 
her children about her in front of the wide, open fireplace of the living 
room of the Rosier home and read to them nightly, tales of other lands 
and entertaining books which broadened their minds and made them 
ambitious to be able to thus read as they grew older. In those days, 
in the Iowa wilderness, schools were few and were held but a ie\y months 
of the year. The early education of the Rosier children thus devolved 
upon their devoted parents. J. K. Rosier was a close student and an 
authority upon the Holy Bible which he read completely no less than 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 339 

twelve times. His was a religious nature and he set an example which 
has been followed by his children to this day. When the family drove 
through to Iowa, the present site of the great city of Chicago, at that 
time was but a cluster of huts around the fort. The elder Rosier was 
offered two hundred acres of land, now a part of the site of the Chicago 
stock yards, in exchange for his team and two hundred dollars in 
money. The outlook for the building of the great city, which has since 
grown on the marsh lands bordering Lake Michigan, was not then 
promising and the land seemed undesirable, so Mr. Rosier declined and 
set his face to the westward and took up the journey to Iowa. For 
thirty years, they remained on their Iowa farm and again moved west- 
ward, this time to Bates county, Missouri, arriving here in time to be 
classed as early settlors of this county. The family settled on a farm, 
in Mound township in 1882, where the parents lived until death called 
them, the father dying in 1909. The mother had departed this life in 
1894. Both were devout members of the Brethren church, but Mr. 
Rosier afifiliated with the Methodist church. South, upon coming to 
Missouri. He was a man of marked liberality in his donations to religious 
and educational institutions and no call upon him for financial contri- 
butions to a religious cause was ever refused. He assisted with his 
means in the building of Drury College in Iowa. Withal, he was a 
successful business man, one who looked well after his own financial 
affairs and was a good provider for his family, not alone in material 
sense but he saw to it that each member of his large family was well 
equipped with a good education. J. K. and Susan Ann Rosier were 
parents of ten children as follow: Lawrence, a merchant, Muskogee, 
Oklahoma; Elizabeth, widow of Lafayette Ash, who died at Tomb- 
stone, Arizona, and she is now making her home in Kansas City; Absa- 
lom, a retired merchant, Kansas City; William, a merchant at Belton, 
Missouri; Ella, wife of Burney Chandler, of West Union, Iowa; Albert 
S., a farmer, Fredonia, Kansas; A. C, subject of this review; Enoch 
H., Mt. Pleasant township. Bates county; Matthew, Butler, Missouri; 
and Dr. Lewis Rosier, a dentist, Independence, Iowa. Each of the 
foregoing children received the advantages of a good education. The 
daughters were educated in music. 

• Following his primary education in the district school of his neigh- 
borhood, A. C. Rosier studied in the Old Butler Academy, and then 
pursued his classical studies in the University of Kansas for a time, 
after which he entered the United Brethren College at Avalon, Mis- 



340 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

souri, where he studied for three years, graduating in 1893 with the 
degree of Bachelor of Science. For a period of about seven years, he 
taught school and served one year as principal of the Belton High School, 
Belton, Missouri. After his teaching career, he and his brothers, Will- 
iam and Enoch, purchased a store at Belton and for a period of five 
years conducted a profitable mercantile business under the firm name of 
Rosier Brothers. Mr. Rosier then disposed of his interest in the busi- 
ness and returned to Bates county, where he engaged in farming with 
his father on the old home place. He has continued in agricultural pur- 
suits with considerable success and has one of the finest herds of Here- 
ford cattle in Bates county. For the past twenty years, Mr. Rosier 
has been engaged in the breeding of this fine variety of cattle and 
markets a considerable number each year. He is cultivating a total of 
three hundred twenty acres of good land, being owner of one hundred 
sixty acres, which are well improved. 

In November of 1895, A. C. Rosier and Lulu May Funk, of Clay 
county, were united in marriage and to this union have been born four 
sons, as follow: Richard, Russell, David, and Vincent. Lulu May 
(Funk) Rosier is a daughter of John Funk, a deceased pioneer of Clay 
county, Missouri, a native of Kentucky, as was also Mrs. Funk. Mr. 
Rosier is politically allied with the Democratic party. He and Mrs. 
Rosier are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church. South. 
Mr. Rosier has been active in church and Sunday school affairs for 
many years. For several years past, he has served capably as superin- 
tendent of the Passaic Sunday School. He is one of the leaders in the 
Bates county and State Sunday School Associations. Mr. Rosier is a 
member of the Modern Woodmen of America. 

Dr. Stephen Lafayette Standish. — The truly heroic and self-sacri- 
ficing figure in the early redemption of any unsettled country from a 
wilderness state is the "country doctor." It is his duty to administer 
to the sick and dying who all too frequently are not blessed with much 
of this world's goods and the remuneration of the country physician 
is small compared to what his brothers in the city are accustomed to 
earn. The early doctors in Bates county rode horseback across coun- 
try following the trails wherever possible and no call, no matter how 
distant nor how difficult to make, and no matter what the condition of 
the weather would stop the doctor from performing his duty. He was 
the counselor and friend of the settler and always became a leader in 
the community where he made his residence. The late Dr. Stephen L. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 34I 

Standish was one of the early physicians in Bates county, who did not 
win a fortune by the practice of medicine, but wisely supplemented his 
active practice with tilling the soil and raising cattle upon his home- 
stead in Walnut township. Doctor Standish was one of the most suc- 
cessful of physicians and enjoyed the respect and esteem of the people 
of the country side. He was a veteran of the Civil War and used to 
hardships. Combining farming activities with the practice of his pro- 
fession he would ride all night long to minister to ailing patients and 
then spend the daylight hours in looking after his farming interests 
and livestock. Such energy and enterprise met with due reward and 
he became one of the wealthy citizens of Bates county. 

Stephen L. Standish was born in DuPage county, Illinois, Sep- 
tember 6, 1843, the son of Hiram and Polly (Bronson) Standish, both 
natives of New York. Hiram Standish was a descendant from the 
famous Standish family of Plymouth, Massachusetts, which was founded 
by Miles Standish, whose exploits were immortalized in the poet Long- 
fellow's "The Courtship of Miles Standish." The warrior spirit oi 
Miles Standish was evidently bequeathed to his descendants, inasmuch 
as Stephen L. Standish enlisted in Company C, Twelfth Regiment of 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in 1862 and had three years of arduous 
service during the Civil War, serving until the close of the war. He 
was second lieutenant of his company. He was never wounded while 
in the service but suffered spells of illness which would incapacitate 
him for a time. After the close of this war service he studied medicine 
for two years at Rush Medical College in Chicago, graduating from 
Rush College in 1868. He came to Bates county in that year and began 
the practice of his profession. At the same time he settled on a farm 
located on Walnut creek in the township of the same name. At this 
period the prairie was unfenced and there was much open range. Doctor 
Standish took advantage of this condition and engaged in cattle rais- 
ing on an extensive scale. His home place was located in section 28, 
of Walnut township and he bought and shipped cattle, driving them 
to Pleasanton, Kansas, where they were loaded on the train for the 
city markets. He followed his profession and engaged in cattle raising 
until his removal to Hume, Missouri, in 1885. He then engaged in 
bankine and established the Hume Bank of which he was cashier and 
virtual head until the bank was merged with its successor, the Com- 
mercial Bank of Hume. Doctor Standish was a large stockholder of 
this bank. For a number of years he was a breeder of thoroughbred 



342 HISTORY OF BATES COUiNTTY 

Hereford cattle and owned one of the first herds of these fine animals 
ever brought to this section of the county. He frecjuently exhibited 
his fine stock at the Royal Stock Shows held in Kansas City, and local 
fairs, winning many premiums. Doctor Standish became a large land 
owner, accumulating nearly one thousand acres of Bates county land, 
and prior to the building of the north part of the town of Hume he 
owned the land which is now known as the Standish addition to Hume. 

Doctor Standish was married May 19, 1869 to Miss Serepta Stan- 
dish, who was born September 25, 1852, in Livingston county, Illinois, 
a daughter of Chauncey and Mary (Truman) Standish, natives of Ken- 
tucky. Her parents moved to Missouri in 1867 and settled on Walnut 
creek in Bates county. Both of Mrs. Standish's parents died in this 
county, her father dying at the age of sixty-four years. The children 
of Doctor and Serepta Standish are as follow: Orra, at home with 
his widowed mother; T. Lyle, deceased; Chauncey, at home; Nellie, 
deceased; William Roy, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; 
Roscoe, deceased. 

Politically, Doctor Standish was allied with the Republican party, 
and, while interested in the success of his party at the polls, he was 
never a seeker after political preferment. He was a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church and was affiliated with the Ancient Free 
and Accepted Masons, attaining the Royal Arch degree in that order. 
Doctor Standish accomplished a great work in Bates county and his 
name will always be honored as that of one wdio did much to assist in 
the building and the development of his adopted county. His death 
occurred May 5, 1911 at his home in Hume, Missouri, and his remains 
were laid away in the everlasting sleep from which the godly are 
destined to awaken to the higher and better life. He endeavored to 
live a Christian life according to the precepts of the Methodist denomi- 
nation of which he was a member and liberal supporter. His was a 
useful life, and his hundreds of friends mourned with his widow and 
family their great loss when he was called to the bosom of his Maker. 

William Roy Standish, progressive young farmer of Walnut town- 
ship, is a native son of Bates county wdiose father, Dr. Stephen L. 
Standish, was one of the best known and most successful physicians 
of Bates county. A sketch of the life of Dr. S. L. Standish appears in 
this volume. William Roy Standish is proprietor of the old home place 
of the family on Walnut creek, which is one of the most attractive and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



343 



best improved farmsteads in his township. The Standish home farm 
consists of a fertile tract of three hundred twenty acres which is 
well watered by the never failing water supply furnished by Walnut 
creek. Mr. Standish has remodeled the old home, adding concrete 
verandas and otherwise beautifying and modernizing the residence until 
it presents a likable sight from the roadway. The house is flanked 
on the east by a natural grove of forest trees bordering the stream. Mr. 
Standish is a heavy feeder of livestock and has thirty-five head of 
cattle on his place at the present time. During 1917 he harvested one 
hundred fifteen acres of corn, forty acres of which made the great 
yield of fifty-seven and a half bushels of grain to the acre, the rest of 
the tract averaging a little over forty bushels to the acre. He follows 
the latest methods of farming and generally gets good yields of crops 
from his well tilled land. 

W. R. Standish was born April 23, 1884, on the farm which he 
now owns but was reared to young manhood in the town of Hume, 
where he attended the public schools. Following the completion of 
his public school course he completed a commercial course in business 
college at Kansas City and Sedalia, Missouri. Since that time he has 
followed farming and it is evident that he has chosen wisely and well 
his life vocation. 

Mr. Standish was married on May 11, 1903 to Miss Grace Mabel 
Shellenburger, of Metz, Missouri. To this marriage have been born two 
children: Edra Beryl, born December 13, 1907; and Wynston Vere, 
born July 23, 1914. Mr. Standish is a Republican. in politics, belongs 
to the Methodist Episcopal church, and is fraternally afifiliated with the 
Modern Woodmen of America, the Mystic Workers and the Knights 
of Pythias. 

Marshall Lee Wolfe. — The career of Marshall Lee Wolfe of Passaic, 
Bates county, has been a remarkable one, characterized by industry and 
professional usefulness in the active development of Bates county in a 
material sense, such as has not been surpassed by any one citizen in 
a decade and more. As a pioneer, farmer, surveyor, land-owner, and 
citizen, he has won a high place in the citizenship of this county and 
no individual is more widely nor more favorably known than Mr. Wolfe. 
He was born on a plantation on the banks of the Potomac river, in 
Frederick county, Maryland, December 8, 1843, a son of Josiah and 
Anne Lee (Bell) Wolfe. 



344 HISTORY OF liATES COUNTY 

Josiah Wolfe was a native of Pennsylvania. His wife was a native 
of Maryland, a daughter of an officer of the United States navy who 
served under the intrepid Commodore Decatur in his famous and vic- 
torious naval campaign against the pirates of the Barbary Coast States. 
Josiah Wolfe died when Marshall Lee Wolfe was but an infant and his 
mother married Levi Hiatt, who brought the family to Missouri in 1859, 
making a settlement first in Lafayette county. Finding land in that county 
too high priced for his purse, Mr. Hiatt located in Johnson county, 
Missouri, near Warrensburg. Here the mother died in 1913, at the age 
of ninety years. There were five children in the Wolfe family, only 
two of whom survive: Marshall Lee, subject of this review; and John 
B., editor of the "California Democrat," California, Missouri. 

Mr. Wolfe was educated in the public schools of Warrensburg, 
Missouri. When seventeen years of age, he enlisted in the Fifth Pro- 
visional Regiment of State Troops for service in the Civil War. For a 
great part of his time of enlistment he, with his command, was stationed 
at Old Germantown on the Deepwater river and was also stationed at 
various places in Missouri. At the close of the war he was married 
and then came to Bates county, first locating on a farm near Rich Hill, 
where he lived for fourteen years. After a few years' residence in 
Butler he settled on a farm northeast of the city. Of late years his 
residence has been at Passaic. x\bout 1893, he went to Wyoming and 
bought several ranches in the Powder River valley, where he engaged 
in horse raising on an extensive scale, having as many as six hundred 
head of fine horses on his ranch as well as hundreds of sheep and cattle. 
Mr. Wolfe spent much of his time in Wyoming in the hunting of big 
game, and has killed buffalo, elk and bear in considerable numbers, 
having killed several ''grizzlies" in the Rocky Mountain country. Mr. 
Wolfe was an excellent rifle shot and enjoyed hunting and he has hunted 
in all of the Rocky Mountain states. He recalls that hunting was good 
during the early days of his residence in Missouri when herds of deer 
and wild turkeys were to be seen in almost any direction. During past 
years he has spent his time in Missouri, Arkansas, and Wyoming. In 
Wyoming, he still has a large ranch, besides large tracts of land in 
Arkansas, totaling four thousand acres. At one time he owned over 
eleven hundred acres of Missouri land, but of late years he has been 
investing his capital in government land in the above-named states. 
During his long career he has been interested in the coal mining indus- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 345 

try of Bates county and assisted in the development of the coal fields 
of this county. 

November 17, 1866, Mr. Wolfe was united in marriage with Kitty 
Dawson, of Knob Noster, Johnson county, Missouri, who bore him two 
children : Carby. deceased ; and Dawson, residing in Arkansas on the 
Wolfe lands. The wife, and mother of these children, died December 
21, 1880. His second marriage was in 1882 to Pattie Henderson, and 
to this marriage were born children as follow: Mrs. John Crim, Butler, 
Missouri; Mrs. Bird Cook, Wyoming; Frank, living in Canada; and 
Mrs. Emma Jennings, living in Wyoming. 

During his entire life since attaining his majority, Mr. Wolfe has 
been allied with the Democratic party. He was elected county surveyor 
of Bates county in 1880 and was re-elected to this important ofiice in 
1884, by a majority of one thousand one votes, which is unquestionably 
the largest majority ever given any candidate for ofHcial preferment 
in Bates county. His career in the surveyor's office was a notable one, 
which has never been surpassed. During the course of his adminis- 
tration many of the large bridges of the county were built under his 
supervision and planning. The feat of joining Rogues' Island in the 
Marais des Cygnes river to the mainland was a notable undertaking 
in engineering and one which the county judges declared could not be 
done. Mr. Wolfe had made an exhaustive study of the Eads' plan of 
controlling the Mississippi in the delta country and applied his knowledge 
to conditions in this county. He joined the island to the mainland by 
deepening the other channel opposite by building levees or by bunches 
of willows together and weighting them down with stones, compelling 
the water to cut its own channel within the borders of the willow bat- 
tices. Mr. Wolfe surveyed thousands of acres of Bates county lands 
and "old timers" of the county well remember his careful and conscien- 
tious work. He laid out hundreds of miles of roadways and surveyed 
more miles of road than any other surveyor in the county. During 
his first term of ofifice, a state law was passed which created an addi- 
tional duty on his part as county mine inspector. Later the law was 
passed creating a board or a commission consisting of five members 
whose duty it was to examine and select a state mine inspector in 
competitive examination. With nineteen other applicants for this posi- 
tion he underwent the examination before this commission and was 
successful, receiving his appointment as state mine inspector from Gov. 



3-10 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

John S. Marmadnke. He served in this important state office for five 
years and then resigned. While fihing tliis position, the practical mining 
knowledge which he had gained while interested in coal mining was of 
considerable benefit to him in his work. 

Mr. Wolfe is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of 
Odd I'^llows and the Ancient I^'ree and Accepted Masons. He is a mem- 
ber of the Christian church. Although he is well past the allotted three 
score years and ten, his activity has been little diminished with the 
passing of time, his mind is still vigorous, and his interest in things 
mundane continues to be as great as ever. He is one of the fine, old 
characters of this county and the state of Missouri and one of the few 
remaining pioneers of this important division in the upbuilding of which 
he has assisted so materially. His accomplishments in the engineering 
field in this county will long endure as a monument to his ability and 
genius. Marshall Lee Wolfe ranks among the historic characters of a 
great county. 

H. L. Wright. — Nearly fifty years have elapsed since H. L. Wright, 
of Mound township, was born in Bates county. The Wright family came 
to this county and made a settlement in Elkhart township in 1868 during 
a period when the county was practically in its infancy and was just 
making its second start along the path of progress and development. 
Mr. Wright has grown up with his native county and has progressed 
with his fellow citizens, and although he has endured many vicissitudes 
during his life time, has experienced the cyclones, has known hardships 
imposed by drouths and the various disappointments which fall to the 
lot of the tiller of the soil, he has prospered and is owner of one of the 
best farms and one of the finest country residences in this part of Mis- 
souri. H. L. Wright was born in Elkhart township. Bates county, 
December 22, 1869, a son of Francis Marion and Philara (Holland) 
Wright, the former, a native of Brown county, Ohio, and the latter, of 
Tazewell county, Illinois. 

When but a boy, Francis Marion Wright accompanied his parents 
to Illinois and there he grew to manhood. He was married in Illinois 
and in 1868 came to Bates county to make a permanent home for his 
family, locating in Elkhart township. He purchased unimproved land, 
from a Mr. Danielson. and followed farming during the remainder of 
his active life. Mr. Wright was a Republican in his political views. He 
departed this life in 1890 and one year later his wife followed him to 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 347 

the grave. They were parents of nine cliihh-cn, four of whcjin are hving: 
Mrs. M. L. Burnett, Mound township; P. K., living on the old home- 
stead in Elkhart township; James A., Cottonwood, Idaho; and H. L., 
subject of this review. 

During his entire life, Mr. Wright has lived in Bates county and 
has followed the traditional vocation of his fathers, becoming a success- 
ful agriculturist. He improved his present splendid farm in 1910. After 
he had placed the finishing touches upon the buildings and was looking 
forward to years of undisturbed prosperity in his newly completed home, 
there came the cyclone of June 15, 1912, and in the twinkling (jf an eye, 
the results of his handiwork and preparation for comfortable living were 
wiped out of existence and dispersed to the four points of the compass 
by the pcnver of the strong wind wdiich tore down fences, razed buildings, 
and scattered the lumber far and near. All the family heirlooms, which 
had been gathered during a lifetime, were gone forever. .Mr. Wright 
later, found the covers of the old family photograph album at some 
distance from the site of the home. A fine orchard of fifty trees was 
utterly destroyed. The first warning which the family had of the 
approaching tornado was the appearance of a black, angry-looking, twist- 
ing cloud, which was sweeping down upon them from the west, leaving 
death and destruction in its w^ake and destroying everything in its path. 
The Wrights took immediate warning and Mr. and Mrs. Wright hurried 
to the storm cave, as they heard the roaring and crashing which accom- 
panied the cyclone. Within five minutes' time the storm had passed and 
had done its fearful work. Livestock were carried some distance away, 
the tornado wiping out every vestige of a once comfortable hf;me. Mr. 
W^right has since rebuilt and replaced the farm buildings at consid- 
eralile expense. 

Mr. Wright was married in 1910 to Adelia L. Addleman, who was 
born in northern Missouri, but was reared in Bates county, a daughter 
of J. M. Addleman, now residing in Mound township. Mr. Wright 
specializes in the breeding of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China and 
Chester White hogs. He is engaged in general farming and stock rais- 
ing. He is af^liated with the Central Protective Association and both 
he and Mrs. Wright are members of the Adrian Christian church. They 
are upright, worthy people who have a host of friends in Bates county 
and are numbered among the best citizens of this section of the state. 



348 HISTORY OF KATES COUNTY 

Martin V. Owen, an honored and highly valued citizen of Bates 
county, Missouri, a veteran of the Confederate army in the Civil War, 
president of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, a 
.prominent stockman of this section of the state, is a native of Ken- 
tucky. Mr. Owen was born February 17, 1840 in Daviess county, a 
son of M. B. and Jane (Haggard) Owen. M. B. Owen was a son of 
Mr. and Mrs. John Owen, a well-to-do farmer of Henry county, Ken- 
tucky prior to his marriage with Jane Haggard, a daughter of John 
Haggard, a native of Kentucky. The Owens came to Missouri from 
Kentucky in 1853 and located on a tract of land in Cass county, as 
the boundaries were at that time. At a later date, the county was 
divided and that part which belonged to the Owen family became a 
part of Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Owen, with their children, 
took a boat at Owensboro in Daviess county, Kentucky and landed at 
Westport Landing, Missouri, which was all that then existed of the 
present metropolis, Kansas City, and made the remainder of the journey 
in a wagon drawn by oxen. The father entered a vast tract of land in 
this part of Missouri and engaged in farming and stock raising. 

Martin V. Owen was a bright, observing lad, thirteen years of age, 
when he came with his parents to Missouri and he has a most vivid 
recollection of the appearance and primitive condition of the country 
at that time, more than a half century ago. Roving bands of Indians 
frequently visited their settlement and of the dusky savages the young 
white boy was much afraid. In the fifties, there were few settlements 
in western Missouri except along the rivers and streams, practically 
none out on the open prairie. Mr. Owen has seen more than one 
destructive prairie fire. In his youth, supplies were obtained from Lex- 
ington, to which city the pioneers would go with a wagon drawn by 
oxen. It required four to five days to make the trip. Roads were 
simply beaten trails across the prairie and were frequently impassable. 
Wild game of many different kinds abounded and there was no need 
for the early settlers to be hungry as wild turkeys, ducks, geese, prairie 
chickens, and deer might be easily obtained. Martin V. Owen recalls 
one particular night in his youth, when the moon was shining brightly, 
that he in a few moments killed five wild turkeys. Wolves, too, made 
their unwelcome presence known and felt in the early days and count- 
less times did young Martin V. Owen hear them as they howled around 
his wagon loaded with supplies, when he camped along, the road from 
Lexington. Mr. Owen received his education in the "subscription 




n. 



/ 4) ^L 



t/f^-^/-^ 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 349 

schools" of what is now Grand River township, Bates county, Missouri. 

The marriage of Martin V. Owen and Emma D. Porter, a daugh- 
ter of David Porter, a highly respected pioneer of Bates county, Mis- 
souri, who settled in this part of the state about the time of the Civil 
War, was solemnized in 1882. To this union have been born three 
children : Mrs. Orpha Lee Robinson, Adrian, Missouri ; Mrs. Ruby 
McCullough, Adrian, Missouri; and H. B., Adrian, Missouri. Mr. and 
Mrs. Owen are worthy and consistent members of the Baptist church. 
For nearly three score years and ten, the Owen family has been known 
and respected in Bates county, Missouri and the name has become the 
synonym of all that is good and true and upright. 

During the Civil War, Martin V. Owen enlisted with the Con- 
federates and served throughout the four-year-strife, being most of 
the time with "Fighting Joe" Shelby. After the conflict had ended, 
Mr. Owen returned to Bates county, Missouri and again engaged in 
the peaceful pursuits of farming and stock raising. He became the 
owner of extensive stock interests in western Missouri and at one time 
was the proprietor of a stock farm comprising one thousand six hun- 
dred acres of valuable land in Bates county. In 1888, Mr. Owen was 
elected president of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri 
and two years afterward, in 1890, he moved with his family from the 
farm to this city, where he purchased a tract of land embracing eighty 
acres lying adjacent to the city limits. He has rebuilt the residence 
and now has one of the attractive, comfortable homes of Deer Creek 
township, a two-story structure of eight well-arranged rooms, sur- 
rounded by a beautiful lawn. Mr. Owen has spent the past thirty years 
in the study of the intricate problem of finance, but at present is not so 
active in business as in former years and he is planning to retire in the 
near future and to spend the closing years of his long life of usefulness, 
filled with thousands of days of long, hard toil, in well-earned restful 
peace and quiet. 

No calling in life brings out and develops stronger, nobler quali- 
ties of manhood or insures a better success and more ample competence 
than does the ancient and honorable vocation of farming. To the early 
pioneer, the hardships and privations incident to spending the best 
years of life in transforming dense forests and trackless prairies and 
dismal swamps into rich, cultivated fields, orchards, and gardens, thriving 
villages, towns, and cities, were but stronger stimuli to build with his 
own toil-worn, weary hands a comfortable home which should be a place 



2,S0 HISTORY OF 3ATES COUNTY 

of rest and happiness in his clecHning years. The retired farmer can 
bring to mind many satisfying thoughts of the difficulties encountered 
and overcome, of the long, hard, upward struggle of the days agone 
recompensed by the sure reward, of the old scenes, and of the old, tried 
and true friends. Thus is the heart of him made glad, who labors 
long and diligently with an honorable purpose. Mr. Owen has passed 
the seventy-eighth milestone in life and we hope he may remain with 
us for many more years, that another score Of years will be added 
to his now noble age, ere he hears the Master say, "Well done, thou 
good and faithful servant." 

O. C. Johnson, farmer and stockman. Mound township. Bates county, 
was born in Vinton county, Ohio, September 21, 1872. He is a son of 
Hiram and Mary (Bailey) Johnson, the former of whom was born in 
Virginia in 1849. The mother of O. C. Johnson w^as born in Ohio and 
is descended from an old family of Ohio. The Johnsons are descended 
from Virginia colonial stock. The family came to Missouri in 1881, 
arriving here on November 30, of that year and they settled in Elkhart 
township. The Fairview church and school house is located on the old 
Johnson homestead in Elkhart township. During his entire life, Hiram 
Johnson followed the vocations of farmer and stockman, dying at his 
home in 1905. He was a life-long Democrat and took a keen interest 
in political matters. He was a member of the Central Protective Asso- 
ciation and was accounted a leading and substantial Bates county citi- 
zen. He was a hard worker and never knew a sick day until he was 
afflicted with his mortal illness. The widowed mother still resides at 
the homestead. Six children of the seven born to Hiram and Mary 
Johnson are living, namely: Etta J., wife of James Webb, Vinita, Okla- 
homa; Ida M., wife of George Black, East Boone township, Bates 
county; O. C, subject of this review; Enson L., living in East Boone 
township; Mary R., wife of B. F. Wall, Passaic, Missouri; and Harley 
B., living on the homestead in Elkhart township. 

O. C. Johnson first attended the public schools of Vinton county, 
Ohio, and after coming to Bates county he attended the district school 
in his home locality. He began his own career soon after his marriage 
in 1898 on the place which he now owns, consisting of eighty acres of 
good land. In addition to farming his own acreage, Mr. Johnson farms 
a considerable tract of rented land. He keeps good grades of horses, 
hogs and cattle and is making a success of his life work. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 35 1 

Mr. Johnson was married in 1898 to Miss Emily M. Black, a daugh- 
ter of Perry Black, now making his home in Adrian, this county. Mr. 
Johnson is a Democrat and has served two years as trustee of Mound 
township. Both he and Mrs. Johnson are members of the Presbyterian 
church and contribute of their means to the support of this denomina- 
tion. 

Alexander M. Barclay. — The late Alexander M. Barclay was a pio- 
neer settler of Bates county, whose forty years of residence in Bates 
county were devoted to good deed^ in the constant endeavor to do to 
the utmost of his ability and strength his part in the upbuilding of Bates 
county. When Mr. Barclay came to Bates county forty years ago, all 
of the visible property which he possessed consisted of a team of horses. 
His first investment in land was made on his promise to pay. During 
all these years he made good in his adopted county and became one of 
the most progressive and best-loved citizens of the county. Mr. Bar- 
clay was born in Smith county, West Virginia, September 4, 1847, a 
son of Joseph and Mary (Call) Barclay. 

Joseph Barclay, his father, was born and reared in Kentucky, a son 
of parents who came to Kentucky from North Carolina, of English 
descent. He married a lady who was of Virginia parentage, and removed 
to Kentucky from Virginia when Alexander M. was but one year old, 
and made a settlement in Pulaski county, that state. In 1867, Joseph 
Barclay settled in Kansas, where the wife and mother died in 1905. 
Later, Mr. Barclay went to Oregon and died there. Two children of 
Joseph and Mary Barclay are yet living: Felis, residing at Vale, Oregon; 
and John, living at Cambridge, Idaho. 

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Alexander M. Barclay enlisted 
when fifteen years of age in the First Kentucky Cavalry and served thirty- 
one months to the day in continuous and active service of the most 
hazardous character, much of which was hand-to-hand fighting between 
the opposing forces. He participated in the battle of Mill Springs, 
Kentucky, and was present at the capture of the famous Rebel raider. 
General John Morgan, whose forces were surrounded in a natural pocket 
in Columbiana county, Ohio, and forced to surrender to the Union 
forces under General Hildebrandt, He fought in the Battle of Resaca, 
Georgia, and was in many sharp skirmishes and minor engagements, 
being among the first troops to enter the captured city of Dalton. Geor- 
gia. During the course of his military service, he received a few slight 



35- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

wounds and at one time was struck on the head by a Confederate sol- 
dier who wielded a pistol in an effort to compel his surrender. He had 
many narrow escapes from death and capture, but survived to receive 
his honorable discharge at Louisville, Kentucky, and now enjoys the 
honor of being one of the very few survivors of the grand "Old Guard," 
bearing the distinction of having been one of the youngest soldiers to 
fight in the Civil War. 

After the close of his war service, he returned to Kentucky and fol- 
lowed the peaceful pursuits of farming until his removal to Missouri 
in 1878. Three years after coming to this county, he purchased his 
present home place on time, but with good management and diligence 
he was not long in paying for the land. The years that have passed 
brought prosperity to this aged veteran and besides his fine farm he was 
well-to-do and was a stockholder in the Walton Trust Company of 
Butler. 

On December 9, 1869, Mr. Barclay was united in marriage with 
Miss Louisa F. James, and to this union there have been born two chil- 
dren: Mary, wife of William G. Dillon, of Mound township; and Susan, 
who married Charles Jenkins, of Mound township, and died in 1896. 
Mrs. Louisa F. (James) Barclay was born in Virginia and reared in 
Kentucky and is an aunt of Senator Ollie James, the famous Democratic 
leader and statesman of Kentucky. 

Until the disbanding of the Adrian Post of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, Mr. Barclay was affiliated with the organization. He had 
always been a Republican and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. He was progressive in his views and tendencies and had always 
endeavored to keep pace with the march of progress. Mr. Barclay 
loved to contrast the easy times of the present with the hard times and 
vicissitudes through which he was compelled to make his way during 
his young manhood, and recalled that in the days of long ago, he husked 
corn in Missouri for a wage of sixty-five cents a day during cold winter 
days when the weather was very similar to that which we have endured 
during the past winter of 1917-18 and that "it was cold enough to freeze 
a man to death." Happily the days of low wages and low prices for 
farm products are passed and the farmer "has come into his own," and 
is enjoying his share of the widespread prosperity which has enveloped 
the whole country. Mr. Barclay departed this life on February 8, 1918, 
and his remains were interred in Mt. Olivet Cemetery on the Sunday 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



353 



following his death. His loss has been a sad one to the community and 
Bates county is bereft of a splendid and noble citizen whose life was 
well spent and whose sonl rests in peace in the ''Bourne from whicli 
no man returneth." His spirit is still with us and his example of right 
living was a noble one. 

Wilbur J. Park. — The Park family is one of the oldest, most hon- 
orable families in Bates county, members of this family having settled 
here sixty years ago when the greater part of Bates county was in an 
unoccupied state. W. J. Park, a sterling representative of this old and 
respected family, residing on his splendid farm in Elkhart township, was 
born in Hampshire county, Virginia, July 11, 1856, and has lived in 
Bates county since he was two years of age. His father was Jefferson 
Park and his mother, prior to her marriage, was Barbara Davis, both of 
whom were born and reared in Hampshire county, Virginia, of old 
Virginia stock. Jefferson Park immigrated to Bates county, Missouri, 
in 1858, accompanied by his brothers, Washington, Samuel, and Wesley 
Park, all of whom settled in the same vicinity excepting Wesley, who 
went further westward and located in Pottawatomie county, Kansas, 
remaining in Kansas until after the close of the Civil War, when he 
returned to Missouri and here made his permanent home. Jefferson 
Park settled on a farm located just one mile south of the farm owned 
by the subject of this sketch, in Charlotte township. He and his brother, 
Washington, purchased four hundred acres of land from Russell B. 
Fisher and the former made his home on this place until the outbreak of 
the Civil War. Being a man of pronounced Union sympathies and 
loyal to the government he could not abide the views and actions of 
the pro-slavery advocates, and accordingly removed to Linn county, 
Kansas, to remain there during the years of warfare. He was pro- 
nounced in his views and intensely loyal to the Union, outspoken to 
to such an extent in expressing himself that he had many clashes with 
those whose views and opinions were just the opposite. He lost con- 
siderable property through the depredations of "bushwhackers" and at 
the time of his departure from Kansas, he and his family were forced to 
travel by ox-team motive power because of the fact that all his horses 
had been driven away by marauders. He returned to Missouri in the fall 
of 1865 and proceeded to repair the damages which his farm had suffered, 
it being practicallv necessary for him to begin all over again and replace 

(23) 



354 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the buildings and fences. The Park farm, eventually, became one of the 
best improved tracts in the county and Jefferson Park made his home 
thereon until his death on February 1, 1897, at the age of seventy-six 
years. He was born February 1, 1899. To Jefferson and Barbara (Davis) 
Park were born the following children: Rhoda Ann, born November 1, 
1849, married Dr. R. A. Rising, and died in August, 1916, at her home in 
Cowley county, Kansas; Phoebe ]., born January 23, 1852, in Virginia, 
and died in childhood, December 28, 1865; Luther D. C, born June 1, 
1854, resides in Nevada, Missouri; Wilbur J., born July 11, 1856, subject 
of this review; Ezra B., born November 6, 1865, in Missouri, died April 
28, 1895; Ulysses G., born March, 1864, in Linn county, Kansas, now 
living in Clark county, Kansas; Lydia S., born May 25, 1867, married 
Fletcher Orear, she died at Butler, Missouri, September 29, 1908; and 
Laura J., born April 2, 1869, and died September 9, 1870. The mother 
of this fine family of children was born January 30, 1829, and died De- 
cember 29, 1915. 

Jefferson Park was a follower of Abraham Lincoln and a stanch Re- 
publican during his whole life after attaining his majority. He and his 
wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were liberal 
supporters of religious and charitable works. 

Wilbur J. Park, subject of this review, spent his boyhood days in 
Bates county and received his education in the public schools. He has 
followed farming pursuits continuously from his youth and has made a 
pronounced success of his life work, owning an eighty-acre farm which 
comprises his home place and also eighty acres which were formerly part 
of the Park homestead in Charlotte township. He carries on general 
farming and stock raising. Mr. Park was married April 16, 1882, to Miss 
Mary Chandler, and to this marriage have been born the following chil- 
dren: Floyd, who married Vera Angel, of Bates county, and resides at 
Adair, Oklahoma; Leroy J., married Minnie Largent, of Bates county, 
and lives on the old home place in Charlotte township ; Odessa, resides 
at Ogden, Utah ; and Leonard, married Vesta Leitch, a native of this 
county, and they reside on the Leitch farm in Bates county. Mrs. Mary 
(Chandler) Park was born in Tennessee, a daughter of L. L. and Mar- 
garet (Belcher) Chandler, both natives of Tennessee, the former dying 
when Mrs. Park was four years old. The family moved to Illinois when 
she was a small child and her mother now resides at Longton, Kansas. 
Mrs. Park is one of three children born to her parents, the others being 
Amanda and John S., who live with their mother at Longton, Kansas. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 355 

The allegiance of Mr. Park to the tenets and principles of the Repub- 
lican party has generally been constant, although he is inclined to much 
independent thinking and voting in local and state matters, rather than 
yielding a blind obedience to any political fetich or organization. If a can- 
didate for office is well qualified, according to his idea, he willingly sup- 
ports that individual for the office sought regardless of his political affil- 
iations, and he pursues the same course with measures which are intended 
to make changes in the government, be it local, state or national. He is 
the present justice of the peace of Elkhart township and he had served 
one term in this capacity prior to the beginning of his present term of 
office. 

John Speer, proprietor of the "Round Barn Farm," located in 
Mound township, on the Jefferson Highway, two and a half miles south 
of Adrian, was born in Summit township, Bates county, on a farm 
located nine miles southeast of Butler, July 1, 1871. He was a son of 
Henry and Emma (Boyd) Speer, the former of whom was a native of 
Shelby county, Ohio, and the latter, of Illinois. Henry Speer was a 
soldier in the Union army and served throughout the Civil War. He 
is now deceased and the widow now resides in Butler. Three children 
were born to Henry and Emma Speer, as follow : John Speer, subject 
of this review; Minnie, wife of Louis Defifenbaugh, Butler, Missouri; 
and William Percy, of Independence, Kansas. 

The early education of John Speer was obtained in the public schools 
of Bates county, after which he graduated from the old Butler Academy. 
He remained on the farm until he was eighteen years of age and tlien 
removed to Butler, where he became associated with his father in the 
nursery business under the firm name of Speer & Son, succeeding Hal- 
loway & Speer. He was engaged in the nursery business for seven years, 
and was then employed by the Logan Moore Lumber Company for four 
years, following. In 1890, he took possession of his present farm of 
one hundred sixty acres and has established a reputation as a dairyman 
and breeder of registered Jersey cattle. Mr. Speer maintains an aver- 
age of thirty head of purebred Jersey cows upon his place, which is 
fitted with modern conveniences for the economical conducting of the 
business with the least possible labor. Mr. Speer is a member of the 
Southwest Jersey Cattle Breeders' Association. The circular barn 
which he has had erected, has a circumference of one hundred ninety- 
two feet, is fifty feet in height, and equipped with a silo, in the exact 
center, which is forty feet high and eleven feet in diameter. This barn 



356 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

was erected in 1908 and is one of the most convenient in this section 
of the state for dairying purposes. The interior is so arranged that the 
stock are placed in stalls facing the center of the building, thus enabling 
the stock tenders to feed from the filled silo very conveniently and 
quickly with little or no waste. The Speer place is equipped with 
gasoline power which is used for many purposes, such as running the 
cream separators, churning, and doing the family washing each week, 
besides cutting wood and crushing the silage for filling the silo. 

Mr. Speer was married on December 19. 1900, to Miss Maud Gar- 
rison, who was born and reared in Bates county, a daughter of j\lr. 
and Mrs. J. C. Garrison, natives of Wisconsin. Mrs. Garrison died in 
the spring of 1917 at the age of eighty-six years. J. C. Garrison was a 
millwright by trade and he built the original Powers" mill in this country, 
and is accounted one of the earliest of the Bates county pioneer settlers. 

The Republican party claims the support of Mr. Speer and he has 
served as justice of the peace of Mound township and has been a member 
of the township board. He is affiliated with the Modern "\\^oodmen 
of America and the Presl)yterian church of Butler. 

General Joseph O. Shelby, a dashing and beloved commander of 
Confederate forces during the Civil War and a resident of Bates county 
during the latter years of his eventful life, was born at Lexington, 
Kentucky, in 1831. At the age of nineteen years he removed from 
Kentucky to Lafayette county, Missouri, and established a rope fac- 
tory. His manufacturing venture flourished with able management and 
he was in a fair way to amass riches when the border warfare began. 
He espoused the cause of the South and went to Kentucky and raised 
a company of cavalry and took the field in Kansas with Clark, Atchi- 
son, and Reid. The border troubles over, he returned to Waverly, 
Missouri, and his company was disbanded at St. Joseph. Missouri. 

With the firing of the first gun upon Fort Sumter in 1861, young 
Shelby was one of the first in the field. He organized a compan}^ of 
cavalry and marched to Independence, Missouri, which was then threat- 
ened with attack by the Federal forces stationed at Kansas City. This 
was his first actual entrance into the war in 1861 at the age of thirty 
years. He joined General Price's forces in western Missouri. His 
first battle was fought at Boonville, where the Confederate army was 
defeated by the Federals imder General Lyon. The history of Shelby's 
military career would be a minute history of the entire war fought west 
of the Mississippi river. He was a participant in every hard-fought 




GENERAL JOSEPH 0. SHELBY. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 357 

battle fought in this section of the country and he was always the first 
to charge the enemy and the last to retreat. He had charge of the 
most important raids made by Price's army and >had command of 
a splendid fighting force of ten thousand men, of whom four to five 
thousand were constantly under arms and always on duty. General 
Shelby knew the name of every man enrolled in his command and 
knew where to call him when needed for service. In 1862. he was 
commissioned a colonel of cavalry; in January, 1863, he was created 
a colonel in command of a brigade; and in May, 1864, he was commis- 
sioned a general of brigade or brigadier general. 

He distinguished himself by exceptional bravery at the battle of 
Pea Ridge, March 4, 1862, where he was exposed to a heavy fire and 
by a brilliant maneuver he saved one of Price's battalions from cap- 
ture or annihilation. After the battle of Cane Hill, General Shelby's 
command was the last to evacuate Corinth when it was abandoned by 
the Confederate forces. He was severely wounded during the attack 
on Helena, July 4. 1863, but he recaptured his battery from the Fed- 
erals after receiving his wound. He then made a raid through Mis- 
souri to Boonville, during which many farms and homes were destroyed. 
From Boonville, he marched to Marshall and then retreated with his 
command into Arkansas, going into winter quarters at Camden, Arkxin- 
sas. His activities were resumed in the spring of 1864 and he fought 
numerous minor battles in northern Arkansas. When the last raid 
into Missouri was decided upon in 1864, General Shelby was found to 
be the youngest general in the list west of the Mississippi river. The 
Confederates had planned to attack St. Louis, but this was given up 
upon learning of the strength of the St. Louis defenses. They advanced 
upon Jefferson City, and this city was also found to be too strongl}^ 
fortified for attack, and the plan to attack the capital was abandoned. 
The army then moved M^estward and was engaged with the Federals 
in several sharp encounters. On Octoljer 20, 1864, General Price's 
army reached Lidependence and Blue river and in the movement which 
followed, both Generals Marmaduke and Shelby were engaged and drove 
the Federals back to Westport. On October 22, Shelby received orders 
to capture Westport and a desperate battle ensued during which Shelby 
lost eight hundred of his men, but so great was his strategy and so 
quick were his movements that Price's army was saved from capture 
by the Federals although the battle was lost and the retreat through 
Missouri was begun. He was placed in command of the rear guard of 



35^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Price's retreating army and fought his way foot by foot to Newtonia, 
Arkansas. The last battle of the war west of the Mississippi was waged 
there. When it came to a question of final surrender, Shelby advo- 
cated further resistance to the Union forces. Kirby Smith, then in 
command, was unpopular and was in favor of surrender. At Shelby's 
request he withdrew from the command, turned over his power to 
General Buckner, who in turn surrendered to the United States. 

The cause of the Confederacy being lost. General Shelby con- 
ceived the idea of doing further fighting in Mexico which at that time 
was under the rule of Emperor Maximilian who had been placed upon 
the throne by the French forces. He organized a force of six hundred 
men who armed themselves in Texas and marched through the state 
toward Mexico. At Houston, Texas, were vast supplies which w^ere 
in danger of being despoiled by a force of one thousand renegades. 
Shelby w^anted the suffering women and children to be nourished from 
these supplies. In line with this desire he sent one hundred picked 
men into the city to accomplish his purpose. So great was the terror 
of his name that the evil-doers agreed to desist from the proposed 
attack and the city was quieted. When near the city of Austin, he 
was called upon by the citizens to assist them in preventing the looting 
of the state treasury and vaults which contained besides the entire 
monetary wealth of the state government, much valuable wealth placed 
there by business firms and citizens for safe keeping. The citizens 
had knowledge of a plot to loot the capital. Shelby very willingly 
gave his services to this cause and the Texas treasury was saved 
from spoliation. At the first station in Mexico he left it to a vote of 
his men as to which side they should join in the Southern country. 
They decided that, inasmuch as the French were supporting the Emperor 
Maximilian and had promised to furnish money and supplies to still 
uphold the Confederacy, they would offer their help to the Emperor. 
Maximilian refused Shelby's proffer of the services of his men and the 
adventure was ended. General Shelby returned to Lafayette county 
and remained there until his removal to Bates county in 1885. He 
purchased a farm of seven hundred acres in Elkhart township and was 
engaged in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture and stock raising until 
his death, February 21, 1897. His funeral was attended by a vast con- 
course of people and he was interred with military and civic honors at 
Forest Hill cemetery, Kansas City. The final ol)sequies over the burial 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 359 

of this famous soldier were made the occasion of a public demonstra- 
tion of the great esteem and love which was borne his memory by the 
thousands of Missourians who had known him in civil and military life. 

During Grover Cleveland's administration, General Shelby served 
as United States marshal for the Western District. He has never 
inclined to seek political preferment but accepted the appointment of 
recorder under Governor David R. Francis, however, his magnanimity 
and sense of honor being so great that he turned over the salary he 
received to the widow of the former deceased incumbent. This was 
like General Shelby and similar acts of kindness characterized his whole 
life. He held his personal honor inviolate and always extended mercy 
and kindness to the captured foe whom he respected for playing the 
game of war according to his code of honor. 

He was married to Elizabeth Shelby who bore him seven children: 
Orville, living in Montana; Joe, Kansas City, a police captain; Ben, 
living in Texas ; Webb. Bates county, Missouri ; Samuel, residing in 
Kansas City; John, living at La Cygne, Kansas; Annie, wife of F. W. 
Jersig. Texas, with whom the widowed mother is now residing. 

Webb Shelby, a leading farmer of Elkhart township, was born in 
Lafayette county, Missouri, a son of General Joseph O. Shelby, whose 
biography immediately precedes this sketch. Mr. Shelby was reared 
partly in Lafayette county where he was born December 6, 1870. When 
fifteen years old he accompanied his parents to Bates county and has 
since lived in Mound township. Since coming to Bates county with 
his father in 1885, A\'ebb Shelby has made farming and stock raising 
his chief occupations. He began life for himself at the age of twenty- 
two years and is self-made. What he has accomplished and accumu- 
lated has been with his own hands and brain. Mr. Shelby purchased 
his present home farm in Mound township in 1905. This place com- 
prises one hundred sixty acres, and to look at the well-kept appear- 
ance of this farm and the neatness of the buildings and farm arrange- 
ments thereon is to conclude emphatically that Mr. Shelby is a thoroughly 
good farmer, somewhat better than the average. He raises good crops 
of grain on his acreage and feeds the product to cattle for the market. 

Mr. Shelby was married in 1902 to Miss Cassie Johnson, of Bel- 
ton, Cass county, Missouri. They have one child, John. Mr. Shelby, 
like his illustrious father before him, is a Democrat of the old school 
and takes a prominent and leading part in Democratic politics in Bates 



360 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

county. At present he is serving" as Democratic committeeman for 
Mound township. He is genial, industrious, well-Hked, prominent in 
his own right, and recognized as a worthy son of a great father. 

John F. Fulkerson, one of the old settlers of Alound township, and 
a Union veteran, was born February 15, 1842, at Danville, Montgomery 
county, Missouri. He has lived in Bates county for over forty-five years. 
He was a son of Robert Craig and Malvina (Dickerson) Fulkerson, 
natives of Lee county, Virginia. Robert C. Fulkerson was descended 
from an old Virginia family which dates back to colonial times in 
American history. Robert Fulkerson was one of the early Missouri 
pioneers and was a large land-owner and slave-holder in Montgomery 
county during the ante-bellum days. He was a man of prominence in the 
communities in which he resided and served as sheriff of Lee county, 
Virginia, prior to his removal to Missouri. L^pon locating in Montgomery 
county, he soon became one of the leaders of the new county and served 
several terms as county treasurer. He died at the age of eighty-four 
years. Mrs. Malvina Fulkerson died at the age of sixty years. John 
and Malvina Fulkerson were parents of seven children, two sons and hve 
daughters, of wdiom the subject of this review is the only survivor. 

After receiving such education as was afforded by the early dav pub- 
lic schools in his native county, John F. Fulkerson studied at the Macon 
Normal College. Upon the outbreak of the Civil A\'ar, he enlisted in 
Company Iv, Thirty-third Missouri Lifantry, and saw a great amount 
of active service during the course of the war. His command took part 
in the Red river expedition, in the battles of Yellow Bayou. Fort Rus- 
sell, and in the engagements at Cannelton, Old River Lake. Pleasant 
Hill, Lexington, etc. His military service extended over Arkansas, 
Texas, Mississippi. Alabama, and Florida and he took part in numerous 
skirmishes in addition to the principal engagements mentioned. Mr. 
Fulkerson lay sick for some time in the Military Hospital at Baton 
Rouge, but was never wounded in battle. He received his final discharge 
from the service at St. Louis after an honoral)le and brave service extend- 
ing over three years during which time he participated in some of the 
hardest and most exacting campaigns of the war. 

After the close of the Civil A\^ar, he returned to the old home in 
Montgomery county and remained there engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits until 1872. when he came to Bates county, and purchased his pres- 
ent farm of eighty acres in IMound township for six dollars and fifty 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 361 

cents an acre. Since coming to this county, Mr. Fulkerson has followed 
farming and stock raising constantly. 

John F. Fulkerson was married on August 31, 1873. to Anna Painter, 
who was born near Warrenton, Warren county, Missouri, February 14, 
1845, a daughter of Adam and Nancy (Burns) Painter, both of whom 
were born in Page county, Virginia, where they were reared and married, 
coming to Missouri soon after their marriage in the early thirties. Mr. 
Painter became owner of three hundred sixty-five acres of land, and 
while owning slaves in his native state he disposed of them prior to his 
removal to Missouri. He was a farmer, stock raiser, and a good Demo- 
crat of the old school. Both parents of Mrs. Fulkerson died in AVarren 
county, the father dying in 1871 and the mother departing this life in 
1873. 

Mr. and Mrs. Painter were parents of twelve chiklren, five of whom 
are yet living. Four sons of this family served in the Confederate army 
and the older brother of Mrs. Fulkerson was wounded in the battle of 
Vicksburg, Mississippi. To Mr. and Mrs. John F. Fulkerson have been 
born two children: Robert, who resides in Rul)y, Alaska, where he went 
in 1898, and is engaged in the mining lousiness at which hazardous occu- 
pation he has made and lost several fortunes; Fletcher, an extensive 
farmer located near Paul, Idaho. 

]\Ir. Fulkerson is allied with the Repul)lican party but is inclined 
to vote independently, and does his own thinking as to men and meas- 
ures during political camj^aigns. Fie cast his first vote for Abraham 
Lincoln in 1864 while wearing the uniform of the Federal government. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fulkerson are counted among the most valued and esteemed 
citizens of Bates county and are proud of the fact that they are Missouri- 
ans born and l^red. 

Frank J. McCune. — Bates county abounds in picturesque spots for 
home places in the country side and many line farms are named for 
some striking feature of the tract of land to wdiich the name applies. 
It is a matter of record that "]\Iound Slope Farm" located in Flkhart 
township and owned by F. J. McCune, was the third farm in Bates 
county which was legally registered under its present title. The beauti- 
ful McCune home is situated upon the slope of the mound from which 
Mound township takes its name and is one of the richest farmsteads in 
this section of Missouri, the soil being of the black gumbo which has 
such high value, rich in the materials which nourish successive crops. 



362 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and is not easily worn out. Its owner takes a just pride in maintaining 
the beauty, and well-kept appearance of his place and a remarkable view 
of the surrounding country can be obtained from the veranda of the 
McCune residence, the town of Adrian, five miles away being plainly 
visible. 

F. J. McCune was born December 10, 1853, in Athens county, Ohio, 
a son of Nelson and Lucy ( Blakely) McCune, both of whom were natives 
of Ohio and practically spent their lives in Athens county. They reared 
a fine family of children, three of whom are living: Blakely, the eldest 
son, a member of Company B, Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry, died on the 
battlefield of Antietam while serving in the Union forces during the Civil 
War, his remains being interred at Sharpsburg, Maryland; A. H., died 
at San Diego, California; George, died in childhood; Lue, married Loren 
Hill, of Amesville, Athens county, Ohio; Ella, married J. F. Lacy, of 
Hull, Illinois; and F. J., the youngest son of the family, subject of this 
review. 

Reared to manhood in his native county, Mr. ]\IcCune decided that 
the West offered better opportunities for advancement than his native 
state, and he accordingly left his home county in 1882 and came to 
Bates county. He at once located in Elkhart township and purchased 
the northern part of his present farm, located in east Elkhart township. 
The McCune farm consists of four hundred eighty acres, which are 
kept in a thorough state of cultivation and produce excellent crops. 
INIr. McCune follows general farming and stock raising in a progressive 
manner and is accounted one of Bates county's most intelligent and indus- 
trious farmers. 

October 15, 1879, Frank J. McCune was united in marriage with 
Cora Wyatt, of Athens county, Ohio, a daughter of Charles and Harriet 
(Henry) Wyatt, both of whom were born, reared and spent their lives 
in Athens county, Ohio. Five children have blessed this marriage: 
Charles Nelson, proprietor of one hundred twenty acres of land in Elk- 
hart township, which he is farming, and he resides at home with his 
parents; Ella, the wife of AV. W. McReynolds, Elkhart township, and 
has two sons, Kelver and Billy; Clarence AVyatt married Lola Carroll 
and has two daughters, AA'ilma and Helen, is farming an irrigated tract 
at Kuna. Idaho; Grace, at home: and Edward Henry, a teacher in the 
public schools of this county. 

Mr. McCune is a Republican in politics and he, with the other mem- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 363 

hers of his family, is a member of the Presbyterian church. The McCune 
place is not only noted for the fine appearance and view from the slope 
of the mound from which the farm gets its name, which view enables 
one to see Butler, eleven miles away, and the town of Adrian, five 
miles distant, but the farm is underlaid wath gas which was found at a 
depth of two hundred fifteen feet by the boring of a test well, although 
no attempt has ever been made to make commercial or local use of the 
output. The McCune family have a permanent and respected place in 
the civic and, social structure of Bates county and the members of this 
enterprising family are always found in the forefront of all movements 
to advance the interests of their home county. 

John Dever, progressive, enterprising farmer and stockman. Mound 
township, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, July 8, 1860 and was a 
son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Wise) Dever, the former, a native of Ire- 
land, and the latter, a native of Ohio. The family moved westward to 
Hancock county, Illinois, in 1868 and in that county the parents spent 
the remainder of their lives engaged in agricultural activities. Their 
remains are interred in Oakwood cemetery, Hamilton, Illinois. John 
Dever is one of five children born to his parents who grew to maturity, 
as follow: R. W., Macon county, Missouri; Thomas, Marshall county, 
Kansas; Mary C, wife of Robert Wise, Shelby county, Illinois; Gash- 
ium G., Shelby county, Illinois; and John, subject of this review. 

Mr. Dever was reared in Hancock county, Illinois, and remained in 
his native state until 1899, when he came west to Linn county, Kansas, 
residing there on a farm for ten years. In 1909, he came to Bates 
county and invested in farm land in Mound township, and has since 
become prominently identified with the agricultural activities of this 
county. He is owner of two hundred acres of land and is engaged in 
general farming and stock raising. 

On December 28, 1882, the marriage of John Dever and Frances 
Anna Gayley was solemnized. Mrs. Dever was born in AYoodford county, 
Illinois, July 4, 1859. No children of this marriage are living, but Mr. 
and Mrs. Dever have an adopted son, Elmer W., who is cultivating 
one of the Dever farms in Mound township. 

The Republican party has ahvays had the stanch support and alle- 
giance of Mr. Dever but he is inclined to independence in local political 
affairs. He is affiliated fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, Lodge No. 13, Adrian, Missouri. He was identified with the 



364 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Grange movement and was one of the organizers of the Farmers' Club 
of the Adrian neighborhood, a movement which is the natural outcome 
and successor of the Grange. He is a member of the United Brethren 
church at Deer Creek, and is considered one of the leading and most 
progressive citizens of his neighborhood, always seeking to advance 
any movement which is intended for the betterment of conditions in the 
agricultural sections in which he has spent his life. 

Lewis C. Eichler, farmer and stockman of ]\Iound township, is one 
of the oldest and best-known pioneer citizens of Bates county. Mr. 
Eichler owns one of the best farms in the county upon which he has 
recently erected one of the handsomest residences to be seen on the 
countryside. His career in Bates county and Missouri extends over a 
long period of over fifty years, and his record has been a most hon- 
orable one. Mr. Eichler was born in St. Charles City, St. Charles county, 
Missouri, in 1836, a son of George and Mary (Weems) Eichler. 

George Eichler, his father, was born in Germany, and when a 
young man, immigrated to America and settled in Baltimore. ]\Iary- 
land, where he followed his trade of skilled cabinet maker. After resid- 
ing in Baltimore for several years, he removed to St. Charles county, 
Missouri. Soon after the territory of Kansas was thrown open to 
settlement he made the trip to that state in order to appease his hunger 
for a tract of land, and made a settlement near the city of Lawrence. 
Border warfare and the trouble between the slavery and anti-slavery 
advocates caused him to leave Kansas and settle in Bates county where 
he pre-empted a quarter section of government land which cost him 
one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Upon the outbreak of the 
Civil War it became unsafe for Southern families to reside in this 
county and when Order Number Eleven was issued in 1863 he removed 
with his family to Lafayette county, where his death occurred in 1864. 
The border trou])les and the Civil AVar both combined to cause him to 
lose all of his possessions and he was left in destitute circumstances 
during his later years. He was father of twelve children, three sons and 
nine daughters. His wife died upon the homestead in Bates county 
in 1858 and is buried in the family burial place. 

In the spring of 1861, Lewis C. Eichler enlisted in the Confederate 
Army in Colonel Rains' Regiment and served during the war in Generals 
Parsons and Price's Divisions. His first battle was at Lone Jack. ]\Iis- 
souri, wdiere he received a wound in the hand. He participated in the 
battles of Drywood, Oak Hill, and Helena, Arkansas. He took an active 




LEWIS C. EICHLER. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



3'^5 



part in many minor engagements and skirmishes. The most important 
and greatest battle in which Mr. Eichler fought was at Prairie Grove 
and his period of service extended throughout the war in the states of 
Missouri. Louisiana, and Texas. After the war ended he remained in 
Arkansas in gainful employment until the fall of 1868. 

In 1868, Mr. Eichler returned to the homestead which had been 
the home of the family prior to the war and set to work to rebuild 
what had l)een destroyed during the war time. Times were hard, money 
was scarce, but e\'eryone was in the same plight and he managed some- 
how to get ahead and has these many years been engaged successfully 
in farming and stockraising. He is owner of two hundred acres of 
very fine land which is well improved, forty acres of which are located 
in Elkhart township. Mr. Eichler has specialized in the breeding of 
Durham cattle and has one of the finest herds of this l^reed in the 
county. Only recently he has finished the building of a splendid, new, 
modern residence, where he proposes to spend the remaining years of 
his long and fruitful life in comfort. 

The marriage of Lewis C. Eichler and Sallie J. Early occurred May 
18, 1876. and to this union were born four children: Lucie Lee, who 
resides at home with her parents; Harry, died at the age of two years; 
Charles, died at the age of four years; and John, cultivates the family 
acres. The mother of these children was born in Lafayette county, July 
24, 1846, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Dean) Early, the former 
of whom was a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentuckv. John 
Early was a wealthy slave holder and had a large estate at the outbreak 
of the Civil War but was ruined financially during the course of the 
conflict. He was a cousin of General Jubal A. Early, the noted Confed- 
erate commander of Civil War fame. 

The life of this aged citizen has been spent usefully and productively 
in active pursuits. Li addition to his farming activities he has followed 
the trade of carpenter more or less for many years and is skilled in this 
useful art, having learned liis trade under the tutelage of his father. 
Mr. Eichler has always heen allied with the Democratic party and 
served as justice of the peace for Mound township for four years. He 
and the members of his family are religiously associated with the 
Methodist church. South. Mr. Eichler recalls vividly the troublesome 
days of the i)or(ler warfare and remembers many of the jay-hawkers 
who made raids into Missouri over the border. He remembers Colonel 
Johnson's raid through Bates county, and states that Johnson's men 



366 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

even cut down or destroyed the fruit trees which had been planted and 
carefully nurtured by the settlers. Johnson had nearly five hundred 
men in his command and this party left terror and desolation in their 
wake. When the Eichler family located in Bates county, the first post- 
ofBce was located at the old and historic town of Papinsville, which at 
that time was a government post. Mr. Eichler likewise remembers that 
some excellent apples grew on the Mission grounds at Papinsville and he 
always ate of the fruit in season when going to Papinsville to trade. 
He states that a Frenchman named Francis Lorain was the first actual 
settler at Papinsville, and this man kept a store and trading post. Mr. 
Eichler always kept on good terms with the nomadic Indians and found 
them harmless, but badly given to petty thieving, necessitating con- 
stant watchfulness on the part of the housewives, being likewise ever- 
lasting beggars. The milling of the settlers was done at Papinsville and 
also at Balltown, the first settler at that place being a Scotchman named 
McNeal who conducted a trading post. For a number of years he pre- 
served a copy of the first newspaper published in Bates county, called the 
"Bates County Standard," but this paper was destroyed when the Eichler 
residence was burned some time ago. 

When Lewis C. Eichler came to Bates county the country was 
largely an unpeopled wilderness in which wild game abounded. There 
were herds of deer, great flocks of prairie chickens and wild turkeys. 
There were no roads and the settler followed trails across the prairie 
and blazed tracks through the woods. He has witnessed the growth 
of this county and taken an active and influential part in its upbuilding. 
There are few of the real old pioneers left to tell the tales of the early 
days, and of these. Mr. Eichler is one of the most honored. 

Herman Engelhardt. — The Engelhardt farm, widely known as 
"Pleasant View Farm" located in Charlotte township, is one of the finest 
and most productive agricultural plants in this section of Missouri. It 
consists of three hundred twenty acres of land, every square yard of 
which serves some useful purpose. The residence on the place was 
erected by the proprietor in 1905 and consists of seven good-sized rooms. 
Eight years later, in 1913, Mr. Engelhardt built one of the finest barn 
structures in Bates county, a building 48 x 58 feet and forty-eight feet 
in height, with a gambrel-roof, the loft underneath this roof having a 
storage capacity of ninety tons of hay and forage. This building with 
the cow barn and silos cost Mr. Engelhardt something over two thousand 
two hundred dollars to build. He is extensively engaged in raising Red 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



;67 



Polled cattle and Poland China hogs and does considerable grain farming, " 
most of the grain produced by his fertile acres being fed to livestock 
on the place. This farm produced the champion yield of seventy bushels 
of oats to the acre in 1917 and also produced nearly three thousand 
bushels of corn. The wheat crop averaged twenty bushels to the acre, 
one of the best, if not the best, yields in Bates county. One hundred 
tons of hay were cut from the meadows last year. Mr. Engelhardt 
employs plenty of help to operate his large acreage and believes in 
spending money unstintedly on his land in order to make money. His 
methods of cultivation are such as to increase rather than diminish soil 
fertility and each year has seen his prosperity increase as a result of 
such wise measures. 

Mr. Engelhardt was born in 1858 in Saxony, Germany, a son of 
Frederick and Collene Engelhardt who lived all of their days in the land 
of their birth. Herman Engelhardt served for a time in the German 
army and in his youth learned the trade of nail-maker. This was in the 
days when nails were laboriously made by hand and Herman became 
skilled in the art of nail making, being able by a few strokes of the ham- 
mer to turn out quickly and efficiently a nail of any size. He immigrated 
to America in 1882 and obtained employment in the Rolling Mills at Rose- 
dale, a suburb of Kansas City, where he remained for a time and then 
located in Douglas county, Missouri. In this county, he homesteaded a 
tract of government land and by the hardest kind of labor cleared and 
placed in cultivation one hundred twenty acres. He started his career 
as a farmer with little or no means at his disposal and in less than eighteen 
years created a salable property in Douglas county from what had before 
been a wilderness. He spent his winters in chopping down the trees and 
preparing his ground for cultivation and in order to provide for his family 
he did railroad work during the summer seasons. In 1901, he traded 
his Douglas county farm for a tract of one hundred acres in Charlotte 
township to wdiich he has since added other acreage until he now owns 
three hundred twenty acres. Mr. Engelhardt gives great credit to his 
faithful wife and the members of his family for assistance in achieving 
his marked success. 

While living in Kansas City, he was married in 1883, to Pertha 
Glass, wdio was also born in Saxony, Germany, and to this marriage 
have been born five living children: Paul H., a farmer living in Char- 
lotte township; Lena, wife of Francis Gasch, a native of Austria, Mar- 
shall county, Kansas; Ida, who married Fred Nowatna, Piatt county, 



368 . HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Kansas; William, at home; and Elsie, also at home with her parents. 
Politically, Mr. Engelhardt is independent and votes as his conscience 
and judgment dictate. He is a member of the Christian church, and 
Mrs. Engelhardt and the children are members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. Mr. Engelhardt is one of the most progressive and enter- 
prising citizens of Bates county, one who has good and just right to 
be proud of his fine farm and the success which has come to him through 
his own efforts and with no other assistance than that cheerfully given 
by the members of his family who have all worked together harmoniously 
for the common good of the family. Bates county is likewise proud of 
such citizens as he, men who have demonstrated that successful tillage 
of her soil depends to the greatest extent upon the individual himself. 

John Robert Walters, of Eone Oak township, is one of the oldest 
and most honored of the Bates county pioneers. Besides being one of 
the oldest of the citizens of his township, not only in age but in years 
of residence in the county, he has reared one of the largest families 
in the county. This is not all, however, for he spent some of the best 
years of his life in defense of the Union during the Civil War. He was 
born October 3, 1844, in a primitive home on Camp Branch creek, in 
Cass county, between Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville. His early recol- 
lections of conditions during his boyhood days, in Cass and Bates coun- 
ties, are vivid. He has seen his father shoot deer to the number of two 
and three before breakfast. Deer, as well as other wild game, were 
plentiful on the prairies and years ago he has shot deer himself and 
hunted the wild prairie chicken and turkeys. Having lived in Bates 
county since 1849, he is entitled to honorable mention as one of the 
oldest of the real pioneers of the county. 

Joseph Walters, his father, a Kentuckian by birth, was taken by 
his parents to Indiana and thence to Illinois, where he spent the days of 
his youth under primitive conditions. He was married near Terre 
Haute. Indiana, to Margaret Burkhart, who was born in Indiana. In 
the early forties, Joseph Walters came to Missouri and first made a 
settlement in the southern part of the state, but, conditions not being 
to his liking, he settled in Cass county, where he lived until 1849 and 
then came to Bates county, settling in Pleasant Gap township, where his 
death occurred at the age of eighty-five years. Mrs. Walters attained 
the great age of ninety-six years and at the time of her death was the 
oldest pioneer woman of Bates county. They w^ere parents of sixteen 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 369 

children, nine sons and seven daughters, six of whom are yet living: 
Nelson, on the old homestead in Pleasant Gap township; John Robert, 
subject of this review; Mrs. Mollie Brownfield, state of Washington; 
Solomon, living near Harrisonville ; Mrs. Malinda Thomas, at the old 
family homestead in Pleasant Gap township; James, who makes his 
home in California: and Joseph, lives in Colorado. 

J. R. Walters made his home with his parents until the outbreak of 
the Civil War. Inasmuch as it appeared necessary for him to serve on 
one side of the conflict, he chose to side with the Union and accordingly 
went to Paoli, Kansas, and enlisted in Company E, Ninth Kansas Cav- 
alry, in the year 1863. This regiment operated along the border and in 
Arkansas, being on continuous scouting duty and engaging in battle 
with roving bands of Confederates and the dreaded guerrillas who infested 
the border states. They had several "mixups" with Ouantrill's gang 
of freebooters and he was engaged in the battle of Buell Bayou. He 
received his honorable discharge from the service at DuBall's Bluffs, 
Arkansas, and made his way homeward by boat to St. Louis, where he 
and his comrades were paid of¥, discharged, and mustered out of service 
at Leavenworth. Kansas. He returned directly to Bates county and set 
about repairing the ravages made during the war, the AValters home 
having been destroyed and the livestock dispersed during his absence. 
In 1891, he bought his present home place and is owner of sixty-six 
acres of well-improved land. Mr. Walters has one of the finest Short- 
horn herds in the county and takes considerable pride in his fine live- 
stock. 

His marriage with Belle Veda Walker, a native of Illinois, took 
place in 1874 and they have reared a large family of thirteen children of 
fourteen born to them. The children are as follow: Plenry C, living 
on his father's place ; William, Butler, Missouri : Lucy, Mrs. Homer 
Jenkins, Lone Oak township; Edward, living in Colorado; Mary, wife 
of Frank Nafus, Lone Oak township; Charles, a farmer in Vernon county, 
Missouri ; Joseph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : Lizzie, wife of Aleck 
Cameron, Kansas; Harry, living in Idaho; Nellie, wife of Clifford Nafus, 
Pleasant Gap township; Jennie, wife of Ward Carpenter, living near 
Appleton, Missouri ; Annie, resides at home ; and Elijah, at home. 

Mr. Walters is a Republican in politics as was his father before him. 
He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

George W. Thompson, of Elkhart township, a well-known horseman 
and stockman, was born in Calhoun county, Illinois, in 1850, a son of 

(24) 



3/0 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Charles W. and Julia (Anderson) Thompson. Charles W. I'hompson was 
a native of New York who removed to Calhoun connty, Illinois and there 
married Julia Anderson, a native of Kentucky. He departed this life in 
1853. His widow later married Dr. G. A\ . Christopher. To Charles W. 
and Julia Thompson were born three children: James, who died in Illi- 
nois; Charles, who was drowned in Calhoun county at the age of twenty^- 
five years; and George W., subject of this review. Elizal^eth, an adopted 
daughter, makes her home with the subject of this sketch. After the 
mother's marriage with Dr. Christopher, the family returned to Indiana 
and resided there for a nundjer of years and then came again to Illinois, 
where the mother died in 1872. In 1876, Dr. G. \\'. Christopher and his 
family came to Bates county, and located in Elkhart township on the 
farm now owned by G. AW Thompson. For some time after coming 
here. Doctor Christopher practiced his profession while developing his 
farm. He became widely known as a successful physician. He resided 
here until his death in 1890. To Dr. and Mrs. Christopher were born 
two children, Nancy Ann, the oldest, deceased ; and Francis Marion, of 
Elkhart township. 

At the time G. W. Thompson came to Bates county, much of the 
land was open prairie and the countryside was thinlv settled. Good 
land could be purchased for as low as six and seven dollars an acre and 
it was practically necessary for Mr. Thompson to place all the needed 
improvements on his place. The Thompson farm consists of one hun- 
dred forty acres of land with splendid improvements thereon. The 
farm is noted for its fine livestock. Mr. Thompson is the owner of a 
very valuable stallion of the American Shire breed which is considered 
to be one of the finest animals of its kind in the county. He raises 
Duroc Jersey and Poland China hogs and high-grade Shorthorn cattle. 
Mr. Thompson keeps a considerable part of his land in pasture and 
produces much grain and hay. No better nor more productive farm 
of its size is to be found anywhere in this section of Missouri than the 
Thompson place. 

Mr. Thompson is a Republican in his political affiliations and takes 
an active part in the affairs of his party, being accounted one of the 
Republican leaders of the county. He has filled the post of road fore- 
man several times and is a member of the Farmers' Union and of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 37I 

James F. Gragg, owner of a splendid tract of three hundred twenty 
acres of highly productive land in Mound township, located four miles 
south of Adrian, was born July 16, 1850, in Macoupin county, Illinois, 
on a farm located three miles south of the town of Bunker Hill. He 
is a son of John and Mary (King) Gragg, the former born in Madison 
county, Illinois, in 1810, and the latter, born in England and came to 
this country with her parents when she was nine years of age. John 
Gragg lived in Illinois and there the wife and mother died in 1872. Mr. 
Gragg came later to Bates county, Missouri and died here in January, 
1893, at the age of eighty-three years, at the home of James F. He 
was father of twelve children, nine of whom are living: Carrie, widow 
of Thomas Elliman, Butler, Illinois; George, Nokomis, Illinois; Frank, 
Lovell, Oklahoma ; Charles, Crescent, Oklahoma ; Ella, wife of Hiram 
Ellis, Guthrie, Oklahoma; Jane, wife of William DeWitt, Lovell, Okla- 
homa; Laura, wife of Edward CafTee, of Lovell, Oklahoma; Samuel 
Taylor, Crescent City, Oklahoma; and James, F., the subject of this 
review. 

The early boyhood days of James F. Gragg were spent in a little 
log cabin 12 x 14 feet in dimensions, built of logs hewn from forest 
trees which originally covered his father's farm in Illinois. He grew up 
in the environment of these primitive surroundings and lived in Illi- 
nois until 1883. at which time he went to Clay county, Nebraska. He 
remained but one year in Nebraska and in the fall of that same vear 
he came to Bates county, Missouri. For a period of thirteen years, he 
rented his present place of three hundred twenty acres and then pur- 
chased his farm. Upon this large tract, he carries on successful general 
farming- operations and stock raising and has become one of the most 
substantial and enterprising farmers of Bates county. 

Mr. Gragg was married in 1874 to Melissa Evans, who was also 
born in Macoupin county, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Gragg have had eight 
children: Charles, deceased; Lawrence Clayton, Rockville, Bates county; 
Clarence Edward, Kansas City, Missouri; Benjamin, deceased; Archie L., 
on the home place; Mae, wife of Cleave Chambers, Elkhart township; 
Bessie, at home ; and Eva B., wife of Carl Laycox, Kansas City, Missouri. 
Mr. Gragg has always ])een a consistent Democrat and is a member of 
the Central Protective Association and the Farmers' Club which is com- 
posed of the progressive farmers of his neighborhood. He and Mrs. 
Gragg are members of the Baptist church. 



372 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

John Nickel, one of the few surviving old settlers of West Point 
township, Union veteran, is a native of Missouri, having been born in 
Dade county, March 8, 1839. For the past fifty years this aged citizen 
has resided on his farm in Bates county and has witnessed tremendous 
and far-reaching changes during that long period. He has reared a 
family of sons and daughters and has accumulated a sufficiency of this 
world's goods to give each child a farm and yet leave enough to sup- 
port 'himself comfortably in his declining years. His career has been 
an honorable and useful one which is well worth recording in this his- 
tory of Bates county. Mr. Nickel is a son of Samuel and Helen (Clark) 
Nickel, both natives of Pennsylvania. 

Samuel Nickel was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
and migrated to Ohio, where he was united in marriage with Helen 
Clark and then came further westward to become one of the vanguard 
of Missouri pioneers who settled in Dade county in 1836. From Dade 
county he removed to Cedar county, Missouri, in 1849. When the Kansas 
territory was thrown open to settlement in 1854 he was among the first 
to locate in Linn county in that year. He was an ardent free state man 
who was opposed to slavery and took an active part in the border war- 
fare, doing all within his power to make Kansas a free state. Samuel 
Nickel was a friend of the noted John Brown of Osawatomie and his 
son. John Nickel, knew Brown well. Samuel Nickel served two years in 
the Sixth Kansas Cavalry Regiment of the Union army during the Civil 
War and six of his sons enlisted and served in 1)ehalf of the Union, as 
follow: William, Benjamin, Jasper, Newton, John, and Robert. 

Samuel Nickel had ten sons and a daughter, five of whom are yet 
living, as follow: John, subject of this review; Newton, a Union veteran, 
Oklahoma; George, residing in Texas; J. J., living in Denver; Mrs. Emma 
E. Eagan, residing in San Francisco, California. Samuel Nickel died 
at the age of seventy-one years and his wife departed this life at the 
age of fifty-six years. 

John Nickel has an enviable and noteworthy war record. He 
enlisted on August 17, 1861, in Company "D," of the Sixth Kansas 
Cavalry and served until the close of the conflict. He was honorably 
discharged from the Union service in December, 1864. Mr. Nickel saw 
active and continuous service in Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Terri- 
tory and Kansas. The principal battles in which his regiment took an 
active part were: Drywood, September 1, 1861; Sny Hills, 1862; Cow- 
skin Prairie, June, 1862; attack on Clarkson, July 4, 1862; Stan Watea 




JOHN NICKEL. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 373 

Mills, July, 1862; Coon Creek, August 24, 1862; Newtonia, September 
30, to October 9, 1862; Old Fort Wayne, October 22, 1862; Cane Hill, 
November 29, 1862; Prairie Grove, December 7, 1862; attack on train, 
Fort Gibson, May 25, 1863; Honey Spring, July 17, 1863; Prairie De 
Ann, April 10 and 12, 1864; Poison Spring, April 18, 1864; Ouchita 
River, April 29, 1864; Roseville, April 3, 1864; Muzzard Prairie, July 
27, 1864; Cabin Creek, September 19. 1864. At the battle of Cabin 
Creek, Oklahoma, he was wounded in the right shoulder and again 
suffered a wound in the right hand at the battle of Roseville, Arkansas. 

After receiving his discharge, Mr. Nickel returned to his home in 
Linn county, Kansas, and lived there until 1868, when he crossed the line 
into Missouri and bought a tract of unfenced and unbroken land in 
West Point township. This tract was crossed by a stream which afforded 
a plentiful supply of timber growing along its banks. Mr. Nickel cut logs 
from the timber and erected a rude log cabin which served as his home 
in Missouri for a number of years. Game was plentiful in those days 
and the young soldier and his wife had few wants which were not easily 
supplied although they enjoyed but few luxuries such as the present 
generation have in their homes. In the course of time Mr. Nickel pros- 
pered and built himself a comfortable and imposing farm house. Life 
was not always easy but he prospered through the lean and good years 
and eventually became owner of six hundred forty acres of land 
which he has divided among his children. He deemed it ]:»est to give 
to each child a tract of land or its equivalent wdiile he was vet living 
and as each attained his majority he received a fair start in the world. 

Mr. Nickel was married on Feljrnary 15, 1865, to Mary L. Francis, 
who was born in Illinois in 1845 and departed this life in 1895. She 
was a daughter of Thomas and Hannah Francis, of Illinois, who were 
pioneer settlers in Bates county, Missouri, coming here from Illinois 
in 1856. To John and Mary L. Nickel were born the following chil- 
dren: Elmer T., living in California; Hannah T., v.ife of E. J. Francis, 
residing in Oregon; Anna L.. wife of William Speeks, now deceased; 
John L., living on the home place, married Miss Ollie Dennv and has 
three children, Arthur, Floyd, and Paul Denny. Mr. Nickel has four- 
teen grandchildren in all. 

Mr. Nickel has always been allied with the Republican partv and 
has filled practically all local township offices. He is religiously asso- 
ciated with the Methodist Episcopal church and served as deacon of his 
church. Mr. Nickel is a meml^ier of the Grand Armv Post at La Cvo-ne, 



374 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Kansas. Mr. Nickel loves to talk of the old times and especially grows 
reminiscent when he speaks of the war times and his strenuous career 
in the Civil War when his father and six stalwart and patriotic sons went 
forth to fight in behalf of the Union. He bequeathes a heritage of right 
living and right doing which wall be an inspiration to the present and 
succeeding generations. His fifty years of endeavor in Bates county 
have been blessed with excellent results and he has done as much as' 
any other pioneer settler in the upbuilding of this county. 

Christian Schmidt. — When Christian Schmidt of Mound township 
came to Bates county thirty-six years ago, he was a poor man with 
neither money nor friends to assist him in getting a start in this county. 
By industry, close application to the work at hand, and the exercise of 
good financial ability he has become one of the substantial farmers of 
this county and one of the county's most highly respected citizens. Mr. 
Schmidt was born in Baden, Germany, in 1860. a son of Mr. and Mrs. 
Christian Schmidt, the former of whom never left his native land but 
died in the place of his birth in 1871. Mrs. Schmidt came to America, 
in 1880, with her two daughters, Catherine, now Mrs. William Mueller, 
and Sophia, now Mrs. William Jenney. Mrs. Schmidt died January 20, 
1916. When Christian was twenty years of age, he immigrated to 
America in search of a permanent home and wealth. For the first 
two or three years, he worked as farm laborer in Illinois and then came 
westward to Bates county where it seemed to him that on account of 
land being cheaper in price he would stand a better chance of eventually 
becoming a land-owner. He first located in Deer Creek township and 
was engaged in farming in that township until 1898, when he located 
in Mound township and purchased eighty acres of land which formed 
the nucleus around which he has built up a splendid and rich farm of 
two hundred forty acres, adding tracts from time to time as he was 
able financially. He maintains a fine herd of Durham cattle and raises 
Poland China hogs. Most of the grain and fodder produced on the 
Schmidt farm is fed to livestock on the place, thereby insuring the con- 
tinued fertility of the soil. 

Mr. Schmidt was first married to Elizabeth Jenney, who bore him 
one son. Christian, at home with his father. After the death of his first 
wife he was married in November, 1894, to Ida Hess, of Bates county, and 
to this marriage have been born five children: Lena, at home; Albert, 
who assisted his father on the home place; Herman, a student in Adrian 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 375 

High School ; \\'alter and Christine, attenchng the pubHc school. Mr. 
Schmidt is a Lutheran in his religious beHef. 

Mrs. Ida (Hess) Schmidt was born January 25, 1872, in LaSalle 
county, Illinois, daughter of Gotthard and Catherine Hess, natives of 
Baden, Germany, who came from Illinois to Bates county, in 1879. and 
located on a farm two miles west of Adrian. Both are deceased. Gotthard 
Hess died in 1896 and Catherine (Kern) Hess died in 1907. A sketch 
of Mr. and Mrs. Gotthard Hess appears elsewhere in this volume in con- 
nection with the review of Edward C. Hess. 

Thaddeus S. Harper, prosperous and well-known farmer of Charlotte 
township, has lived nearly all his life in Bates county, having been 
brought to this county by his parents, when he was an infant in arms, 
fifty years ago. He has practically "grown up with the county" and he 
has become an important and valued member of the great body of citi- 
zens who are continuously pushing Bates county to the front and making 
it one of the truly great counties of Missouri. Mr. Harper was born 
on a farm in Johnson county, Missouri, near the city of Warrensburg, 
August 24, 1867, a son of Judge R. F. Harper, concerning whom an 
extended review is given elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Harper was 
reared and educated in Bates county, completing his education at the 
Butler Academy. He then taught school in this county, teaching for 
eight winters in the home district. No. 70, better known as Grandview 
school. During the summer season, he diligently farmed upon his 
father's place. He taught school for fourteen winters, in all, and was 
considered a very successful teacher. He eventually purchased the farm 
where he is now located and which he has greatly improved until it 
now contains one of the most handsome farm residences in western 
Missouri, fitted with every convenience, containing many modern 
improvements, among them being an electric light plant which furnishes 
electric light and power for the home and farm buildings. There are 
two hundred acres in Mr. Harper's home farm and he owns another 
place of one hundred fifty acres. His first investment in land was made 
in 1891 and he has continued to prosper by intelligently cultivating his 
acreage and by raising high-bred livestock, such as the Red Polled cat- 
tle. 

Mr. Harper was married on April 7, 1897, to Miss Lillian Edna Hill, 
wdio was born in Missouri, a daughter of Pleasant Hill, who 
made a settlement in Missouri as early as 1867, coming to this state 



376 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

from Iowa. Six children have been born to T. S. and Lillian Edna 
Harper, as follow: Ralph E., a gradnate of Butler High School; Carrie 
Margaret, who graduated from the Butler High School and is engaged 
in teaching at Mulberry; Rollin H., a student in Butler High School; 
Dorothy D.. Thaddeus S., Jr., and Theodore Roosevelt, or "Teddy," all of 
whom are at home. 

The Republican party has always had the active and influential 
support of Mr. Harper and he served as chairman of the county central 
committee during the last campaign made by former President Roose- 
velt for the Presidency. He has ably filled the offices of township 
assessor and clerk and as delegate to the various conventions of his 
party held in the old days prior to the inauguration of the party pri- 
maries. Mr. Harper is a stockholder and director of the Farmers State 
Bank of Butler. 

Monroe Burk, well-known farmer of Charlotte township, was l)orn 
in Union county, Indiana, June 2, 1846, a son of Lemuel and ALary 
Isabel (Girard) Burk, the former, a native of Indiana and the latter, 
a native of Virginia. The family came to Missouri and settled in Lafay- 
ette county in 1866. In 1884, they moved to Johnson county, Mis- 
souri, and afterward located in Bates county. After a long and useful 
life, the father died at Lees Summit. Z^Iissouri, and the mother died 
near Rich Hill in this county. Lemuel and ^lary Isal)el Burk were 
parents of ten children, eight of whom are living; John D., Washing- 
ton; Angeline, wife of William Scudder, Kokomo, Indiana; ]\Irs. Sina 
Boland, Kansas City, Missouri; Monroe Burk, subject of this sketcli ; 
Conaway, Lexington, Missouri; Elliot, Amoret, ]\Iissouri; ]\Irs. Ida Culp, 
Kansas City; and Mrs. Belle Atherton, Holden, Johnson county. 

The 1)Ovhood days of Monroe Burk were spent in Indiana, where 
he attended the district scliools. He accompanied his parents to ?^lis- 
souri in 1866 and in 1881 began his own career in Bates county, locating 
on a farm in Charlotte township, three-fourths of a mile east of his 
present homestead. Air. Burk has accumulated a large farm of two 
hundred eighty acres of good land and is engaged extensively in rais- 
ing and feeding livestock for the markets. He handles Shorthorn cat- 
tle and Poland China hogs and each year adds to the number of splendid 
mules produced in this county. 

November 11, 1874, Mr. Burk was united in marriage with Nannie 
Belle Evans of Platte county, Missouri, who has borne him nine chil- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^yj 

dren: Emmet, a farmer of Charlotte township; Rose, wife of Morton 
Jackson, Linn county, Kansas ; John, residing in Washington ; Luki, wife 
of Herbert Steele, of Bntler, Missouri; Lloyd, of College Station, Texas; 
Ray, at home; Edna, wife of Edlin Allison; Perry, at home; and Maud, 
at home. The mother of this fine family is a daughter of John Wesley 
and Jennie (Flagler) Evans, natives of Ohio, wdio located in Missouri 
in the early fifties. They later homesteaded in Kansas, remaining in 
that state for a few years and then lived for about ten years near Kicka- 
poo, Leavenworth county, Kansas, after which they went to Newton 
county, Missouri. Following a short residence in Newton countv, they 
lived for two years in Jackson county and then removed to Lafavette 
county, later residing for a time in Kansas City. Airs. Burk's father 
died in Lafayette and her mother died in Kansas City. 

Mr. Burk has been a life-long Democrat, one who has served his 
political party faithfully and well and served as a township collector of 
Charlotte township one term. Mr. and Mrs. Burk are well and favor- 
ably known in their neighborhood and are among Bates county's most 
sdl^stantial citizens. 

J. M. Hinson, a leading farmer and stockman of Charlotte township, 
was born in Rappahannock county, Virginia, November 22, 1848. Pie is 
a son of J. G. and Lucy (Gigsby) Hinson, ])oth of whom were born and 
reared in old Virginia and were of Irish descent. Thev spent their lives 
in their native state and they were parents of five children, tlie subject 
of this review being the only member of this family who came west to 
Missouri. J. G. Hinson served with the Confederate armv and was 
present with his command at the surrender of General Lee at Appomat- 
tox Court House, Virginia. For three years following tlie final sur- 
render, Mr. Hinson was not allowed to cast a vote at election time in 
his native state during tlie period of reconstruction. He followed farm- 
ing during his whole life and was also engaged in merchandising. 

In 1872, J. M. Hinson left his native state and came westward in 
search of a home and fortune. He first located at Waverlv, Favette 
county, Missouri, and there engaged in farming until 1882, during wifich 
year he came to Bates county and after a year's residence in A\'est 
Boone township, he locate<l in Charlotte township and l:)ought his pres- 
ent fine farm. He owns two hundred acres of good land located seven 
and one-half miles west of Butler and is extensively engaged in general 
farming and stock raising, his cattle being mostly of the Durham breed. 
Mr. Hinson purchased his farm in 1892. 



3/8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mr. Hinson was married in 1877 to Esther Johnson, of Fayette 
county, Missouri, and to this union have been born three children, as 
follow: Liliie, wife of Harry Simpson, Elkhart township; Nova, at 
home; and Ewell, living in South Dakota. Mrs. Hinson died in 1884. 
Mr. Hinson is a Democrat, but is inclined to vote independently accord- 
ing to the dictates of his conscience and after weighing carefully in his 
mind the qualifications of the various candidates for political preferment 
at election time. 

M. M. Carroll, well and favorably known farmer and stockman of 
Lone Oak township, living on a well-improved place located five and 
a half miles distant from the court house in Butler, was born in McDon- 
ough county, Illinois, a son of Daniel M. Carroll, who was a scion of the 
famous family of Carrolls, whose founder settled in Virginia in colonial 
days. The first of the family in America was Daniel Carroll, a native 
of Ireland, who settled in Virginia over two hundred years ago and 
whose descendants have been prominent in American affairs. Charles 
Carroll, of Carrollton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was 
a direct descendant of this Daniel Carroll. 

Daniel M. Carroll, father of M. M. Carroll, was born near Union- 
town, Pennsylvania, a son of Daniel Carroll, a native of the Keystone 
state, who, with his brother, William Carroll, became pioneer settlers 
in the state of Illinois. Three of his sons, Daniel M., John, and James 
R., served as members of the Seventy-eighth Illinois Infantry during 
the Civil War. John Carroll died in Libby Prison. James R. Carroll 
served for two years and was discharged on account of physical disa- 
bility. Daniel M. Carroll was a member of Company I, Seventy-eighth 
Illinois Infantry and served for three years and ten months in the Union 
service. He was wounded during the assault on Missionary Ridge, but 
served until the close of the war. After the close of his war service, he 
farmed in McDonough county, Illinois until March, 1875, wdien he 
came to Bates county and located in Lone Oak township, building up a 
fine farm which is now occupied by his son, W'illiam. He died in 1898 
at the age of sixty-three years. While he espoused the principles of 
the Democratic party, he never sought political preferment. In his 
young manhood he was married to Anna Marie Carnahan, who bore him 
the following children: M. A., of Summit township; S. W^, Lone Oak 
township; John R., deceased; Sephrenous S., deceased; Dollie. wife of 
Joseph Ghere, Lone Oak township; and Hattie. wife of Elijah Requa, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



379 



Lone Oak township. The mother of these children was born in Ohio, 
a daughter of James Harvey Carnahan, a native of Ohio, of Scotch 
descent. Mr. Carnahan located in Illinois in 1852 and spent the remain- 
der of his life in McDonongh county. The mother of Mrs. Carroll was 
Cynthia Murphy before her marriage and she was of German descent. 
Mrs. Anna Marie Carroll died in 1910. 

M. M. Carroll received practically all of his schooling in Illinois and 
was sixteen years of age when his parents came to Bates county. He 
attended school for some time after coming here and he began to make 
his own way in the world when he was twenty-four years of age. When 
he had accumulated some capital he purchased one hundred forty acres 
of farm land, upon which he carries on general farming and stock rais- 
ing, paying particular attention to the raising of Shorthorn cattle, a 
breed which he believes is the best for beef production. 

Mr. Carroll was married November 5, 1883, to Mary E. Deems, who 
was born and reared in Bates county, a daughter of John Deems, who 
came to this county in an early day from his native state of Pennsyl- 
vania. Mrs. Mary E. Carroll died in 1900, leaving the following children : 
Grover J., a farmer of Summit township; Katie, deceased; Ross, de- 
ceased; Harvey and Percy, twins, the former of whom is dead and the 
latter is now in the Oklahoma oil fields; and Fred M., Lone Oak town- 
ship. Later, Mr. Carroll was married to Miss Emma I. Eckles, a native 
of Hancock county, Illinois, daughter of James Eckles, who died after a 
residence of some years in Bates county. Three children have been born 
of this marriage: Harold, at home; Angeline, deceased; one child died 
in infancy. 

Mr. Carroll is independent in politics. He has served as town- 
ship clerk and assessor, three terms, and has filled the office of justice 
of the peace two terms. He also served one term as township trus- 
tee. He was a candidate for county judge in the southern district in 
1896 on the People's Party ticket, and received one hundred fifty-five 
votes, while his two opponents received about fifty votes each in his 
township. Every office which he has held has practically come to him 
unsought as he has never asked a voter to support him during a cam- 
paign. Mr. Carroll is a member of the Presbyterian church and is a highly 
respected and leading citizen of Bates county. At present he is serving 
as deputy food administrator of Bates county. He served as draft 
registrar for Lone Oak township in June, 1917. 



380 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

J. T. Hensley, one of the oldest resident farmers of Homer town- 
ship has the distinction of being the oldest livestock buyer in Bates 
county. For the past forty-seven years, Mr. Hensley has been engaged 
in the buying and shipping of livestock and has built up a reputation 
for square and honest dealing with his scores of patrons which has 
never been equalled in Bates county or this section of Missouri. He 
is one of the substantial pioneer farmers of this county who enjoys 
the respect and esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. 
Probably no man of his age is better or more favorably known m 
this section of Missouri than this sturdy farmer and stockman. 

Mr. Hensley was born in Kentucky, March 4, 1846, and is a son of 
James Harvey and Sadie (Anderson) Hensley, both of whom were natives 
of old Kentucky. James Hensley was born in 1805 and clied in 1855. 
His wife departed this life in 1853. James Harvey Hensley was a son 
of Elijah Hensley, a native of England. J. T. Hensley's father was shot 
when the son was Imt nine years of age, and two years prior to this, his 
mother died — leaving four children: W^illiam Colby, who farmed in part- 
nership with the subject of this review in Bates county until his death; 
T. T., subject of this sketch; Shelby, deceased; Henry, deceased. After 
the loss of his parents, J. T. Hensley was reared l)y a Air. Stevens until 
he attained the age of eighteen years. Eor two years following he 
worked as farm hand and then engaged in farming on his own account. 
In the year 1865. Mr. Hensley went to Illinois and worked by the month 
for two years, following which he farmed on his own account until 1869, 
at which time he migrated to Missouri and settled in Bates county. 
Mr. Hensley purchased his present home farm in 1870 and for a numlier 
of years he farmed with his brother, William Colby Hensley, until tlie 
hitter's death. 'Mr. Hensley accumulated several farms and had a con- 
siderable acreage of land in Bates county. Of late years he has disposed 
of the greater portion of his land holdings as the land rose in value and 
now^ has but the home place of one hundred twenty acres. For 
the past fortv-seven years, he has l^een engaged in the Ijuying and 
shipping of livestock and has rarely or never missed a week in being 
in Amoret ready to conduct his business. Mr. Hensley has shipped 
hundreds and probably thousands of carloads of cattle to the city mar- 
kets and is the oldest stock buyer in Bates county. It is conceded that 
he is one of the best judges of livestock in the state of Missouri and he is 
widely known over this section of Missouri and the border territory 
of Kansas. 




J. T. HENSLEY. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 38 1 

Mr. Hensley was married in 1S73 to Miss Carrie Orear, who died 
April 18. 1880, leaving two children: Ella May, widow of T. A. Wright 
who died February 15, 1917, and is living at Commerce, Oklahoma; 
Carrie, a widow, married in 1906 to F. M. Skaggs, who died May 13, 
1916, and she has one child, Ella Louise, eight years old. Mr. Hensley's 
second marriage took place February 16, 1882, with Mamie Boone 
Orear, a sister of his first wife, born in Kentucky, a daughter of William 
D. and Selina Orear, natives of Kentucky who migrated to Missouri 
in 1870. Mrs. Selina Orear makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Hensley. 
Three children were born to this secorwl marriage: William H., mem- 
ber of the Live Stock Exchange and hog salesman for Zook & Zook 
Live Stock Commission Company, and at !he time he began was the 
youngest hog salesman on the exchange, a resident of Kansas City, 
Missouri : Albert, Farmington. Missouri ; Mamie Merle, wife of W. C. 
Dillard, F"armington, Missouri. Mamie Boone f Orear; Hensley was 
born June 11. 1866. in Kentucky, daughter of William D. and Selina 
(Gibson) Orear, natives of Kentucky. The Orears are of French ori- 
gin, the progenitor of whom came from France with Lafayette and 
settled in Virginia after the Revolution. The Gibson family were Vir- 
ginia stock. Selina (Gibson) Orear was a daughter of James, a son 
of Samuel Gibson, who came from Norfolk. Virginia, and a Kentucky 
pioneer. \Mlliam D. Orear was born in 1827, and died April 16. 1899. 
Selina Orear was born in 1836 and is still living. Carrie Henslev, de- 
ceased; Albert, Kansas City, a carpenter: John Davis. Hot Springs, 
Arkansas, a printer; Mrs. Mamie Boone Hensley; and Mrs. Efifie 
Mitchell, Kansas City. Missouri, were born to William D. and Selina 
Orear. 

Politically, Mr. Hensley has always been allied with the Republican 
party but aside from assisting his friends during a political campaign 
and voting his convictions he takes but little interest in political matters. 
He is a member of the Christian church and is fraternally affiliated 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having become a member 
of the Amoret lodge in 1907. History can give no higher nor better 
praise of J. T. Hensley than that his career in Bates county has been 
a long and honorable one and that he has conducted his business in 
such an honest and upright manner that he enjoys the respect, confi- 
dence and esteem of scores and hundreds of people with whom he has 
done' business during a long period of nearly half a century in Bates 
county. Despite his more than three score years and ten, he is active and 



382 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Strong', both mentally and physically, and ranks as one of the county's 
grand old men. 

Mr. Hensley began shipping livestock in 1870, driving stock to 
Mulberry and thence fifteen miles to La Cygne, Kansas, the nearest 
shipping point. Later, he drove stock to Old West Line, twenty-five miles 
distant, for shipment to St. Louis. When the railroad came to Butler 
in 1880 he drove stock to that city for shipment. In 1894 the Kansas 
City & Southern w^as built through Amoret and he has since shipped 
from this point. In the early days he and his brother drove cattle all 
the way to Kansas City. * 

Adelbert Requa. — The Requa family is one of the oldest of the pio- 
neer families of western Missouri and the name of Requa is inseparably 
connected with the foundation of the settlement and development of 
Bates county and this section of Missouri. Members of this old family 
were founders of Harmony Mission established in the southern part of 
Bates county as early as 1821 and 1822. Considerable space is devoted to 
the history of Harmony Mission elsewhere in the historical section of this 
volume, to which the reader is referred. The Requa' family is of French 
Huguenot origin, the ancestors of the family having fied from France 
before the American Revolution in order to escape religious persecu- 
tion.- on the part of the Roman church. The progenitors of the family 
in America settled in New York state, where they became prominently 
identified with afTairs in that state during the colonial epoch of Ameri- 
can history. They were true patriots and espoused the cause of 
American Independence during the Revolutionary period of our coun- 
try's history. No less than twelve members of this old family bore arms 
and fought for the liberties of their country in the Revolutionary War. 
Four members of the family were commissioned officers in the Army 
of Independence. Dr. William Requa, a scholarly and talented man, 
was one of the founders of Harmony Mission. George Requa, paternal 
grandfather of ''Del" Requa, whose name heads this review, was also 
a well-educated and devout man, one who was interested in Christian- 
izing the Indians of the W^est. In 1826, he went to Fort Gibson, Arkan- 
sas, and was connected with the Union Indian Mission at that point. In 
1827, he came to what is now Bates county, and was connected with the 
Harmony Indian Mission until its abandonment in the early thirties. The 
Requas were all people of learning and intelligence and had a wide ac- 
quaintance among the men of letters in their day. Washington Irving, the 
famous novelist, during his travels, paid a visit to the Requa at Har- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 383 

mony Mission, and secured material for some of his stories while here. 
While a guest of George Requa, he took the father of "Del" Requa on 
his lap, Austin Requa then but an infant, and played with him. 

Austin Requa, father of Adelbert, Misses Eulia and Clara Requa 
residing in Lone Oak township, was born at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, 
March 1, 1832, a son of George Requa, who first came to Bates county 
and located at old Harmony Mission in 1827 and made a permanent set- 
tlement in this county in 1832. The wife of George Requa was Mary 
Harmony Austin, whom he married in 1827 at Harmony Mission. The 
parents of Mary Harmony Austin were missionaries who had left their 
native state of Vermont to engage in mission work among the Indians 
of the West, teaching among the Osage Indians for a number of years. 
She was a cousin of Rev. R. R. Stoors, of Brooklyn, New York. When 
the Mission disbanded in 1832, George Requa entered government land 
near what was formerly known as Stumptown, north of Lone Oak. 
He was postmaster for some years, the postoffice being located in the 
Requa residence. After his death, his widow still kept the postofiice. 
George and Mary Harmony Requa were parents of eight children: Mary 
Elizabeth, wife of Levi Pixley, who was a son of Rev. Benton Pixley, 
of Harmony Mission; Austin: William; James; George; Lucy, wife of 
David Redfield. a relative of A. Redfield, of Harmony Mission; Martha; 
Mattie, wife of Col. A. AW Robb, who enlisted in the Union army for 
service during the Civil War as a private and became a colonel. A 
daughter of Col. Robb was the first white child born in Muskogee, Okla- 
homa. Cyrus Requa was the youngest child of George Requa. 

Austin Requa was reared a farmer in Bates county and was inured 
to the hardships of frontier life. When he was an infant in arms, his 
pjlrents made the journey from Fort Gil^son to Harmony ^Mission. A 
crossing of the Osag'e river was necessary. The river was filled with 
ice. An Indian brought the family across the stream in a canoe, made 
of buffalo skin, towing by means of thong held in his teeth and swimming 
through the icy waters. In 1856. Austin Requa married Hannah A. But- 
ler and also entered government land in Pleasant Gap township. Three of 
his brothers served in the L'nion army during the Civil AA^ar. The pine 
lumber used in the construction of the Requa home was hauled from 
Pleasant Hill, a distance of sixty miles. During the Civil AA^ar, Mr. Requa 
resided in Kansas for a portion of the time, and also saw service under 
the LTnion flag in the Kansas Home Guards. AA'hen the Lone Oak 
Presbyterian church was organized in 1868 he was made elder, an office 



384 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

which he held until his death, June 6, 1910. His wife died December 
15, 1889. There were five children in the family of Austin and Hannah 
A. Requa, namely: Clara, who resides with her brother and her sister 
in Lone Oak township; George B., of near Reno, Nevada; Eulia, living 
with "Del" and Clara Requa; Elijah Stoors, Lone Oak township; and 
Adelbert or "Del" Requa. The land upon which the old Requa home 
place was built was entered by Austin Requa from the United States 
government and the land patent was signed by President Franklin 
Pierce. 

Adelbert Requa, who is farming one hundred sixty acres of land 
in Lone Oak township, is also cultivating forty acres owned by his 
sister. He was born in Pleasant Gap township, August 2, 1872. He 
was educated in the schools of Bates county and has always followed the 
pursuits of a farmer and a stockman. He raises thoroughbred Here- 
ford cattle and is a capable farmer whose place is a model of neatness 
and indicates close and thorough cultivation. The Requa home place 
is one of the most attractive places in Bates county. The land is well 
watered and was formerly covered with timber which grew in the deep 
rich soil, which has yielded bountiful crops for many years. Mr. Requa 
is a genial, whole-souled fellow, a Democrat in politics, and is prominent 
in political circles in his native county. He has served as assessor of 
Pleasant Gap township and as tax collector of Lone Oak township. Mr. 
Requa is accounted one of the ablest and most substantial of Bates 
countv's citizens and the members of this famous old family are held in 
high esteem throughout the county. No name in Bates county his- 
torical annals has greater significance or figures more prominently than 
Requa. It is an honored one and is and will be forever connected with 
the cradling of civilization in western Missouri. 

G. W. Daniel, a prominent farmer and stockman of Lone Oak town- 
ship, has been identified with Bates county practically all his life. Mr. 
Daniel is a native of Missouri. He was born in Osage county. May 
24, 1852, a son of John and jMartha (Cruse) Daniel. The father was 
a native of Virginia, and the mother of Kentucky. ' They settled .in 
Osage county, Missouri, at an early date, coming there with their respec- 
tive parents. They were married in Osage county, and in 1855, came 
to Bates county, settling in Lone Oak township. 

The Daniel familv resided in this township until Order No. 11 
went into effect, when they removed to Pettis county. As a boy, G. \\\ 
Daniel has a distinct recollection of many of the stirring events that 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 385 

took place in this section during the days of the border war, both before 
the Civil War and after it was officially closed. He saw much of the 
activity of the "bushwhackers," "jayhawkers," and "redlegs" during those 
days. Raiding parties from both sides frequently stopped at his father's 
place and obtained food. It was not an uncommon thing to hear shoot- 
ing and fighting going on in the vicinity almost any night. The Kansas 
raiders frequently drove off cattle, burned houses, and destroyed fences 
and other property. 

Mr. Daniel's farm is located on a slight elevation three and one- 
fourth miles south of Butler. During the Civil War times, this place was 
known as "Spy Mound." It got its name from the fact that "bush- 
whacker" pickets were frequently stationed here to watch for the 
approach of Kansas raiders in the vicinity of Butler. Butler could be 
distinctly seen from this point before the timber between here and Butler 
had grown to its present proportions. 

In the early part of the war, Butler was a Federal military post and 
Mr. Daniel recalls seeing soldiers there. He also remembers the Battle 
of Brushy Mound, where so many negroes, who had come from Kansas 
to subdue the South, were killed. Mr. Daniel says after the first clash 
in that engagement some of the negroes, who could outrun bullets, 
escaped back into Kansas. 

The Daniel family returned to their home in Lone Oak township 
in the spring of 1866 and proceeded to rebuild their home and improve 
the farm. Political trouble continued in the neighborhood for some 
time afterward. Elisha Daniel, an uncle of G. W., was murdered in his 
home in that vicinity after the war, and the shooting at Willowbranch 
church took place, in which Lindsey, Wines, and Hart were shot. In 
those days, people went to church heavily armed, expecting trouble, and, 
frequently, were not disappointed. 

John Daniel, the father of G. W., followed farming in Lone Oak 
township until he retired. He died in 1904, his wife having passed away 
in 1898. 

G. W. Daniel was one of a family of ten children, five of whom are 
living, as follow: Leander, Cedar county, Missouri; G. W., the subject 
of this sketch; Isaac, Lone Oak township, Bates county; Sarah, married 
John Silvers, Winfield, Kansas ; and Louisa, married Tom Taylor, Mos- 
cow, Idaho. Mr. Daniel received his education in the public schools, 
such as they were, in the pioneer days of Bates county. He attended 

(25) 



386 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

school in an old log school house, which was located near his home in 
Lone Oak township. He began life as a farmer and has successfully 
been engaged in agricultural pursuits up to the present time. He has a 
fine farm of one hundred twenty acres, located three and one-fourth 
miles south of Butler. He is quite extensively engaged in raising cattle, 
as well as general farming, and is recognized as one of the progressive 
agriculturists of Bates county. 

Mr. Daniel was united in marriage in 1876, with ]\Iiss Harriet Mars- 
teller, a native of LaPorte, Indiana, a daughter of Randolph and Mary 
(Wright) Marsteller, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of 
Ohio. Mrs. Daniel came to Bates county, IMissouri, in 1857. They 
settled in Mount Pleasant township, where the parents spent the remain- 
der of their lives. The father died in 1882, and the mother departed 
this life in 1914. During the Civil War, when Order No. 11 was issued, 
the Marsteller family went to Pettis county, where they remained until 
the close of the war. 

To Mr. and Airs. Daniel have been born three children : Myrtie, 
married L. G. Thomas, Lone Oak township; George R., Twin Falls, 
Idaho; and Mae, married Robert Thomas, Kimberly, Idaho. 

Mr. Daniel is a Democrat. Since boyhood, he has been identified 
with that party. He has always taken an active interest in the upbuild- 
ing and betterment of public schools and served on the local school board 
for twenty years. He is a member of the Church of Christ. 

Many changes have taken place in Bates county since Mr. Daniel 
came here, sixty-three years ago. When he was a boy, herds of deer 
were not an uncommon sight, and his father frequently killed deer and 
wild turkeys. At first, all the lumber used by the pioneers was hauled 
from Pleasant Hill. 

Owen M. Burkhart, of Pleasant Gap township, is a native son of 
Missouri. He was born in Cass county, near Harrisonville, February 
15, 1851, a son of Michael and Frances (Walters) Burkhart. natives of 
Indiana. The Burkharts were formerly from Pennsylvania, but migrated 
to Indiana at an early day. 

The parents of O. M. Burkhart were married in Indiana and came 
to Missouri, probably about 1850 or a little before that date. Upon com- 
ing to this state, they located in Newton county and, shortly afterward, 
went to Cass county. Here they remained until 1852. when they came 
to Bates county and settled in Pleasant Gap township. The father 
bought land on Double Branches creek, about two and one-half miles 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 387 

west of where O. M. Burkhart now lives. Later, he entered consider- 
able government land in that vicinity. 

When the Civil War broke out, when it not only became unsafe 
but against military law to live in Bates county, the Burkhart family 
moved out and, during that period, they lived in Henry and Benton 
counties. At the close of the war, they returned to Pleasant Gap town- 
ship, where the parents spent the remainder of their lives. Their remains 
now rest in Double Branches cemetery. 

O. M. Burkhart was one of a family of seven children, as follow : 
Robert Emanuel, deceased; Margaret, married William Allen, Weather- 
field, Oklahoma; William L., Waynoka, Oklahoma; John, Monett, Mis- 
souri; Owen M., the subject of this sketch; Frances, married John Bent- 
ley and she is now deceased; and James, deceased. 

The first recollection that O. M. Burkhart has is of Pleasant Gap 
township and Bates county as he was only one year old when he was 
brought to this county by his parents. He grew to manhood here and 
attended school in an old log school house that was located on Double 
Branches creek, about two miles north of the Burkhart home. Mr. Burk- 
hart well remembers this old pioneer school house with its stone fire- 
place and stone chimney. The old building served its purpose and 
passed on, and now lives only in the memory of those whose early lives 
were interwoven with the old institution. 

Mr. Burkhart began life for himself at the age of twenty-two, engag- 
ing in farming and stock raising. Thirty-six years ago he bought the 
place where he now lives. When he bought his place, it was mostly 
timbered land. He cleared it himself, which represents a great deal of 
labor, involving many years of everlastingly "keeping at it." But he is 
rewarded at last by being the owner of one of the most valuable farms 
of Bates county. He owns two hundred eighteen and one-half acres 
and for years successfully carried on general farming and stock raising, 
but for the past few years he has rented out most of his land, and is 
trying to take life a little easier. He has two good reasons for this: 
First, he can afford to. Second, he has done about one man's share of 
hard work. 

Mr. Burkhart was married March 21, 1878, to Miss Dora L. Hall, 
a native of Marshalltown, Iowa, a daughter of Ansel Hall. Mrs. Burk- 
hart came to Bates county with her parents when she was ten years 
old. For further history of the Hall family see sketch of E. R. Hall, 
a brothep of Mrs. Burkhart. 



388 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

To Mr. and Mrs. Burkhart have been born the foHowing- children : 
Arthur C, Pleasant Gap township; Cardia May, married Burt Hark- 
rader, Pleasant Gap township; and Vira Vivian, married David W. H. 
Smith, Pleasant Gap township. Mr. and Mrs. Burkhart are members 
of the Christian church. Mr. Burkhart is a Democrat. He has held the 
office of justice of the peace two terms, and is well and favorably 
known in Bates county. 

Dr. William D. Vint, — During the fifteen years in which Dr. W. 
D. Vint, of Howard township, has practiced his profession in Bates county, 
he has won a name and place for himself as a kind, able, and learned 
medical practitioner who has achieved prominence among the leading 
professional men of the county. William D. Vint was born in Pendle- 
ton county. West Virginia, August 15, 1856, a son of John and Mary 
(McOuain) Vint, natives of West Virginia. John Vint was a son of Will- 
iam Vint, a native of Ireland who immigrated to America and settled in 
Virginia. Mary (McOuain) Vint was a daughter of Duncan McOuain, 
a native of Scotland. John Vint was a farmer by vocation and migrated 
to Illinois in the spring of 1876 and made settlement in Coles county. 
He resided there until his death in the fall of the same year. Nine 
children were left fatherless, namely: George Augustus, deceased; John 
Marshall, deceased; William D., subject of this review; Mrs. Sonora 
Inez Hopper, Rose Hill, Illinois; Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Stiver, Tus- 
cola, Illinois; Mrs. Catherine Wayne, living in Michigan; Mrs. Jemima 
Jane (Waters) Shmore, Illinois; Mrs. Delia May Andrews, who died 
in Arkansas; Mrs. Verna Viola Kibler, Charleston, Illinois. 

William D. Vint remained at home on his mother's farm until he 
attained the age of sixteen years. He received a good education, and 
being of an ambitious turn of mind, educated himself for the teaching 
profession vO^hich he followed very successfully for a number of years, 
or until 1884, when he began the practice of medicine. Doctor Vint 
taught in the public schools of Virginia, West Virginia and Illinois. 
His last position was at Hindsboro, Illinois, where for three years he 
was principal of the Hindsboro high school. During his residence there 
he took a very prominent part in the civic and governmental affairs of 
the city, serving as a member of the town board and as mayor of Hinds- 
boro for two years. In the meantime he had begun the study of medi- 
cine and completed his medical studies at the Hahnemann Medical Col- 
lege of Chicago, graduating from that institution in 1884. He practiced 




CR. WILLIAM D. VINT. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 389 

in Hindsboro for fourteen years or until 1898. He then moved to Vir- 
ginia, where he purchased a farm and practiced medicine until 1900. 
Doctor Vint's Virginia farm adjoined the old home place of President 
Madison in Virginia. In 1900 he sold his farm in Virginia and came to 
Bates county, Missouri, where he purchased a farm of three hundred 
twenty acres located northwest of Hume, Missouri. Eight years 
later he sold this farm in 1908 and purchased his present home farm of 
three hundred twenty acres located east of Hume and moved to tlie 
place in 1909. Doctor Vint's home is an attractive one, the residence 
being reached by a driveway from the road which is bordered by a large 
grove of trees. His medical practice in Howard township, Hume, and 
the surrounding country keeps him busily employed and his skill as a 
medical practitioner is exceeded by none in Bates county. 

Dr. W. D. Vint was married July 5, 1880, to Miss Louisa Hall, who 
was born in Coles county, Illinois, February 12, 1860, a daughter of 
Edward and Sallie (Walkup) Hall, natives of Kentucky, who emigrated 
from their native state to Illinois in the early fifties. Edward Hall died 
in 1894, his wife preceding him in death in 1879. To Dr. William D. 
and Louisa Vint, there have been born two children: Mrs. Maude Eliza- 
beth Carter, of Bayard, Nebraska, mother of two sons, Robert Vint, 
and Max; and Teresa Lee, wife of Alex A\'ilson, who is managing the 
Vint farm. Mrs. Maude Carter, the eldest daughter, is a high-school 
graduate and taught school for several years prior to her marriage. 

Dr. Vint is a Democrat in politics and is affiliated with the modern 
Woodmen of America. He is a member of the Chicago Medical Insti- 
tute and holds a diploma from that organization. He endeavors to keep 
abreast' of the latest developments of medical science and has won a 
warm place in the hearts of the people of his section of Bates county 
by his kind ministrations and proven ability as a professional gentleman. 

E. R. Hall, one of the leading farmers and stockmen of Bates 
county, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Champaign county in 1853, 
a son of Ansel C. and Alvira L. (Cushman) Hall, both natives of 
New York. The Hall family left the state of Ohio and went to Iowa 
in 1857, when E. R., the subject of this sketch was about four years 
old. They located near Marshalltown, Iowa, where they remained until 
1861, when they went to Sangamon coimty, Illinois. Here they remained 
until October 20, 1869, when they came to Missouri, settling in Pleasant 
Gap township, Bates county. The father bought eighty acres of land 



390 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

in Pleasant Gap township and spent the remainder of his life here. In 
addition to following farming, he conducted a saw-mill for a number of 
years. Both parents are now deceased. 

E. R. Hall was one of a family of seven children, born to his parents, 
as follow: Julia, married Sanford Thorp and they live near Sioux City, 
Iowa; Frank, deceased; Charles, died in childhood; Adelaide, deceased; 
Lewis, lives in Pleasant Gap township; E. R., the subject of this sketch: 
and Dora L., married O. M. Burkhart, Pleasant Gap township. 

Mr. Hall was educated in the public schools, attending school in 
Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. Like his father, he was engaged in the 
saw-mill business for a number of years as well as in farming. In 1881, 
he purchased fifty-one acres where his present residence is located. 
He has added to his original purchase, from time to time, and now 
owns one of the best-improved farms in Bates county, which consists 
of five hundred forty acres of productive land. A few years ago he 
purchased the Requa farm just west of his old homestead, where his 
son now resides. This place is known as the "Seven Oaks" farm, so 
named from the fact that there were seven large oak trees in the vicin- 
ity of the residence. This is ^ very attractive place, but not more so 
than Mr. Hall's home place, which is well-improved with large barns 
and a comfortable, modern farm residence. Both the "Seven Oaks" and 
Mr. Hall's home place are two of the attractive farm properties in 
Bates county. 

Mr. Hall was united in marriage December 21, 1876 with Miss 
Louisa Eckles, a daughter of James and Rebecca (White) Eckles, and 
a native of Adams county, Illinois. Her father was born in Pennsyl- 
vania and her mother in Illinois. The Eckles family came to Missouri 
and settled in Bates county in 1866. The parents are both now deceased. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Hall have been born the following children: Ivan 
Elmer, who resides on the old Requa place, above mentioned ; Addic 
B., married Robert Lyle of Lone Oak township; and Ethel May. who died 
at the age of nineteen years. 

Mr. Hall is one of the successful high-grade stockmen of Bates 
county. He raises registered Poland China hogs and Durham and Short- 
horn cattle, and has some very valuable animals on his place. 

Mr. Hall is a Democrat, although inclined to be independent in 
his political notions and has never aspired to hold political of^ce. He 
is one of Bates county's substantial citizens. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 39I 

William A. Baker, of Pleasant Gap township, is perhaps the best- 
known man in Bates county, a successful stockdealer. So extensive and 
successful has he been in his chosen field of endeavor that he is fre- 
quently referred to as "The Hog King." 

Mr. Baker is a native son of Bates county. He was born two miles 
north of Pleasant Gap, December 9, 1867, a son of Zephaniah and Martha 
E. (Hale) Baker, natives of Indiana. The father went to Iowa with 
his widowed mother at a very early day. He came here prior to the Civil 
\^ar. During that conflict, he returned to Iowa, where he remained 
until peace was declared. He then returned to Missouri, settling in 
Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, and here spent the remainder 
of his life, with the exception of one year in Oklahoma. He died in 
1907 and the mother departed this life three years later. 

William A. Baker is one of a family of twelve children born to his 
parents, all of whom are living, as follow: Joseph, the present sheriff 
of Bates county; Mrs. Lillie Ferl, resides on the old home place in Pleas- 
ant Gap township; John T., Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Griffin, 
Pleasant Gap township; Mrs. Anna Olen, lives in Oregon; William A., 
the subject of this sketch ; J. H., lives near Spruce, Missouri ; Mrs. Thena 
Beard, Parsons, Kansas; Mrs. Ella Olen, Parsons, Kansas; Mrs. Ida 
Davis, Enid, Oklahoma; C. Z., Pleasant Gap township; and G. W., Sum- 
mit township. 

Mr. Baker was reared in Pleasant Gap township and he there 
attended the public schools. He engaged in farming and stock raising 
in early life, and has since made such his occupation. About ten years 
ago, he began raising registered Poland China hogs and he has been 
unusually successful in this line of endeavor. Pie raises about two hun- 
dred head annually, which he sells in various parts of the country. The 
high standard of his registered stock is well known to breeders and the 
demand is generally more than he can supply. He is also engaged in 
breeding registered Aberdeen Angus cattle. He engaged in this branch 
of business about seven years ago and at this writing has seventy-eight 
head of these cattle, which compose one of the finest herds to be found 
in western Missouri. Mr. Baker has a farm consisting of three hundred 
sixty acres, well adapted to stock raising and general farming. 

May 15, 1881, Mr. Baker was united in marriage with Miss Maggie 
Griffin, of Harwood, Vernon county, Missouri. Six children have been 
born to this union, as follow: Claude A., Pleasant Gap township; Clar- 



392 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ence H., Pleasant Gap township; Alice, married Verni Geheere, Pleas- 
ant Gap township; ]\Iarie, a student in the Butler High School ; Frederick 
H. and Lydia, at home. 

Mr. Baker is a stanch supporter of the policies and principles of the 
Democratic party and takes a commendable interest in local political 
affairs. He has served as collector of Pleasant Gap township two terms. 
He is a member of the Christian church and of the Modern Woodmen 
of America. Mr. Baker is one of the Bates county's most progressive 
citizens, 

Abner L. Wix, of Pleasant Gap township, is a native son of Bates 
county. He was born in Pleasant Gap township, June 18, 1855, a son 
of Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix, the former a native of Overton county, 
Tennessee, and the latter, of Kentuckv. 

Joseph Wix, the father, was a very early settler in this section of 
Missouri. He was born June 15, 1820. He located in what is now Pleas- 
ant Gap tow^nship, in 1836, and spent the remainder of his life here, 
engaged in farming and stock raising, except during the period of the 
Civil War. He was a Union man and went to Kansas at that time and 
lived in Jefferson county. He served in the State Militia during the early 
part of the war and was severely injured at the Clear Creek fight by his 
horse falling, so that he was unfit for military service after that. One 
of his sons, John, was killed during the war. The A\'ix home was devas- 
tated during the w'ar. At the close of the war. the family returned to 
Pleasant Gap township, rebuilt their home, and improved the place, 
and here the parents spent the remainder of their lives. 

Joseph Wix was married three times. A. L. \\''ix. the subject o/ 
this sketch, was one of the children born of his father's first marriage. 
The others were, as follow: Sarah E., deceased; John, who was killed 
during the Civil War; Perry, deceased; Clark, who lives in Deepwater 
township; Thomas H., Yates Center, Kansas; and Rev. Lewis L., Deep- 
water township. For further particulars regarding the life of Joseph 
Wix, the reader is referred to the biography of Clark Wix. 

A. L. AA'ix spent his boyhood days in Pleasant Gap township and 
there attended the public schools. He has been engaged principallv in 
farming and stock raising, with the exception of ten years, when he was 
engaged in the mercantile business in Appleton and Filley, Missouri. 

Mr. Wix has traveled extensively and during the course of his 
trips has covered twenty-eight states. He was first married ]\Iay 31, 1880, 
to Miss Elizabeth Ellis, a native of Indiana. Three children were 1:)orn 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 393 

to this union, one of whom is living: John A., who resides in Bates 
county. A few years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Wix was 
united in marriage with Miss Clementine Wilems, a native of Texas, and 
to this union have been born six girls, as follow: Mary, married John 
W. Farrell, Pleasant Gap township; Annie; Rose Lee, married Claude 
Baker, Pleasant Gap township; Nellie, married Arthur Baker, Pleasant 
Gap township; Lena and Sallie. 

Mr. Wix has a valuable farm of eighty acres in Pleasant Gap town- 
ship, where he is successfully engaged in general farming and stock rais- 
ing. He raises registered Poland China hogs, and has the best strain 
of that breed in the country. He is also a breeder of registered Jersey 
cattle. 

Although Mr. Wix is comparatively a young man he has seen many 
changes in the course of a half century's development of Bates county. 
He remembers seeing deer by the herd in this vicinity and has killed 
game, such as wild turkeys and prairie chickens. 

V. J. Cumpton, M. D., a well-known physician and surgeon of Bates 
county, is a native of Missouri, a member of a pioneer family of this 
state. He was born in Calhoun, Henry county, in 1864, a son of John 
M. and Angeline Elizaljeth (Hedrick) Cumpton. 

John M. Cumpton was a native of Howard county, Missouri, a 
descendant of an old Southern family. He was a son of Thomas Cump- 
ton, a native of Tennessee, whose parents were North Carolinans. 
John M. Cumpton settled in Bates county in 1853, locating in Deep- 
w^ater township. His father, Thomas Cumpton also settled in Deep- 
water township and there spent the remainder of his life. Both the 
father and the son entered government land in Deepwater township 
and the Doctor's mother now resides on the old Cumpton homestead, 
which his grandfather entered from the government in 1853. 

When the Civil War broke out, John M. Cumpton's sympathy 
was with the Union. He entered the Federal service and served as 
orderly sergeant in Captain Newberry's Company. At the close of the 
war he returned to Deepwater township, where he engaged in farming 
and stock raising, and he was considered one of the successful men 
of the community. Politically, he was a Democrat, but he was inclined 
to be progressive in his political ideas. He supported the ''Greenback" 
partv about the time that that party became a national factor, and he 
also was a Populist, when that wave of political sentiment spread over 
the country. It mattered not to him what name a party bore. If its 



394 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

principles were progressive, he supported it. When he beheved that 
he was right, he was unfaltering in his political principles. His out- 
spoken political ideas made him a number of political enemies. He 
felt that he could afford to be fearless in expressing his political views, 
for he never aspired to hold political ofifice. He died October 5, 1911, 
aged seventy-nine years. His widow now resides at the old homestead 
in Deepwater township. She is a native of Indiana, of Kentucky 
parentage. 

Doctor Cumpton was one of a family of ten children born to his 
parents, five of whom grew to maturity : O. W., Spruce, Missouri ; Dr. 
V. J., the subject of this sketch; W. E., Deepwater township; Mary 
E., married Joe Borland, Deepwater township; and C. S., who resides 
at the old homestead in Deepwater township. 

Doctor Cumpton was reared in Deepwater township. He received 
his preliminary education in the public schools, after which he entered 
the University Medical College of Kansas City, where he was graduated 
March 23, 1897, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He had prac- 
ticed his profession before receiving his degree. 

After completing the course, he practiced for one year at Mayesburg, 
Missouri. In 1898, he engaged in the practice at Pleasant Gap, and it 
was not long until he built up a large practice. He is a capable physi- 
cian and has met with uniform success in his chosen profession. He 
has also been successful in surgery. 

While Doctor Cumpton attends to a large practice, he has various 
interests outside of his profession. He is particularly interested in 
stock raising. He has a fine herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle and he owns 
considerable farm property in Pleasant Gap township. He has a fine 
farm of two hundred forty acres, besides his property in Pleasant Gap. 

Doctor Cumpton was united in marriage in 1900 with Miss Mary 
Elizabeth Nafus, daughter of Jacob P. and Mary (Davis) Nafus, very 
early settlers in Bates county. Jacob P. Nafus was born in Kentucky 
in 1809 and came to Pleasant Gap township in 1844. He was a success- 
ful farmer and stockman. He died January 23, 1897. His widow, who 
bore the maiden name of Mary Davis, was born near Spruce, Henry 
county, March 4. 1838, a daughter of James, and Sarah (Beaty) Davis, the 
former, a native of Tennessee and the latter, of Kentucky. They settled in 
Henry county, about 1830. Mrs. Nafus now resides on the old home 
place in Pleasant Gap township. She is a woman of remarkable mental 
and physical capabilities for one her age. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 395 

To Doctor and Mrs. Cumpton have been born four children, three 
of whom are living, as follow: Ola May, Homer Hedrick, and Paul 
Henry. 

Doctor Cumpton is a member of the County, State, and American 
Medical Associations, of the Masonic Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons No. 140, Butler, Missouri, and he is a Democrat. He is a mem- 
ber of the Christian church at Double Branches. 

Clifford J. Lane, of Pleasant Gap township, is one of the extensive 
stockmen and farmers of Bates county. He was born October 20, 1874, 
on the place where he now resides. He is a son of James C. and Mary 
(Fagan) Lane, natives of Ohio. James C. Lane was born near Cincin- 
nati. When the war broke out, he enlisted in the Union army, serving 
three years and four months in the Fifty-fourth Ohio Infantry. He par- 
ticipated in many important engagements, but was never wounded nor 
taken prisoner. 

In 1867, James C. Lane came to Missouri and located in Bates county 
and followed farming in partnership with a brother about a year. He 
then bought land and engaged in farming and the stock business and 
met with more than ordinary success. During the course of his career 
in this county, he accumulated about thirteen hundred acres of land. 
He divided a great deal of this between his children sometime before 
his death. He died January 14, 1916, aged eighty-four years. For 
several years prior to his death, he had lived in Rich Hill and was retired 
from active participation in business affairs. He was a Republican and 
took an active part in politics. At one time he was a candidate on his 
party ticket for representative from Bates county. His widow now 
resides at Rich Hill. 

To James C. and Mary (Fagan) Lane were born the following 
children: Samuel, who lives in Oregon; John, Arkansas; Clifford J., 
the subject of this sketch; and George, a physician and surgeon at Rich 
Hill, Missouri. 

Clifford J. Lane received his education in the public schools and 
Butler Academy. At an early age, he began farming in partnership with 
his father. He has followed that line of industry to the present time 
and is regarded as one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Bates 
county. He owns a splendid farm of five hundred eighty-seven acres. 
While his business is principally feeding cattle for the market, he raises 
large quantities of grain. During the year of 1917, he raised about four 
thousand bushels of corn. The year of 1916, he and his partner handled 



396 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and prepared for the market over five hundred head of cattle and, at this 
writing, December, 1917, he is feeding four hundred fiifty head. His 
farm is well equipped with numerous barns and sheds for the stock 
business. The Lane residence is one of the most complete farm homes 
to be found in Bates county. It was built in 1911 and is complete in 
all details. 

Mr. Lane was married March 5, 1897, to Miss Delta Gilliard, a native 
of Nebraska. She is a daughter of John Gilliard, who died in Nebraska 
in 1915. Her mother now resides in Nebraska. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Lane have been born four children, three of whom 
are living: Vera, a student in the Rich Hill High School; Mary, also 
a student in the Rich Hill High School; and Aileen, attending the pub- 
lic schools, at home. William died at the age of two years. 

Mr. Lane is a Republican. He takes an active part in political 
matters. He is now serving his third term as trustee of Plesaant Gap 
township. He is public-spirited and progressive and always stands ready 
to do his part in the upbuilding and betterment of his county. 

Horace Benton Owen, president of the Bank of Merwin, and the 
senior member of the milling and grain firm of Owen and Groves, Mer- 
win, Missouri, was born at Greencastle, Indiana, Putnam county, Decem- 
ber 7, 1859. He is a son of Reuben Smith and Eveline (Piercey) 
Owen, both of whom were born and reared in the Hoosier state. They 
removed to Independence, Missouri, in 1868 and after a residence there 
of a little over two years, they returned to Greencastle, where the father 
again took up farming in his native state. In 1885, the family again 
moved West, locating this time on a farm near Paoli, Kansas. One 
year later they located on an unimproved tract of land located north of 
]\Ierwin in Bates county, Reuben Owen dying there in 1892. Reuben 
and Eveline Owen were parents of the following children: Edgar and 
Edwin, Kansas City, Missouri; H. B., subject of this review; Mrs. Sallie 
Kain, Fulton, Missouri; Mrs. Flora Yingst, Merwin, Missouri; Mrs. N. 
O. Davis, living at Sugar Creek, near Kansas City. 

H. B. Owen accompanied his parents to Bates county and resided 
vrith his father on the home place until the latter's death. He 
retained the home farm until the spring of 1902. He then sold it and 
locating in Merwin, he operated a creamery for one year, after which 
he leased the plant for a time and again took charge of it, establishing 
a milling and grain, hay and coal business. He operated the business; 




HORACE BENTON OWEN. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 397 

alone until March, 1917, when George Groves became a partner in the 
concern. 

The Owen Milling Company manufactures corn meal, chop feed, 
and Graham flour for purely local consumption, and the enterprise is a 
decided convenience for the farmers in this section. Mr. Owen has been 
operating the mill since 1905, and the initial building was erected in 
1902. In 1906 he established his grain-buying and shipping business 
which is in a flourishing condition. 

On February 13, 1895, Mr. Owen was married to Annie Patterson, 
born in Ohio, a daughter of John and Elmira (McDonough) Patterson, 
who migrated to Anderson county, Kansas, in 1883, and after one year's 
residence in that county they settled in Cass county, Missouri, where 
both died, the former dying in 1894 and the latter departing this life 
in 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Owen have one adopted son, Russell, aged ten 
years. 

Politically, Mr. Owen has always been allied with the Republican 
party and is an influential leader of his party in his section of the county. 
He served as tax collector, constable, and justice of the peace of West 
Boone township. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America 
and has generally taken the lead in all enterprises which have been 
intended to advance the interests of his home town of Merwin, of which 
he is the leading citizen in many ways. He was one of the organizers 
of the Bank of Merwin and is president of this thriving financial con- 
cern. The Merwin Christian church is a living monument to his push 
and energy and devout interest in religious works. He was the leading 
spirit in the organization of this congregation and the chairman of the 
board of trustees which built the church, being pro1)ably the heaviest 
contributor to the building fund. He served as deacon of the church 
from its founding until he became elder of the congregation in 1911, 
and is also serving as chairman of the board of trustees. Mr. Owen 
enjoys the respect, esteem, and confidence of the people of his home 
town and vicinity and has built up a splendid reputation for business 
integrity and honor which places him in the front rank of Bates county's 
best citizens. 

R. R. Hamilton, cashier of the Bank of Amoret, is a native son of 
Bates county. He was born, July 15, 1882, on a farm one and one- 
fourth miles northwest of Amoret. He is a son of J. B. and Emma G. 
(Gibson) Hamilton, well-known and substantial residents of Bates 
county. 



398 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

J. B. Hamilton, the father, was born in Iowa in 1858, a son of WilHam 
and Dorothy (Paisley) Hamilton, natives of Ohio and early settlers of 
Iowa. Both came with their parents to the state of Iowa when it w'as 
in process of settlement and were practically reared on the frontiers 
of civilization. It is only natural to expect that William Hamilton pre- 
ferred the pioneer life and was ever in the vanguard of settlers who were 
opening the great West and paving the way for the establishment of 
government. He was married in 1858 and shortly afterward joined 
the hosts of "Free State" men who located in Kansas, where he resided 
until his death in 1913. William Hamilton was a stanch "Free State" 
man. He became well-to-do in his adopted state. Prior to locating in 
Kansas, he joined the rush of gold-seekers to California in 1849 and made 
the long trip overland with a party which left Sioux City. He and his 
brother, John, engaged in the saw-mill business in California. John 
preferred to remain on the coast and became wealthy. 

J. B. Hamilton was the first-born of his father's family and was 
reared to manhood in Kansas. He resided in that state until 1881, when 
he made his permanent location in Homer township, Bates county, 
Missouri. He has built up a splendid and productive farm from raw 
prairie land and has accumulated a total of one hundred forty-five acres, 
which are well improved. Mr. Hamilton is accounted a good, industrious 
citizen of the type that has pushed Bates county into the forefront with 
the leading counties of Missouri. He was married in July, 1881, to Emma 
Gibson, who has borne him the following children: R. R., subject of 
this review; W. P., a successful farmer residing within three miles of 
Amoret; O. V., clerk in Hall's Mercantile Store at Amoret ; H. E., a 
farmer residing in Linn county, Kansas; Myrtle. H. B., and J. P., at 
home with their parents. The mother of these children was born January 
7, 1860, and departed this life February 22, 1917. She was born in St. 
Clair county, Illinois, a daughter of Robert and Martha (Hamilton) 
Gibson, who were natives of South Carolina and left their native state 
on account of a pronounced abhorrence of the institution of slavery, 
coming to Illinois during the earliest period of the settlement of that 
state. They came to Linn county, Kansas, in 1878. Robert Gibson 
settled on a farm in Linn county and resided there until his early death 
in 1882. Mrs. Gibson died in 1898. They were adherents of the Pres- 
byterian faith. Both the Hamilton and Gibson families have been 
prominent in the affairs of the Presbyterian church. W^illiam Hamilton 
was for manv vears a ruling elder of the church and became an elder 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



399 



of the church of the United Presbyterian faith in Linn county upon its 
formation in 1858. He was succeeded by his son, J. B. Hamilton, who 
served until of late years, when he was succeeded by his son, R. R. 
Hamilton. John Hamilton, father of William Hamilton, was an elder 
of the church when the family resided in Ohio. 

R. R. Hamilton, subject of this review, was educated in the public 
schools of Amoret and Pleasanton, Kansas. Following his public-school 
and high-school education, he pursued a business course at Brown's Busi- 
ness College in Kansas City. After securing his business training he was 
employed in the Hall mercantile establishment in Amoret, from 1902 
to 1906, inclusive. In the latter year he became cashier of the Bank 
of Amoret. He is now capably filling this position. Mr. Hamilton was 
married on October 15, 1908, to Miss Zola Davidson, a daughter of F. M. 
and C. S. Davidson, residents of Amoret. Mrs. Hamilton was born 
and reared in Bates county. 

Mr. Hamilton, subject of this review, is a Republican in politics 
and takes a keen interest in the affairs of his party in Bates county but 
is not an office-seeker. He is a ruling elder of the United Presbyterian 
church of Amoret and succeeded to this position in July, 1917. He is a 
leader in civic and church affairs of his home town and is fast making 
a reputation for himself as a capable and efficient banking man and ranks 
high among the younger bankers of his native county. 

Carl F. Hall, proprietor of the leading mercantile establishment of 
Amoret, is one of the successful business, men of Bates county. The 
Hall store was established in 1901 and the trade of this concern has been 
constantly growing during the past sixteen years. The store is housed 
in a large building and fully stocked with groceries, dry goods, queens- 
ware, hardware, feeds, etc. It has a distinctive appearance from the 
average general store found in sm-all towns, and resembles a department 
store marked for the quantity and excellence of the goods on display. 
Mr. Hall handles country produce and is a shipper of eggs, butter, and 
poultry, which are brought to his store by the farmers of the vicinity. 

Carl F. Hall w^as born July 29, 1878, at Trading Post. Kansas. He 
is a son of Austin W. and Caroline (Fisk) Hall, both of whom were 
natives of Vermont and descended from old New England families. Aus- 
tin W. Hall came West in 1856 as a "Free State" man and made a perma- 
nent settlement in Linn county, Kansas. During the border troubles 
and the Civil War period, he served in the State Militia. He home- 



400 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Steaded land in Linn county and operated a general store at Trading 
Post. He also placed in operation one of the first flouring and grist 
mills in that section of Kansas and became widely and favorably known 
as a successful and able business man whose influence in the affairs of 
his county was marked. He died in Linn county in 1900 at the age 
of sixty-nine years. Mrs. Hall died in 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Austin W. 
Hall were parents of the following children: Amos Hall, a merchant 
of Amsterdam, Missouri; John, an attorney at Pleasanton, Kansas; and 
Carl F., subject of this review. 

Carl F. Hall was educated in the public schools of Linn county and 
began doing for himself at the age of twenty-one years. When a youth 
he was employed in his father's store and he also learned the miller's 
trade. When he became of age he, with his brother, operated the Hall 
store at Trading Post and also operated the mill wdiich had been built 
by his father. In partnership with his brother, Amos, he became engaged 
in the milling business in Amoret, Bates county, in 1899, and this part- 
nership continued for two years. He then established the Hall mercan- 
tile store, which has been a remarkable success. 

Mr. Hall w^-as married in 1900 to Miss Nellie Hicks, of Pleasanton, 
a daughter of Harry and Sarah Hicks. Two children have been born 
of this marriage : Thelma, aged fifteen years, now a student in the x\moret 
High School; and Dorothy, aged six years. Mr. Hall is a Republican 
in politics and a good citizen as well as successful business man. A likable 
personality, honesty in his business dealings, progressive tendencies, 
ability and ambition to forge ahead have placed him in the front rank 
of Bates county's merchants. 

Wilson C. Carpenter, former trustee of Homer township, now living 
retired at Amoret, has lived in Missouri for the past fifty years and during 
his residence in Bates county he has made a splendid record as an agri- 
culturist and a citizen who has had the best interests of his community 
and county at heart. 

The family, of which Wilson C. Carpenter is a worthy scion, is a very 
old one in America and an interesting family genealogy has been com- 
piled, brief extracts from which indicate that the founder of the Carpen- 
ters in America was Henry Carpenter I, alias Heinrich Zimmerman, who 
was born in Switzerland, immigrated to America in 1706, and made a 
settlement in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Emanuel Carpenter H, 
his son, born in 1702, commissioned a judge of the Court of Quarter 
Sessions of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1759, was for a period 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4OI 

of seventeen years a member of the Colonial Assembly, and he was a 
colleague and friend of Benjamin Franklin. He was a member of the 
Committee of Public Safety and a noted patriot during the War of 
the American Revolution. His influence was so strong that he carried 
all the Carpenters with him in the struggle for American Independence. 
The family furnished thirteen soldiers during the Revolutionary War. 
Emanuel Carpenter HI, son of Emanuel H, was born in Lancaster 
county, Pennsylvania, and died on his farm near Lancaster, Ohio. He 
was a soldier of the Revolution and served in Captain John Roland's Regi- 
ment recruited in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He was a judge of the 
Court of Lancaster County Sessions and a member of the State Assembly. 
Pie removed to Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1798 and named the city of Lan- 
caster in honor of his old home county. He was a member of the First 
Constitutional Assembly of Ohio and was the first presiding judge of the 
court of Quarter Sessions held in Fairfield county, Ohio. Emanuel Car- 
penter IV accompanied his parents to Ohio in 1798. In the year 1814 he 
was appointed land appraiser for Athens county, Ohio. In 1807 he was 
elected as the first sheriff of Fairfield county. He served as a member 
of the Ohio Legislature in 1813. He was owner of a tract of four hun- 
dred thirty-seven acres of land, upon which the city of Lancaster, Ohio, 
is now located. Ezra Carpenter, father of the subject of this review^ 
was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1803 and was left an orphan 
when still a child. In boyhood, he was apprenticed to the firm of 
Ring & Rice, woolen manufacturers, and learned the woolen trade. 
In 1824, he was married to Miss Sarah Reese, a daughter of General 
David Reese. She died in 1847 and in 1856 he married Martha Cochran, 
of Delaware county, Ohio. For several years, he was engaged in woolen 
manufacture in Fairfield and Delaw^are counties, Ohio, and shortly after 
his second marriage he migrated to Iowa and made a settlement in 
Jones county, where he was extensively engaged in farming and woolen 
manufacture. In 1867 he removed to Newton county, Missouri, where 
he resided until his death, August 13, 1888. He was a strong anti- 
slavery man and a great student of history and politics. Ezra Car- 
penter was first allied with the Whigs and then with the Republicans. 
His wife, Martha (Cochran) Carpenter, mother of the subject of this 
review, was born in 1823 and died in 1880. 

Wilson C. Carpenter was reared to young manhood on a farm 
located five miles southwest of Neosho, in Newton county, Missouri, 

(26) 



402 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and remained in that county until 1885, when he went to Indian territory 
and engaged in farming and cattle raising on a large scale. He resided 
in the territory until 1896, when he located permanently in Bates county, 
where he purchased one hundred sixty acres of land located in Homer 
township, two miles east of Amoret. This tract was indifferently 
improved at the time of Mr. Carpenter's taking possession and he at 
once set to work to erect better buildings and increase the productivity 
of the farm. He succeeded in his undertaking and in 1913 decided 
to rent his land and to remove to Amoret, where he has a comfortable 
residence and a fertile tract of five acres of land in the eastern part of 
the town. 

The marriage of Wilson C. Carpenter and Miss Ida Shefler occurred 
in 1887. Mrs. Ida Carpenter was born in Wisconsin, a daughter of 
John and Tabitha (Hurtman) Shefler, who were natives of Pennsyl- 
vania and Ohio, respectively. The Sheflers left Wisconsin in 1882 and 
located in Newton county, Missouri, where both spent the remainder 
of their lives, the father dying in 1884. 

Mr. Carpenter has always been allied with the Republican party 
and he has always taken an active interest in his party's activities. ' He 
is one of the leaders of the citizenry of Homer township and served as 
trustee of his township for four years, performing satisfactorily the duties 
of his ofifice. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter have many warm friends in 
Bates county. 

Charles Coleman, farmer, stockman, real estate and insurance agent 
at Hume, Missouri, one of the younger generation of citizens of Bates 
county, a resident of this county for the past twelve years, has made a 
record in this section of Missouri second to none for an individual his age, 
a record superior to that made by many older men. He is a progressive, 
enterprising citizen who has already made his mark in the community. 
Mr. Coleman was born October 20, 1875, in Cass county, Illinois, a son 
of William and Nancy J. (McLin) Coleman. 

William Coleman, his father, was born in Prussia, German Empire. 
He, as well as four brothers, bearing the family name of "Kuhlman," 
immigrated to America and all, excepting one, changed the name to the 
English translation, Coleman. William Coleman came to this country a 
poor immigrant, located in Cass county, and achieved a comfortable 
competence as a tiller of the soil. He began his career as a farm hand 
in Illinois in 1858, at the age of seventeen years. Not long afterward, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4O3 

he rented his employer's farm and continued as a valued and successful 
tenant of this place for a long period of forty years. As the years passed, 
Mr. Coleman invested his savings in Cass county land and accumulated a 
half-section of valuable farm land. He died in October, 1916, at the age 
of seventy-five years. He was born in 1841. Two brothers, Charles and 
Henry Coleman, served with the Union forces during the Civil War. 
William Coleman was father of five children: Edgar, Beardstown, Illi- 
nois; John and Arthur, both of Beardstown, Illinois; Charles, subject of 
this review; and Mrs. Ella Davis, Bozeman, Montana. William Coleman 
left behind him a reputation as an honest, enterprising and reliable citi- 
zen, one whose word was considered as good as his bond and he be- 
queathed to his children the heritage of right living, inspiration of which 
has enabled them to forge ahead in the world. 

Charles Coleman received his education in the public schools of 
Beardstown, Illinois, and at Business College at Jacksonville, Illinois. He 
first engaged in farming on his father's land and then began farming on 
his own account on rented land. Due to the excellent reputation as a 
business man and farmer which his father had established during his many 
years of residence in Cass county, the young man had no difiticulty in 
getting financial backing for his farming operations and he was very suc- 
cessful. Land rose to a high price per acre in his native county and he 
believed that he could get better value for his savings by coming to Mis- 
souri. Accordingly, he came to Bates county in 1906 and invested his 
capital in seven hundred thirty-six acres of land, which he converted into 
an extensive stock farm, known as "Oak Lawn." A considerable portion 
of his land is located in the southeast part of Howard township and a 
part is in Vernon county. Mr. Coleman has dealt largely in land since 
coming to Missouri and, in the fall of 1913, he located in Hume. In 
October of 1916, he engaged in the insurance and real estate business at 
Hume. Mr. Coleman bought his first farm in Cass county, Illinois, at a 
time when he had no capital whatever, but he made good, sold out at a 
great increase over and above the original purchase price, and invested 
the proceeds in land which was held much cheaper in this county. He 
has never regretted the change and has identified himself heart and soul 
with affairs in Bates county during his residence here. 

Mr. Coleman was married in 1897 to Miss Ada T. Lee, of Cass 
county, Illinois, a daughter of Lycurgus Lee. Her mother, who was a 
Miss Reams prior to her marriage, is deceased, and her father lives in 



404 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Illinois. Two children have been born to this marriage : Verna May, aged 
eighteen years, a student in the Hume High School; and Charles Lee, 
aged ten years. 

The Republican party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Coleman. 
Mr. Coleman has served two terms as trustee of Howard township, hav- 
ing been twice elected on the Republican ticket in a strong Democratic 
township, evidence of his popularity. He and ]\Irs. Coleman are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is fraternally affiliated with 
the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of 
America. He is president of the Consolidated School Board of the Hume 
Consolidated District and was one of the leaders in the advanced move- 
ment which succeeded in estal)lishing a centralized school system at 
Hume, and provided for the transportation of the school pupils within a 
radius of several miles to a graded school in the town. The effects of 
this splendid and progressive enterprise are already noticeable in the 
more rapid advance" in the education and training of the children of school 
age. A new and modern school building will be erected in Hume very 
soon and the entire community will reap the benefits in the years to 
come, as a result of this onward movement in the cause of education. 

James Pendleton Thomas, better known probably as J. P. Thomas, 
one of the oldest of the pioneer settlers of Bates county, now living in 
peaceful retirement among his children in New Home township, has a 
record for achievement of which any man of his age may well be proud. 
Mr. Thomas has reared one of the best families in Bates county and 
accumulated during his life time a fortune in lands and money, starting 
from the foot of the ladder without hardly a dollar to his name when 
he began his career. Probably the best thing which can be said of 
this patriarch is the fact that he did not require his children to wait until 
his death in order to share in his accumulations, but he wisely chose 
to give each child a tract of land upon which to begin his own career. 
That he did wisely is evident as every son and daughter has a good 
home, is well provided for, and nearly all of them live in the vicinity of 
the old home where the aged father can see them frequently and have 
the comfort of their companionship during his declining years. If every 
father would do as he has done with his children there would be fewer 
sons to leave the home community and seek in other lands for the fabled 
"pot of honey" which is always said to be a few hundred miles away. 

James P. Thomas was born October 10, 1836, in Franklin county, 
Kentucky, the son of Richard Henry (born in 1800, died in 1842) and 




JAMES PENDLETON THO.MAS. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 405 

Nancy (Ellison) Thomas (born in 1812, died in 1887), both of whom 
were natives of Kentucky. Richard Thomas was a son of James Thomas 
of Virginia, a pioneer settler of Kentucky. Nancy (Ellison) Thomas 
was a daughter of Col. Jacob Ellison, a native of Kentucky who was 
a colonel of volunteers in the War of 1812 and commanded a regiment 
of Kentucky and Tennessee sharpshooters under Gen. Andrew Jackson 
at the famous battle of New Orleans, wherein the British invaders under 
Generals Packenham and Gibbs were defeated with great loss of life. 
Richard Henry Thomas was killed by a falling tree in 1842. He was 
the father of ten children, six of whom grew to maturity: Sarah, Betsy, 
and Martha, deceased; James Pendleton, subject of this review; Richard 
Hiter, Sheldon, Missouri ; Jacob E., Rich Hill, Missouri. In the autumn 
of 1854, Mrs. Nancy Thomas and her family came to Missouri from 
the old home in Kentucky and lived for two years in Johnson county. 
In 1856, Mr. Thomas came to Bates county and entered a tract of gov- 
ernment land in New Home township. He erected a log house thereon 
and was soon joined by his mother and two brothers who came down 
from Johnson county. Their nearest neighbor was O. H. P. Miller. 
The new settlers got along nicely until the "jay-hawkers" began making 
raids from Kansas into Bates county during the latter part of 1861. 
In January, 1862, a party of marauders visited the Thomas home, drove 
the occupants from the house, looted it and burned it to the ground. 
After a week's stay with friends the family moved to Henry county, 
Missouri, and from there went to Pettis county and planted crops for the 
ensuing season. The Federal Militia came there and James P. left 
his mother in Pettis county and returned to Bates county. He then 
joined General Cockrell's company and in the spring of 1862 became a 
member of Gen. J. O. Shelby's command. He served with the Confeder- 
ate forces until the surrender of his command at Shreveport, Louisiana, 
at the close of the war. His first battle was at Fort Smith, Arkansas; 
then Dartnell, below Fort Smith on the Arkansas river. He took part 
in General Shelby's raid in Arkansas and Missouri as far as the vicinity 
of Springfield, Missouri, where the projected attack on Springfield was 
abandoned. Shelby's army turned back here and the next raid was made 
as far as Cape Girardeau, where a stifif fight took place, and Shelby's 
command retreated to the St. Francis river and built a breastwork, and 
witlistood the attacks of the Unionists. They again retreated southward 
and were engaged in many skirmishes en route, fighting a battle in 
Saline county, Missouri, while on their way. They again returned to 



406 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Arkansas and fought a battle at Du Ball's Bluff on Grand Prairie. 
Later they captured a Union gunboat on White river in the spring of 1864. 
During the summer of 1864 his command operated along the Arkansas 
river and on one occasion were shelled by Union gunboats but suc- 
ceeded in driving them off from the attack. Going up the river, the 
Unionists landed and came down the river to attack the Confederates. 
Several skirmishes took place, and Mr. Thomas says "We killed a good 
many niggers." His command started with General Price upon his 
great raid through Missouri to Kansas City, but Mr. Thomas was granted 
furlough to visit home folks in Pettis county in the fall. He with about 
eighty of his comrades with their captain started to White river, Arkansas, 
to rejoin Shelby's army but were attacked by the Federals east of Spring- 
field, and for many miles they had a running fight of it. They rejoined 
Shelby on the Arkansas river and stayed there during the winter of 
1864 and 1865. At one time when their army was chasing after General 
Steele, Mr. Thomas had his horse shot from under him. After the 
surrender at Shreveport he boarded a steamer named "Old Kentucky," 
which sank on Red river fourteen miles below Shreveport and many 
were drowned. Mr. Thomas climbed on top of the wheel house and in 
this manner saved his life. After the war he returned home to Pettis 
county and remained there until the fall of 1867, when he came to Bates 
county and rebuilt the home and commenced to mend the family for- 
tunes. How well Mr. Thomas succeeded in his farming and stock rais- 
ing enterprises is evidenced by the fact that he accumulated a total of 
twelve hundred acres of land. Of this large acreage he has given each 
of his children one hundred twenty acres and now owns a tract of one 
hundred fifty-five acres. 

In November of 1867, J. P. Thomas and Mary Anne West were 
united in marriage. This marriage was blessed with the following chil- 
dren : Mrs. Vida Sw^arens, New Home township ; Robert died in infancy ; 
Edward Leslie, New Home township ; Mrs. Elizabeth Kate Swarens, New 
Home township; Mark Henry, Walnut township; Mrs. Martha Jane 
Clouse, Walnut township; Eveline died in infancy; James Arthur, living 
on the old home place of the family in New Home township. 

The mother of the foregoing children was born in 1852 and departed 
this life in 1889. She was a daughter of Mark and Minerva (McHenry) 
West, natives of Tennessee, who settled in Bates county during the early 
thirties. Minerva (McHenry) West was a daughter of Capt. John 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 407 

McHenry, who was the first representative from Bates county, and died 
at Jefferson City while serving in the Assembly. 

In politics, Mr. Thomas has always been a Democrat. He is a 
member of the Baptist church, having been associated wdth the first 
Baptist church organized in this section of the county and also assisted 
in the building of the Foster Baptist church. And now, in the eventide 
of life, this patriarch lives in peaceful retirement surrounded by the 
children whom he reared to upright manhood and womanhood and who 
have taken their places as useful members of society. James P. Thomas 
is one of the grand old men of Bates county who has lived to see this 
county develop into one of the richest and best in the great state of 
Missouri. It can be said truthfully of him that when he lays down 
the burdens which his sons and daughters have taken up, "Well done, 
thou good and faithful servant.'' Although well past four score years 
of age, Mr. Thomas or "Uncle Jimmy," as he is known to all the country 
side, is well preserved and hale and hearty, able yet to take a keen inter- 
est in affairs from day to day, and no doubt good for many more peaceful 
years of living. 

James Arthur Thomas, proprietor of a splendid farm of one hun- 
dred fifty-seven acres in New Home township, known as the "Lone 
Elm Farm," was born September 10, 1887 on the farm which he now 
owns. He is a son of James P. Thomas, concerning whom an extended 
biography is given in this volume. Mr. Thomas was educated in the 
Virginia district school and attended the Foster high school. His farm 
is well improved with a handsome, comfortable residence, a substantial 
barn, and silo, with other buildings in a good state of repair. Mr. 
Thomas is a breeder of O. I. C. hogs all of which are registered stock 
to the number of forty head on the place. He is specializing as a 
breeder of thoroughbred stock of this famous variety and is making a 
success of the venture. Mrs. Thomas specializes in Barred Rock poul- 
try and has about two hundred thirty head of fine chickens at this 
writing, January, 1918. 

On July 31, 1906, James Arthur Thomas and Rose Cobb were united 
in marriage. Mrs. Rose (Cobb) Thomas was born July 30, 1889, in New 
Home township, a daughter of S. E. and Mary Jane (Hopkins) Cobb, 
the former of whom was a native of Harrison county, and the latter a 
native of IMorgan county, Missouri. They came to Bates county in 1870 
and settled in New Home tow^nship, where the father, S. E. Cobb died 



408 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

in 1904. Mrs. Cobb departed this life in 1907. They were parents of 
the following children: Mrs. Emma Irvin, Bussey, Iowa; Charles C, 
New Home township; Jesse R., of Sheridan, \\'yoming, killed in a rail- 
road wTeck December 30. 1917; Mrs. Rose Thomas; Samuel L., now 
living at the Thomas home ; the first two children born, Sterling Price, 
died at the age of 32 years, and John Thomas, killed by a mine explo- 
sion at the age of 23 years. Four children have been born to J. A. 
and Rose Thomas: Arthur Lee, born August 20, 1907; the second child 
died in infancy; Herschell Maxwell, born May 24, 1911; A\'oodrow Pen- 
dleton, born February 20, 1912. Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Bap- 
tist church and Mr. Thomas is a Democrat in politics. 

Samuel Peter Halfert. — The late Samuel Peter Halfert, better known 
as S. P. Halfert. of West Point township, was an industrious and suc- 
cessful citizen, whose loss to the community in which he resided for 
so many years has been deeply mourned. He was born in Portage 
county. Ohio, February 4, 1840, and departed this life at his home in 
Bates county, March 5, 1909. He was a son of George and Rachel 
(File) Halfert, both of whom were natives of Germany. George Halfert, 
his father, emigrated from Germany when twenty-one years of age 
and landed in New York City with but one dollar in his pocket. Rachel, 
his wife, came from Germany with her parents when she was a child nine 
years of age. George Halfert died in Ohio in 1861 and the widow with 
her family removed to ^Michigan. 

S. P. Halfert did not, however, locate in Michigan with the rest 
of the family. Being of an inquiring and inventive turn of mind, he 
worked out a formula which proved to be efficacious in the art of tan- 
ning furs. This recipe he traded for a tract of eighty acres of land 
located near Dul3uque, Iowa. This tract was good prairie land and after 
working in the neighborhood of Dubuque for some time, Mr. Hal- 
fert disposed of the tract and located in Johnson county, Missouri, in 
1866. In Johnson county, he bought eighty acres of land and there 
married Lina Kane, who died one and a half years after the marriage. 
Six months after the death of his first wife, Mr. Halfert came to Bates 
county and bought an "eighty" located near Cornland in the southern 
part of the county. He improved this tract and resided thereon for 
eighteen months, a bachelor. He then married and for a period of nine 
years cultivated this farm. Selling out the tract, he located, in the 
early eighties, in A\>st Point township, as he had traded his posses- 
sions for one hundred sixty acres of land there located, a tract which 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4O9 

was unimproved. This land he traded for eighty acres which were 
improved with an old house, cribs, and buildings of mediocre character. 
With the assistance of his able, energetic wife he prospered and increased 
his holdings to a grand total of four hundred eighty acres. This land 
has been divided since his death and the widow now owns the home- 
stead of one hundred sixty acres. 

Politically, Mr. Halfert was a stanch Republican and always voted 
the Republican ticket. He took an active interest in political matters 
and was noted for his straightforwardness and plain manner of speak- 
ing. His honesty was proverbial and his rating as a citizen was high. 

S. P. Halfert was united in marriage with Sarah Ellen Kelley on 
December 15, 1872. To this union were born the following children: 
John Charles Halfert, born October 18, 1874, and now residing on a farm 
in West Point township; George W'illiam Peter, born September 3, 1886, 
at home with his mother; John Charles Halfert married Anna Gifford 
and has three children: Ida Celeste, Virolee Ellen, and Clyde Marvin, 
who was named in honor of a preacher despite the wishes of his grand- 
mother, who desired that he be named in honor of his grandfather. 

Mrs. Sarah Ellen Halfert was born Deceml^er 13, 1854, in Pennsyl- 
vania, a daughter of John and Eliza (Johnson) Kelley, natives of the 
Keystone state who removed to Newton county, Indiana, in 1855 and 
resided there until 1867 when they came to Bates county. Mrs. Eliza 
Kelley died in Indiana in 1861, leaving six children, as follow: Mary 
Jane, died in Colorado ; Mrs. Ollie Kelley, Butler, Missouri ; John, died 
when a youth; Aaron, died November 5, 1908, on a farm near Corn- 
land, Bates county; Sarah Ellen Halfert, of this review; and Charles T., 
died in infancy. John Kelley was again married in 1873 to Mrs. Sallie 
Carpenter, who bore him four children: Samuel W., deceased; Andrew, 
living in northern Minnesota; Mrs. Rena Dillon, who is living near 
Butler; May, residing in California. The second Mrs. Kelley died upon 
the birth of her last child. December 1, 1867, the Kelley family arrived 
in Bates county and settled upon a farm in the vicinity of Cornland, 
which farm Mr. Kelley cultivated until his death, Eebruary 18. 1881. 

Mrs. Halfert is a remarkable woman who has accomplished wonders 
in the management and improvement of her fine farm since her late 
husband's death. She has remodeled and rebuilt practically every struc- 
ture on the place and has all of them attractively painted in a dark red 
color, the residence and buildings making a handsome appearance from 
the roadway. She has had erected a thirty-barrel water tank for farm 



4IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

purposes which is kept filled by a pump operated by wind-mill power and 
everything is in first-class condition. A cyclone devastated the farm 
in 1909 and did considerable damage but it was quickly repaired. This 
energetic farm lady, despite her years, does a great part of the farm 
work and maintains a herd of ten dairy cows which yield one can of 
cream weekly from February to July, thus bringing her an income of 
seven dollars weekly. She has a total of eighteen head of cattle and 
nineteen head of Duroc Jersey hogs on the place. During the laying 
season, she disposes of two thirty-dozen cases of eggs each week from 
her poultry plant. Mrs. Halfert attends to her poultry and hogs, and 
does a great part of the milking herself. At this writing, December, 
1917, she had four hundred bushels of oats in her granary and more than 
one thousand bushels of corn in crib. She owns a splendid team of horses 
and a brood mare. In the spring of 1917, she disposed of more than 
three hundred dollars worth of horses and mules. Mrs. Halfert is a 
woman who is highly capable of managing her own affairs. She believes 
in keeping up with the times and her success in conducting a large 
farm has demonstrated that at least one woman can manage a business 
successfully. She is emphatically in favor of woman suffrage and looks 
forward to the time wdien she will be able to vote equally with men. 
Altogether, Mrs. Halfert is a remarkable woman in more ways than one — 
kind hearted, obliging, and broad-minded — and she has a deep and abid- 
ing love for her home county and her country. 

James W. Bobbitt. retired merchant and former postmaster of 
Sprague, Missouri, has, since the very beginning of the town of Sprague, 
been one of the leading citizens of this locality. He was born in Pulaski 
county, Kentucky, January 18, 1850, a son of Joseph D. and Polly Ann 
(Barrow) Bobbitt, both of whom were born and reared in old Kentucky. 
The parents of Joseph D. Bobbitt were natives of Virginia, who made 
a settlement in Kentucky during the early years of the history of that 
state. Mr. Bobbitt migrated to Missouri and arrived in Pettis county 
on March 10, 1870. For a time he was engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness in Pettis county until his removal to Wilson county, Kansas, where 
he again engaged in mercantile pursuits, remaining in Kansas until he 
came to Sprague, Bates county, Missouri, in 1900. He was engaged in 
business here until a short time before his death in 1910. Mrs. Polly 
Ann Bobbitt died in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbitt were the parents of 
the following children: James W., subject of this review; William Per- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4II 

kins, a resident of La Fontaine, Kansas; Mrs. Nannie Prigmore, a widow 
living at Pueblo, Colorado; and Perry Davis Bobbitt, Canon City, Colo- 
rado. 

J. W. Bobbitt received his schooling in Kentucky, his common- 
school education being followed by a course in the Davis Academy in 
Kentucky. He accompanied his parents to Missouri in 1870 and for two 
years after his arrival in Pettis county he and his brothers followed farm- 
ing while the father conducted his store. He then engaged in business 
with his father. In 1878, he came to Bates county and settled on a 
farm four miles north of Sprague. In 1881 he located in Sprague and 
opened one of the first mercantile establishments in the village. He 
established the first harness business, and then opened a general mer- 
cantile store which he conducted until 1906 when he retired from active 
business pursuits. Mr. Bobbitt has an eighty-acre farm, located west of 
Sprague, which is cultivated by a tenant. 

Mr. Bobbitt was married March 8, 1876, to Miss Hattie E. Winston, 
who was born in Pettis county, Missouri, a daughter of Drayton and 
Mary Winston, natives of North Carolina, who first made a settlement 
in Pettis county, Missouri, and then came to Bates county in 1882, set- 
tling on a farm located north of Sprague where both died in the same 
year, of 1887. To James W. and Hattie Bobbitt have been born children 
as follow: Mrs. Minnie McCray, Pueblo, Colorado, who has two .-chil- 
dren — Murle, and William W. ; Mrs. Cecil Gault, Buhl, Idaho, who has 
three daughters, Theo, Esther, and Genevieve; Clyde, at home with his 
parents ; and Mrs. Auda Lee, Pueblo, Colorado, who has an infant daugh- 
ter, Johanna Elizabeth. 

The Republican party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Bobbitt, 
who has been one of the leaders of his party for many years in Bates 
county. He has held many positions of trust during his long resi- 
dence here and has acquitted himself creditably in every instance. For 
a period of twenty-three years, he served as postmaster of Sprague. In 
March, 1915, he was elected tax collector of Howard township and served 
for two years in this ofiice. He has always taken a great interest in school 
matters and at the present writing is president of the local school board. 
WHien Sprague w^as actively maintained as an incorporated town, he 
served as a member and clerk of the town council. Mr. Bobbitt is a 
member of the Christian church and is serving as clerk and treasurer 
of the Sprague Christian church. He is fraternally af^Hated with the 
Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 



412 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

P. L. Shelton, superintendent of the Hickory Hill Mining Company, 
Foster, jMissouri, is a native son of Bates county who has achieved a 
striking success in the coal mining field of this county. At the present 
critical period of our nation's history (1918) when there is hardly a 
locality, industry, or city which is not crying for coal, and more coal, in 
order to ward off the chills of winter and keep the wheels of industry 
going, the individual who is doing his utmost to assist in supplying this 
demand is performing a public service of great value. The mines in Mr. 
Shelton's direct charge give employment to over fifty men at high 
wages and the only dit^culty experienced in conducting mine operations 
is in securing the necessary cars in which to ship the output. A strip 
mine is operated near Foster wdiich has a capacity of forty tons daily 
and employs fifteen men. The Hickory Hill Mine, one of Mr. Shel- 
ton's newest ventures, is a slope mine, located about one and one-fourth 
miles west of Foster upon a tract of two hundred ten acres underlaid 
\vith a splendid coal deposit and having an average output of one hun- 
dred tons. This mine is in the infancy of its development and was opened 
by Mr. Shelton in January, 1917. From twenty-five to fifty men are 
given employment at this mine, which is ecjuipped with modern hoisting 
machinery operated by gas engines at a cost of eight}^ dollars per month, 
making a distinct saving in the hoisting expense of the coal to the top 
of the mine tipple for screening and loading. A tramway one-fourth 
of a mile in length conveys the coal to the railway spur or independent 
switch on the Missouri Pacific railroad. 

The birth of P. L. Shelton occurred on a farm in New Home town- 
ship. May 25, 1871. His parents were James C. (born in 1847, died in 
1895), and Susan (Fads) Shelton (born August 29, 1845), the latter 
of whom is now making her home in Kansas City. James C. Shelton 
w^as born on a pioneer farm in Deepwater township, a son of Robert 
Shelton, a native of Kentucky, wdio was among the very earliest pio- 
neer settlers of Bates county, coming here in 1845 when this entire sec- 
tion was an unsettled wilderness of prairie and forest. In 1849, Robert 
Shelton drove a freight wagon to the Pacific Coast on the hunt for gold 
in the mining country. He made the entire distance wdiile driving a 
slow-moving ox-team. James C. Shelton was accidentally killed while 
employed in a strip mine ditch, his death being caused by the caving in 
of the sides of the ditch, so-called. Susan (Fads) Shelton, was likewise 
a member of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri, her birth 
occurring at California, Missouri. To James C. and Susan Shelton were 




p. L. SHELTON. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4I3 

born eight children, seven of whom are Hving: P. L.j eldest of the family; 
Edward A., Kansas City; Mrs. S. Cordelia Blackburn, Kansas City; 
Airs. Melissa Snuffer, Kansas City; Mrs. Mary Pierce, Kansas City; H. 
C, also living in Kansas City; and Mrs. Anna Stuart, Utah. 

Not long after the birth of P. L. Shelton, his parents located in 
Walnut township, on a farm one-fourth of a mile east of Foster. He 
was educated in the A\'alnut township schools and assisted his parents in 
the. support of the family' until he was twenty-six years old. He began 
to make his own way in 1897 and has been employed in coal-mining on 
his own account since 1891. Mr. Shelton has been carrying on farming 
and mining operations for the past twenty years and is an enterprising, 
energetic citizen who is considered the busiest man in the town of Foster. 
During the greater part of this period he has been an operator and an 
employer of labor and knows every phase of the mining industry, having 
learned his business in the hard school of practical experience. He has a 
substantial interest in the Hickory Hill Mining venture and is the prac- 
tical owner of the strip mines near Foster. 

Mr. Shelton w^as married on March 31, 1897, to Jennie B. Webb, who 
was born in Ray county, Missouri, December 6, 1878, a daughter of 
H. H. and D. E. (Stevens) Webb, natives of Tennessee and Missouri, 
respectively. Her parents came to Bates county in 1885. Her father is 
deceased and her mother resides in Moberly, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. 
Shelton have a fine family of five sons and three daughters, namely: 
Pleasant H., a student in the Kansas City Business College ; Myrtle, a 
student in Westport High School; DeWitt, Herbert, Paul, Arlo, Mildred, 
and Marie, at home. It is worthy of mention that Mr. Shelton's father 
operated the old Campbell's Crossing ferry boat located on the Marais 
des Cygnes on the route of the old overland trail to Fort Scott. An 
uncle of P. L. Shelton, Will Lee Shelton, served four years in the Con- 
federate army during the Ci'vil War. 

Mr. Shelton is a Democrat who takes a proper interest in political 
affairs but has little time for politics. He and Mrs. Shelton are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Shelton is a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, 
the Modern Woodmen of America, the Mystic Workers, and the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, and the Rebekahs. Mrs. Shelton is a mem- 
ber of the Daughters of Rebekah, and the Royal Neighbors Auxiliary 
lodges. Mr. and Mrs. Shelton have good apd just right to be proud 
of the fact that they are members of two of the oldest pioneer families 



414 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of western Missouri. The Shelton home is a cheery and hospitable one, 
and Mr. Shelton is deservedly popular with his employes and the men 
with whom he is doing business. He is one of the most successful busi- 
ness men of Bates county and a hustler of the most energetic type. 

David W. Thompson, postmaster, Hume, Missouri, is a native-born 
Missourian. He was born on a farm in Cass county, April 20, 1868, a 
son of J. L. and Nancy (Elliot) Thompson, natives of Ireland. Both 
J. L. Thompson and Nancy Elliot came to America from their native land 
when children with their respective parents, and were reared in Cass 
county, Illinois. They were there married and, in 1866, migrated to Mis- 
souri and made a settlement in Cass county. After a residence of four- 
teen years in Cass county, they removed to Bates county and settled on 
a farm located two miles south of Hume in Howard township, in 1880. 
Two years later, the father died in 1882. The widow finished rearing the 
fine family of eight sons and a daughter and now resides in Hume. The 
children of J. L. and Nancy Thompson are as follow: Mrs. Emma R. 
Hern, Hume, Missouri; William M., a farmer living at Hume; John M., 
prosperous farmer and live-stock buyer, Hume, Missouri; Joseph F., 
farmer, Hume; James B., farmer, Hume; Robert A., who lives on the 
old home place south of Hume; David W., subject of this review; Ed- 
ward W., Kansas City, Missouri; Arthur A., window trimmer for the 
firm of Browning, King & Company, Kansas City, Missouri. All the 
eight sons of J. L. Thompson are Democrats of the tried and true variety. 

David W. Thompson was twelve years of age when he came to Bates 
county with his parents. His common school education was completed 
in the district school of his home locality and he attended the Normal 
School at Ft. Scott, Kansas, for one year. His first employment, other 
than working on the home farm, was as clerk in a general store at Hume, 
prior to his marriage. For a period of two years, he was engaged in 
the mercantile business in Hume on his own account and, in 1894, dispos- 
ing of his business in town, he purchased a farm of eighty acres in section 
sixteen of Howard township. This tract of land had been devastated by 
a tornado, which had swept through this section of Missouri, and Mr. 
Thompson erected practically all of the improvements on the place. Some 
time after making his initial purchase of eighty acres, he added a forty- 
acre tract, making one hundred twenty acres in all, which he owns. 
This farm is well improved and highly productive. Mr. Thompson cul- 
tivated his farm until his appointment as postmaster of Hume, at which 
time he removed to a residence in the town. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 415 

D. W. Thompson was married in 1892 to Miss Dana Ellis, of Vernon 
county, Missouri, a daughter of Robert Ellis, now deceased. Mr. and 
Mrs. Thompson have two chidlren : Ceran E., aged twenty-five years, who 
is employed in the offices of the Kansas City & Southern Railway 
at Kansas City, Missouri; and Mildred E., aged eighteen years, a student 
in the H.ume High School, class of 1918. 

Mr. Thompson is a Democrat in his political allegiance and takes a 
good Democrat's interest in politics. He was appointed to the position 
of postmaster of Hume on January 21, 1915, and took up the duties of 
his office on February 1, 1915. His conduct of the affairs of the office 
during the past two years of his incumbency has been such as to please 
the most exacting of the patrons. He is a member of the Baptist church 
and is a member of the Fraternal Aid Society. 

Thomas Henry Lewis, better known as "T. H. Lewis," owner of 
four hundred twenty-four acres of excellent farm land in West Point 
township, is a son of the Rev. A. H. Lewis, late of Bates county, and one 
of the most widely known, pioneer Baptist ministers of Missouri, a sketch 
of whom appears in this volume. Mr. Lewis has a splendidly improved 
farm upon which he has resided since April of 1890. Upon this farm he 
placed practically all of the improvements and fencing. During the past 
year of 1917, he harvested ninety-five acres of corn, which yielded a 
total of twenty-four hundred bushels of grain ; thirty acres of oats 
which yielded one thousand fifty bushels of oats; twenty-six acres 
of hay which cut thirty tons in all. He had planted a total of one hundred 
twenty-five acres in wheat for next year's harvesting in compliance with 
the calls of his government for a greater wheat acreage in order that 
America may feed herself and the allies in the great world war. He has, 
at the present writing, a fine herd of forty-eight head of Shorthorn cattle, 
forty-four head of Duroc Jersey hogs, forty-three sheep, and twenty-five 
head of horses and mules. 

Mr. Lewis was born in Saline county, Missouri, in 1862. He was 
three years old when his parents moved to Ray County, Missouri. He 
was ten years of age when the family made a permanent home in Bates 
county in 1872. He was reared on the home place of the Lewis family 
and attended Willow Branch school. School was held in a small building 
16 X 24 feet in size. His best teacher, as he recalls, was Prof. DeWitt 
Daniels, who was learned in the classics and taught his pupils the higher 
branches, thus giving the ambitious students the benefits of higher edu- 
cation and saving them the necessity of leaving home to attend a school 



4l6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of higher learning. Mr. Lewis began for himself when he became of age 
and farmed his father's place until 1890, when he began entirely on his 
own account. XMiile he received some assistance from his father, he has 
achieved the greater part of his success through his own endeavors. His 
first purchase of land was one hundred sixty acres, to which he added 
fifty-three and three-tenths acres, then fifty-one acres, then eighty acres, 
and to his enlarged tract was added still another eighty acres. His first 
home, built in 1890, was a small afi^air, 14 x 24 feet, which he rebuilt in 
1903 and 1904, making a substantial farm residence of eight rooms which 
sits well back from the roadway to the south. Upon the Lewis farm are 
about twenty-five acres of timl)er, wdiich furnish fuel and lumber for 
building purposes for the farm. 

Mr. Lewis was married in 1890 to Miss Fannie E. Covington, who 
was l^orn in Culpepper county, \^irginia. and who first came to jMissouri 
upon a visit to the Lewis family. She is a daughter of Robert C. and 
Frances (Brown) Covington, of Culpepper county, Virginia. To this mar- 
riage have been born the following children: Robert L., a farmer in 
Elkhart township; Abram H., a soldier in the National Army, now in 
training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma ; Virginia Frances, Percy Wallace, Dora 
Elizabeth, at home; Thomas Coleman, deceased; and Frank, at home. 

The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mv. Lewis, 
although he has never taken an active part in political matters. He and 
the members of his family are aftiliated with the Baptist church. 

J. C. Biggs, cashier of the Commercial Bank of Hume, Missouri, was 
born in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1858, a son of Andrew E. and Sarah (Pay- 
ton) Biggs, natives of McLean county. Illinois, and Ohio, respectivelv. 

Andrew E. Biggs, his father, came to Bourbon county, Kansas, in 
1857, and entered homestead land which now forms a part of the site of 
the thriving city of Ft. Scott. His purpose in coming to Kansas at that 
early period was to take part in the making of Kansas into a free state. 
Naturally, his presence in Bourbon county was not desired by the slavery 
men, wdio were at that time in the majority. He, with others of his per- 
suasion, found it necessary in order to save their lives, to leave the terri- 
tory. He returned to his old home in McLean county, Illinois, in 1859, 
and remained there until 1878. when he again came to the West and 
located in Miami county, Kansas. He followed farming in that county 
until 1880, at which time he removed to Custer county, Nebraska, and 
took up a homestead. Five years later, he returned eastward and made 
his final settlement in Bates countv, where he resided until his death in 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 417 

1904 at the age of sixty-three years. He was the father of seven children, 
as follow: J. C, subject of this review; B. F., proprietor of a meat and 
grocery store in Hume; Mrs. Ella Palmer, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. 
Phoebe McLean, deceased; Mrs. Lizzie Snell, Hume, Missouri; Harmon, 
a railroad man whose headquarters are at Wichita, Kansas; Charles, also 
a railroader living at Hume. The last four children mentioned in the 
preceding paragraph were born of a second marriage of Andrew E. Biggs 
with Jennie Settle. Mrs. Jennie Biggs now makes her home at Hume. 

J. C. Biggs, subject of this review, received his education in the com- 
mon schools and at Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois. For a 
period of seven years he taught school successfully in Illinois and Bates 
county, Missouri, his last year in the profession of teaching, 1883-1884, 
having been spent in Bates county. During the years of 1885 and 1886, 
he was engaged in the mercantile business at Virginia in Bates county. 
Following which he came to Hume in 1887 and from 1887 to 1892 he was 
engaged in the drug business, the Biggs' Drug Store now being conducted 
by his son. From 1892 to 1896. he was connected with the old Hume 
Bank, after which he again re-entered the drug business and remained in 
this business until 1903, when he organized the Commercial Bank of 
Hume, a banking concern which has a well-merited and successful growth 
for the past fifteen years. His capabilities as banker have been recog- 
nized, and as its cashier he has been the guiding hand for this bank. In 
addition to his banking interests, Mr. Biggs is a successful farmer and 
prides himself upon the fact that he is as much a farmer as a banker. He 
is owner of four hundred acres of splendid farm land in Howard town- 
ship, the cultivation of wdiich place receives his personal attention. The 
Biggs farm produces, upon an average, one hundred head of hogs and 
from forty to eighty head of cattle, annually. 

Mr. Biggs was married in 1883 to Miss Cora B. Forsythe, who was 
born in Illinois, a daughter of Charles Forsythe, an early settler of Bates 
county, Missouri, who located in this county in the early sixties. Mr. 
and Mrs. Biggs have three children : George, a druggist, Hume, Mis- 
souri, a graduate pharmacist, married Miss Mary Sieg; Mrs. L. C. Wil- 
liams, Tulsa, Oklahoma, has two sons, John Robert and Richard James; 
Kenneth, aged thirteen years, who is attending school. 

Mr. Biggs is allied with the Republican party and is religiously affil- 
iated with the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a member of the 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and takes high rank as a public- 

(27) 



4l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

spirited, influential citizen, who has the best interests of his home city 
and county at heart. 

The Commercial Bank, Hume, Missouri, was organized and began 
business May 4, 1903. This bank was organized by J. C. Biggs, its pres- 
ent cashier, with a capital of ten thousand dollars. Associated with Mr. 
Biggs in the organization were W. B. Waytes, who served as the first 
president of the bank; S. R. Humphrey, as vice-president; and H. C. Cur- 
tis, assistant cashier. W. C. Foster, with the preceding named gen- 
tlemen served as the board of directors. For the past fifteen years the 
bank has continued to do business at the original location in the brick 
building located on the northwest corner of the public square in Hume. 
Mr. Humphrey died in October, 1913, and he was succeeded by C. E. 
Horton. Mr. Waytes died in 1915 and his successor, W. C. Foster, be- 
came president of the bank. The present officers are : W. C. Foster, 
president; C. E. Horton, vice-president; J. C. Biggs, cashier; J. P. Adams, 
assistant cashier. The foregoing, with E. N. Martin, W. L. Thompson 
and R. W. McConnell, now constitute the board of directors. The latest 
statement of the financial condition of the Commercial Bank gives assets 
as follow: Capital stock, ten thousand dollars; surplus, five thousand 
dollars; deposits, one hundred sixty-five thousand dollars. The yearly 
statement of annual deposits given as taken from the bank records for 
the month of November show the steady and consistent growth of the 
Commercial Bank. The deposits were as follow for each current year 
beginning with November of 1903 and continuing for the same month in 
each succeeding year: 1903, $18,332.31; 1904, $22,785; 1905, $35,298; 
1906, $84,785.60; 1907, $105,604.15; 1908, $77,991.55; 1909, $83,961 ; 1910, 
$102,611.29; 1912, $117,048.63; 1913, $80,540.78; 1914, $81,315.90; 1916, 
$81,080.59; and 1917, $165,000. 

Harry L. Curtis, the efiicient and highly capable cashier of the State 
Bank of Hume, Missouri, is a hustler who received his business and 
financial training in the "school of hard knocks" and has made good. 
Air. Curtis was born Septeml)er 4, 1870, in Logan county, Illinois, a son 
of W. L. and Susannah (Landis) Curtis, both of whom are natives of 
Virginia, where they were born, reared, and married. W. L. Curtis mi- 
grated from Illinois to Kansas in 1876, and followed farming operations 
in the southwestern part of the state until 1895, when he came to Hume, 
Missouri, and is now engaged in the grain and elevator business. 

Harry L. Curtis was reared to young manhood in southwestern Kan- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 419 

sas and received his first banking experience in that locaHty. He first 
located in Hume in the year 1899 and became identified with the old 
Hume Bank which had been founded by Messrs. Standish and Horton. 
He served as bookkeeper of this concern until 1903 and then assisted in 
the organization of the Commercial Bank of Hume and remained with 
that concern until he organized the State Bank of Hume. He organized 
this bank in 1911 and under his management the concern is proving a 
financial success. This bank was opened for business in 1912 with a cap- 
ital of ten thousand dollars. The organizers were Dr. Botts, R. M. Dun- 
can, J. T. Lee, J. M. Thompson and H. L. Curtis. The company erected 
a fine brick building and fitted the interior with modern fixtures and a 
splendid vault. The bank has enjoyed a steady growth in strength and 
patronage since its organization and now has total resources of over 
one hundred thousand dollars. The present ofiicers are : R. M. Duncan, 
president; Dr. Botts, vice-president, and H. L. Curtis, cashier. The board 
of directors include the foregoing ofiticers and Messrs. Lee and Thomp- 
son. 

In addition to his banking business, Mr. Curtis conducts an insur- 
ance and farm loan department, being the agent in tliis section of Mis- 
souri for the Walton Trust Company, of Butler. He is also a farmer 
and owns a splendid farm of one hundred sixty acres northwest of Hume. 
While this farm is operated by a tenant, it is one of the most productive 
in Bates county, having yielded its owner a net profit of fourteen dollars 
per acre on the wheat acreage during the past year and has yielded a 
profit of eighteen dollars per acre on the corn crop. 

Mr. Curtis was married in July, 1915, to Miss Ada Montgomery, of 
Chicago, Illinois, and to this marriage has been born a daughter, Louise, 
born December 28, 1916 Mr. Curtis is a pronounced Democrat in his 
political allegiance. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons, having taken all degrees of Masonry up to and including the 
Thirty-second Degree, being both a Scottish Rite and York Mason. 
Mr. Curtis, while among the younger financial men of Bates county, has 
achieved a success second to none in the county during the years he has 
been here a resident. He takes an active and influential interest in the 
affairs of his home town and of Bates county and is usually found in the 
forefront of all undertakings having for their object the betterment of 
conditions in the county and the advancement of the welfare of the 
people. 



420 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Edward Leslie Thomas or "E. L." Thomas, as he is more famiHarly 
known, owner of "Capital Hill Farm," a splendid farm place of two hun- 
dred forty acres in New Home township, is a native son of Missouri and 
was born on a farm in New Home township, Bates county, August 8, 
1873. He is a son of James P. Thomas, one of the oldest of the living pio- 
neer settlers of this county, concerning whom a biographical review is 
given elsewdiere in this volume. The Thomas place is a beautiful one, the 
well-kept residence being located upon an eminence which overlooks the 
surrounding country for miles in every direction. One hundred sixty 
acres of this farm comprise the original home place owned by Mr. 
Thomas in New Home township and eighty acres are located just across 
the highway in Walnut township. The residence and farm buildings 
are reached by a driveway coming from the west. Mr. Thomas carries 
on general farming operations and raises cattle and hogs. He was 
reared and educated in Bates county, attending the Virginia district 
school. At the age of nineteen years he began farming for himself 
upon his father's farm. His father made him a present of a team of 
horses and later, in 1896, gave him a deed to one hundred eighty 
acres of farm land, eighty acres of which his residence has been erected 
upon. Later he gave him another forty acres. Mr. Thomas placed 
all of the improvements upon his place and has added one hundred 
twenty acres to his original holdings. 

Mr. Thomas has been twice married, his first marriage occurring 
in 1892 with Ella Woods, who died on September 7, 1898. On June 
10, 1902, he was united in marriage with Miss Maude Woodfin, who was 
born in Walnut township, February 28, 1878, a daughter of Jason and 
Prudence (Miller) Woodfin, pioneer residents of Bates county, concern- 
ing whom an extended review is given in this work. Her father is 
deceased and her mother resides upon the old home place in Walnut 
township. Both the Miller and Woodfin families were among the first 
pioneer famihes in this section of Bates county and are among the most 
honored and respected. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have no children of their 
own, but are rearing a boy, Chan Calloway. In politics, Mr. Thomas has 
always been a Democrat. Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Christian 
church. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are popular in their home community, 
enjoying life to the utmost and are loyal citizens of Bates county, who 
count among their many friends the best and most substantial people 
of the county. 




EDWARD LESLIE THOMAS AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 421 

James Perry Adams, assistant cashier of the Commercial Bank, 
Hume, Missouri, was born in Pettis county, Missouri, January 9, 1874, 
a son of James D. and Martha A. (Siceloff) Adams, natives of Virginia 
and North Carohna, respectively. Both father and mother of J. P. 
Adams came with their respective parents to Pettis county directly after 
the close of the Civil War and were married in that county. James D. 
Adams was a son of John Adams, who became well known and prominent 
in the affairs of his adopted county. James D. Adams removed to Bates 
county in 1879 and located on a farm two miles south of Hume in How- 
ard township. He spent the remainder of his days in the cultivation of 
his farm and died at his home January 25, 1895, at the age of fifty-three 
years. To James D. and Martha A. Adams were born ten children, as 
follow: H. v., Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. Callie McLean, of Tempe, Ari- 
zona ; Emmet, residing at Tempe, Arizona ; Eugene, Gentry, Arkansas ; 
James Perry, subject of this review; Mrs. Bettie Crews, Houstonia, Mis- 
souri; Jessie, at home with her mother; Mrs. Myrtle Wood, Hume, Mis- 
souri; John, at home; and Neville, Pueblo, Colorado. The mother of the 
large family was born in 1848 and now makes her home in Hume. 

J. P. Adams was educated in the district schools and the Hume High 
School. Having been reared on a farm, he quite naturally made the 
pursuit of agriculture his vocation and began farming on his own ac- 
count in 1895. He rented land until 1900 and then made a purchase of 
one hundred sixty acres located southeast of Hunie in Howard township. 
Success attended his efforts and with good business management he 
made a pronounced success of his farming operations. His farm is well 
improved and is one of the most productive tracts of land in Bates 
county. Mr. Adams remained in direct charge of his farm until 1910, 
after which he rented the place and has since made his home in Hume. 
On December 15, 1910, he became identified with the Commercial Bank 
of Hume as a director and assistant cashier. His success in banking 
circles is as pronounced as was his first venture as a farmer and land- 
owner. 

Mr. Adams was married on September 4, 1895, to Miss Minnie Ack- 
erman, who was born in Johnson county, Missouri, a daughter of James 
T. Ackerman, now a substantial farmer and stockman of Howard town- 
ship, concerning whom a biographical sketch is presented elsewhere in 
this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have a son, J. Walter, born December 
5, 1898, now a student in the Hume High School. Mr, Adams is politi- 



422 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

cally allied with the Democratic party and he and Mrs. Adams are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, to which religious de- 
nomination they are liberal contributors. 

John G. Holland, living retired in his substantial country home near 
Hume, Missouri, one of the oldest residents of Howard township, is de- 
scended from an old American family of Moravian origin. Mr. Holland's 
career in Bates county, where he has resided for more than two score 
years in the capacity of an active agriculturist, has been marked with 
success of a high order. He was born at Salem, North Carolina, in 
1849, a son of Eli and Lizzie (Mitchell) Holland, both natives of North 
Carolina. Eli Holland was a son of John Holland, a Moravian, who emi- 
grated from England to America about the time of the American Revo- 
lution or shortly afterward. 

Eli Holland, father of J. G. Holland, enlisted in the Confederate 
army in 1862 and served until the close of the Civil War. Directly after 
the ending of the struggle between the states he came to Missouri and 
for some time resided at Knob Noster, in Johnson county. He died in 
Johnson county in 1867. The mother of John G. Holland died in Johnson 
county a few years later, in 1871. 

In the year 1875, J. G. Holland began his successful career in Bates 
county, when he joined his brother, O. T. Holland, in the purchase of 
four hundred acres of unimproved prairie land in Howard township. He 
came to this county in 1880 and associated himself with his brother in 
the development and cultivation of this large tract and the venture met 
with substantial and gratifying returns, the original purchase being in- 
creased to the large total of eight hundred eighty acres, which they to- 
gether continued to farm until 1894. January 1, 1894, J. G. Holland 
bought the place which is now his home, consisting of three hundred 
twenty acres. This tract he improved and erected thereon a large resi- 
dence. A division was made at this time of the holdings of the brothers 
and in addition to his home place, Mr. Holland owns a half interest in 
one hundred sixty acres more in Howard township and is half owner 
of two hundred forty acres of fine land located near Adrian in Bates 
county. Mr. Holland has always been an extensive livestock feeder and 
breeder, and has at the present time on his farms a total of one hundred 
head of cattle, one hundred head of hogs, and thirty head of horses and 
mules. During 1917, his two sons, John and Richard, who of late years 
have capably relieved him of the burden of the management of the large 
farm, harvested one hundred fifteen acres of corn which yielded forty 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



423 



bushels to the acre; thirty-five acres of wheat which gave an average 
yield of fifteen bushels to the acre; twenty acres of hay which cut over 
one ton to each acre. The Holland boys had planted last year of 1917 
one hundred twenty-five acres in wheat in order to assist in meeting the 
demands of the entire world for a greater supply. There are no better 
nor more intelligent, progressive farmers in Bates county than John and 
Richard Holland. 

Mr. Holland was married in 1887 to America Badgett, who was born 
in 1862 in Kentucky, a daughter of John R. Badgett, one of the early 
settlers of Howard township. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hol- 
land resided in Hume for one year and then moved to their present home, 
which Mr. Holland had erected on his place, located just one-half mile 
northeast of Hume. Four children have been born to J. G. and America 
Holland: John and Richard, who are conducting the farm work; Mary, 
a student in college at St. Louis; and Irene, a pupil in the ninth grade of 
the Hume Consolidated Schools. 

Mr. Holland has always been a Democrat and prides himself upon 
the fact that he has always voted the straight Democratic ticket. The 
only interest he has taken in politics has been to actively assist his 
friends who were seeking political preferment. He and his family are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church. South. For the past thirty 
years Mr. Holland has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. He is progressive in his tendencies and has always favored all 
measures and undertakings which have had the best interest of the peo- 
ple of his home community and county at heart. He and his sons, John 
and Richard, were active supporters of the movement which culminated 
in the establishment of the Consolidated Grade Schools at Hume and 
were of considerable influence in the struggle which resulted in the suc- 
cess of the movement. 

Alphonso Freeman Weedin. — The name of Weedin is identified with 
the earliest period of Missouri history and goes back over a century to 
the troublesome days when the adventurous white settlers were striving 
to wrest the great domain, the vast wilderness which comprised the ter- 
ritory of Louisiana, from the wild red men. A. F. Weedin, prosperous 
farmer and stockman of Howard township. Bates county, is a worthy 
descendant of brave Missouri pioneers, who came to Missouri as early 
as the year 1811. He was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, September 
12, 1848, a son of Rev. Caleb and Eliza (Moore) Weedin, the former a 
native of South Carolina and the latter a native of Kentuckv. Caleb 



424 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Weediii was born January 16, 1799, a son of Benjamin W'eedin, who 
emigrated from South Carolina to Tennesese in 1809 and two years later 
in 1811, came to Missouri and became a member of the colony which set- 
tled near old Fort Boone. The Indians were very troublesome in those 
early days and for a period of three years the white settlers and Indians 
were constantly at war, the settlers finding it necessary to build a stock- 
ade and therein keep their families in safety from marauding bands of 
savages. The younger members of the little band, with the women, fre- 
quently found it necessary to defend the fort while the older men were 
absent on expeditions which were necessary for their maintenance and 
comfort. On one occasion, while Benjamin Weedin with his older asso- 
ciates were absent at the Osage Mission on a search for cattle which the 
Indians had stolen from the settlers, young Caleb with the other boys 
and the women in the stockade beat off an Indian attack. At another 
time, two men were sent out from the fort to reconnoiter and were at- 
tacked by Indians. One man, a Mr. Savage, was killed, while the other 
reached the fort in safety. In 1814, the Indians having become peace- 
ably inclined, Benjamin Weedin settled on a tract of land near Boone- 
ville, and remained in Missouri until his death. 

Caleb Weedin returned to Kentucky and ]:>ecame a minister of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian church. For many years he preached the Gos- 
pel in Kentucky, principally in the vicinity. of Glasgow, Barren county, 
in southern Kentucky. He died in 1864, after a useful life of devout ser- 
vice in behalf of men's souls. He was married in Kentucky in 1826 to 
Elizabeth Swan Moore, who was born in Kentucky July 20, 1810, a 
daughter of Samuel Swan and Maiy Moore. 

To Rev. Caleb and Elizabeth Weedin were born children, as follow: 
Samuel S., wdio was a professor in McGee College, Missouri, at the time 
of his death; B. D., who came to Missouri in 1857 and became very prom- 
inent in the alTairs of Lafayette county, Missouri, and served as a mem- 
])er of the county court and is county surveyor for many years, dying 
at Lexington, Missouri; Mary Catharine, deceased wife of Dr. J. C. 
Provine, Nashville, Tennessee; Anna E., died in 1917; ^Vlargaret E., de- 
ceased wife of Prof. H. A. Scomb, of Boyle county, Kentucky; \\\ H., 
a teacher for many years in Kentucky and Tennessee ; Caleb C, a farmer 
in Kentuckv; Sarah, deceased; and Alphonso P>eeman. subject of this 
reviev/ and the only surviving member of the family. 

A. F. Weedin, subject of this review, received his primary education 
in the public schools of his native state and then finished his education 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY . 425 

at Center College, Danville, Kentucky. He taught in the public schools 
of Kentucky for a period of three years, and in November of 1875 came 
to Missouri and taught during the following year in Lafayette county. 
In 1876, he journeyed to Utah and for some months was engaged in 
mining in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. After his mining venture, 
he returned to Lafayette county, Missouri and was married in 1878. Mr. 
and Mrs. Weedin resided in Lafayette county for a short time and then 
removed to Johnson county where they resided for a period of one and 
a half years. On Christmas Day of 1879 they arrived in Butler, Bates 
county and came to their farm in Howard township on the day follow- 
ing, taking up their abode in a small house which Mr. Weedin had pre- 
viously erected on his farm. The small house or "shanty" was their 
home for three years and they then moved into more comfortable quar- 
ters which they built. This home was burned and was succeeded by a 
pretty farm cottage which is set attractively on a rise of ground north 
of the highway which goes past the Weedin home. The land which Mr. 
Weedin purchased in 1879 was unbroken prairie and unfenced but well 
watered with flowing water from natural springs and a creek. It is pro- 
vided with good farm buildings and is one of the most productive farms 
in this section of Missouri. Mr. Weedin owns a total of two hundred 
eighty acres of valuable land. 

A. F. Weedin was married in August, 1878, to Miss Mary Lankford, 
who was born on a farm near Lexington, Missouri, December 22, 1859, 
a daughter of Barnett and Euphemia (Catron) Lankford, early pioneer 
settlers and extensive land-owners of Lafayette county. To this mar- 
riage eight children have been born, as follow : Mrs. Anna Puryear, Ro- 
chester, Minnesota, who has four children ; John Daniel Weedin. a rail- 
road fireman whose home is at Calwa City, California, and who is father 
of three children; Frances, wife of Clarence Finch, of Kansas City. ]\lis- 
souri, has two children ; Abner G., who was in training at the Laiited 
States Naval School at Pensacola, Florida, and is now a member of the 
Aeronautic Contingent or in the aviation department with General Persh- 
ing's army in France; Samuel P., at home with his parents; Margaret 
Ellen, wife of Edwin Ferguson, a farmer in Howard township; Mary, 
a teacher in the public schools, who makes her home with her parents; 
Caleb Clay, a soldier in the Ofificers' Training Camp at San Antonio, 
Texas. For many years, Mr. Weedin has been one of the leaders of the 
Democratic party in his township. Because of his educational attain- 
ments and natural ability, he has been selected by his fellow townsmen 



426 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

to fill local offices, such as justice of the peace, township clerk, and as- 
sessor, and in the last named position he has served two terms of two 
years each. Having been reared in the faith of the Cumberland Presby- 
terian church, he has always adhered to the tenets of that denoimntaion. 
He is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. 
Personally, Mr. Weedin is a courteous, well-educated gentleman of the 
old school, one who endeavors to keep abreast of the times and main- 
tains a stout and unswerving loyalty to Bates county and Missouri. ]\Ir. 
and Mrs. Weedin are numbered among the best families of the county 
and he ranks as one of Bates county's successful and enterprising citi- 
zens. 

Orren T. Holland, — \\'hen O. T. Holland came to Bates county 
in 1879 and selected the beautiful and commanding site whereon he 
built his permanent home in this county, the country roundabout in 
Howard township was a vast, unsettled prairie. The grass grew to 
the height of a stalwart man. and cattle ranged freely in large herds. 
Settlers were few in the neighborhood and the country was practically 
new. Both ^Ir. and Mrs. Holland are want to declare that their first 
years in Bates county were among the happiest in their lives and that 
neighbors were kind and sociable and ever ready to lend a helping 
hand in times of need. They visited each other's homes freely, and 
hospitality was the keynote of the spirit of the homes of that day. The 
site which Mr. Holland selected for his home is one of the most striking 
in the county, the Holland residence being located on a gently rising 
knoll which gives a view extending for miles over the surrounding 'coun- 
trv. It is possible, on clear days, to see the dome of the court house- and 
the church spires in Butler, the county seat. The home is a handsome 
one and surrounded by shade trees which have grown during the time 
of the owner. The Holland farm spreads in a vast level stretch from 
the foot of the hill and is one of the most fertile and productive tracts 
of land in this section of Missouri. This farm comprises four hundred 
eighty acres and is essentially a cattle and hog-producing plant. Mr. 
Holland handles about one hundred head of cattle annually. He was 
formerly engaged in the breeding of the Polled Angus cattle. More 
than one hundred head of Duroc Jersey hogs are produced and fat- 
tended yearly. During the past year. 1917. there were harvested on this 
place fifty-five acres of corn which yielded forty-five to sixty bushels 
of grain to the acre ; fifty-eight acres of oats, twelve acres of which 
yielded one hundred bushels to the acre: and the entire tract yielded 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 42/ 

twenty-eight hundred bushels. For the harvest of 1918, Mr. Holland 
and his sons have sown one hundred twenty-seven acres to wheat on 
the home farm and there is also sown one hundred twenty-five acres 
to wdieat on the Holland tracts by the sons of J. S. Holland. 

O. T. Holland was born in 1850 at Salem, Forsythe county, North 
Carolina. He is a son of Eli and Lydia (Mitchell) Holland, both of 
whom were reared and married in North Carolina. In September 
of 1865, they removed to Johnson county, Missouri, and located near 
Knob Noster. The elder Holland was a paper manufacturer by trade 
but followed farming in Missouri. For further particulars concerning 
the parents of O. T. Holland, the reader is referred to the biography of 
J. G. Holland, a brother, which appears elsewhere in this volume. In 
1868, the subject of this review located at Lamonte, Pettis county, 
where he farmed until his removal to Bates county. In Augiist of 1875, 
he came to this county and made his initial purchase of one hundred 
sixty acres of land, the site of his present home. For this tract, he paid 
fifteen dollars an acre. In 1876, he removed to the place and lived 
for a time in a small house while making the necessary improvements 
thereon. A well had been dug on the place and one hundred acres 
broken for cultivation. He was joined by his brother, J. G. Holland in 
1879 and the Holland brothers farmed together in a successful part- 
nership arrangement until the partnership was dissolved in 1887. They 
accumulated, during that period, more than eight hundred eighty acres 
of land, and since 1887 they have purchased in partnership two hundred 
forty acres in Elkhart township and another one hundred sixty acres, 
which they hold in common as equal owners. 

Mr. Holland was married December 15, 1875, in Johnson county, 
to Miss Anna Shepherd, who was born March 11, 1855, in Wilmington, 
Fluvanna county, Virginia, a daughter of John and Eveline (George) 
Shepherd, natives of Virginia, who immigrated to Shelby county, Ken- 
tucky, in 1867, five years later removing to Johnson county, Missouri. 
They located near Knob Noster and he resided there until death. The 
mother of Mrs. Holland died February 6, 1902. Mr. Shepherd died 
November 17, 1906. To JMr. and Mrs. O. T. Holland have been born 
children, as follow: Charles, born in 1877, deceased; J. Burl, born 
November 29, 1878, Rich Hill, Missouri; Adah B., born July 28, 1881, 
wife of R. W. Crawford, Nevada, Missouri; Eva Vern, born in 1884, the 
w^ife of F. L. Martin, Hume, Missouri; and Ralph, born November 1, 
1886, Rich Hill, Missouri. 



_|28 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mr. Holland has generally voted the Democratic ticket but has 
never aspired to political preferment, preferring to do his duty as a 
private citizen instead of bothering with political matters. He and Mrs. 
Holland attend the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Holland is a 
member of the Baptist church. The home life of the Hollands is a 
pleasant and hospitable one and they thoroughly enjoy their comfort- 
able home which is open to their friends and the wayfarers at any and 
all times. They are among the excellent citizens who have done a con- 
siderable part in creating Bates county as it now is. 

Charles B. Briscoe, pioneer farmer of Walnut township, owner of 
a half section of fertile land southwest of the town of Foster, is a native 
of Cooper county, born August 22, 1847, and a son of Samuel L. 
and Alpha Ann ( Corum ) Briscoe, wdio are among the earliest of the 
pioneer settlers who settled and developed Cooper county, Missouri. 
There are three sets of farm improvements on the Briscoe farms, the 
land being divided into three tracts by the public highways. Mr. Bris- 
coe is wintering at this writing, fifty-five head of cattle in one herd, thirty- 
four head in another and has a number of very fine Poland China hogs 
on the place. 

Samuel L. Briscoe, his father, was born March 2. 1817, in Madison 
county, Kentucky, a son of Andrew Briscoe, wdio had seven brothers, 
wdio when grown, dispersed in various directions, some settling in Ohio, 
others locating in Illinois, and others of the family in Indiana. Andrew 
himself settled in Kentucky, and in June, 1817, moved to Howard county, 
Missouri. The following year he settled in Cooper county, Missouri, 
entering there a large tract of 640 acres of free government land. The 
old Briscoe homestead where Charles B. Briscoe was born and reared, 
recently sold at a high price of $137.50 an acre — so great has been the 
advance in value of Cooper county farm lands during the past century. 
Samuel L. Briscoe was reared to young manhood on the primitive farm 
in Cooper county and made his home there until 1877, when he came to 
Bates county and settled on a farm in Walnut township, south of Foster, 
dying here January 12, 1894. His children were as follow: Charles B., 
subject of this review; Susan T. Morris, born July 4, 1859, residing in 
El Dorado, Missouri; William T., born July 22, 1864, lives on a farm 
northwest of Foster; Andrew Eogan, resides on the old home i)lace of 
the family in Walnut township; Mrs. Mary Eugenie, born in 1850, wife 
of Eawrence Eads, living at Arrow Rock, Cooper county, Missouri. Mrs. 
Alpha Ann (Corum) Briscoe, mother of the foregoing children, was born 




CHARLES B. BRISCOE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 429 

in Cooper county, near Palestine, February 3, 1828, and died in Bates 
county, in December, 1909. She was a daughter of Hiram Corum, a 
native of Georgia, who settled near Old Palestine, Cooper county, as 
early as 1815. 

In the early pioneer days of the upbuilding of Cooper county, the 
schools were among the best in the country and, as a rule, were sup- 
ported by private subscription on the part of the pioneers who were 
descended from some of the best families of the South. Well educated 
college men came from the East and the younger sons of the families 
received the benefit of learned instruction from them. Charles B. Briscoe 
attended school and received instruction in both common and higher 
branches from college men who came from the East and Kentucky. 
In his younger days Mr. Briscoe saw roving bands of Indians passing 
his home in Cooper county, and he remembers with glee that "Grand- 
mother" Cole kept a pan of hot suds ready to pour upon prowling 
Indians who had a miserable and thieving habit of taking whatever 
they could lay their hands upon from the homes of the settlers. Mr. 
Briscoe came to Bates county in 1869 and during his first year's resi- 
dence in this county he made his home on a place near the old village 
of New Home while looking after the erection of a shack on his eighty- 
acre tract in Walnut township which he had purchased in 1868 at a cost 
of five dollars an acre. He moved to his present home place in 1870 
and for the past forty-five years has been engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits with considerable success. 

On December 3, 1871, he was married to Miss Lucinda C. Miller, 
born November 29, 1852, on a farm in New Home township, located near 
the village of New Home. She was a daughter of Oliver H. P. and 
Charlotte (Bryants) Miller, natives of Missouri and Kentucky, respec- 
tively. O. H. P. Miller was a soldier in the Confederate army and died 
in 1863 in Springfield prison, where he had been confined following his 
capture by the Federals during the Civil War. Mr. Miller was born in 
Miller county, Missouri, and came to Bates county when a young man. 
A brother of Mrs. Briscoe, Henry Clay Miller, was killed at the battle 
of Lone Jack, while serving with the Confederate forces. Other chil- 
dren of the family were: Rev. William B. Miller, New Home, Missouri; 
Mrs. Emily Jane Perry, deceased ; Mrs. Prudence Elizabeth Woodfin, 
AValnut township; Mrs. Mahala Susan Comer, living near Nevada, Mis- 
souri; Mrs. Josephine Daniel, deceased; John, residing on the old home 
farm in New Home township; and Mrs. Martha Weadon. New Home 



430 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

township. To Charles B. and Lucinda C. Briscoe, have been born the 
following children : Alvin Jeter, lives in Florida ; Charles Barton, born 
April 7, 1874, married October 30, 1895, to Nellie Leona Jones and has 
nine children, Charles Bryan, Fannie Helen, Glenn Francis, Ruby Grace, 
Mabel Leora, Edith Marie, Ernest Hiram, Pauline Mildred, Louis 
Edward; Samuel Perry Briscoe, born January 5, 1876, killed August 22, 
1917, his remains being interred in Foster cemetery; Clara Gertrude, 
wife of Ed Shelton, Kansas City, born October 2, 1877, has five children 
— Arthur Perry, Ernest, Luther, Lottie Marie, Charles James; Tattie 
Grace, wife of Rand Deaton, Foster, Missouri, born December 11, 1878, 
and has two children — Lulu Belle and Harvey; Henry Clay Briscoe, born 
August 30, 1880, lives on a farm four miles northwest of Foster, mar- 
ried Belle Caton, and has two sons, Horace Lee, and Hubert; Margaret 
C. Briscoe died at the age of fifteen years; Robert Ewing Lee Briscoe, 
farmer, Walnut township, born March 22, 1885, married Theresa Lake 
and has three children, Velma Lucille, Frances Laverna, and Katherine 
Marie; Nora Belle, born March 28, 1888, married John Burns, and lives 
at Bisbee, Arizona; Frank Stanley Briscoe, born September 18, 1890, 
lives in New Home township, married Belle Halley. 

Mr. Briscoe is a member of the Baptist church and Mrs. Briscoe 
belongs to the Christian denomination. During his whole life since attain- 
ing voting age, Mr. Briscoe has been allied with the Democratic party 
and served for six years as assessor of Walnut township. He is widely 
and affectionately known throughout the countryside as Uncle Charley 
Briscoe and is highly esteemed as a good and industrious citizen of 
Bates county. 

James S. Cline, proprietor of "Sunny Site Farm," one of the l)est 
improved farms in this section of Missouri, located in Howard township, 
Bates county, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Cline has made an excellent rec- 
ord as a progressive farmer ajid stockman since locating- in this county. 
"Sunny Site Farm" comprises three hundred fifty acres of land devoted 
to stock raising on an extensive scale. Mr. Cline erected in 1911 a beauti- 
ful, modern bungalow, which has seven rooms and is equipped throughout 
for comfort and convenience. He has built a large barn, 32x40 feet in 
size, and eighteen feet to the eaves; erected a silo, 16x40 feet, with a 
capacity of one hundred eighty tons of silage. Mr. Cline feeds from 
forty to fifty head of cattle annually, about two car loads of hogs, and at 
this writing, December, 1917, was feeding several hundred head of sheep. 

J. S. Cline was born in Livingston county, Illinois, April 21, 1874, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 43 1 

a son of George W. and America (Fishburn) Cline, natives of Illinois and 
Pennsylvania, respectively. George W. Cline w^as a son of German par- 
ents. He became a prosperous farmer in Illinois and was owner of a half 
section of valuable land. He died September 10, 1902. Mrs. America 
Cline, mother of the subject of this review, died January 21, 1916. Ten 
children survive them: Mary, died at the age of fourteen years; Charles 
and John, live in Iowa; Frank, lives in Indiana; George, Harry, and 
Eugene, reside in Illinois; Emma, lives in Illinois; Mrs. Ida Marlin, lives 
in Illinois; Mrs. Kate Kent, resides in Kalispel, Montana, and James S., 
of this review. 

After attending the district schools of his native county, Mr. Cline 
began life for himself, when he attained his majority. He worked upon 
his father's home place until the year 1905. He then went to Indiana and 
for a period of five years cultivated a farm in White county. He became 
owner of two hundred acres of land in this county, which land he sold in 
1909 and invested the proceeds in six hundred fifty acres in Howard town- 
ship, Bates county, Missouri. He improved this place and erected a fine 
residence, and in 1911 resold the three hundred twenty acres containing 
the improvements to the former owner of the tract. He then erected 
improvements of a substantial character upon the remaining acreage, lo- 
cated on the south side of the public road. Mr. Cline has made good in 
Missouri and is a splendid farmer and manager. 

Mr. Cline's marriage with Miss Willa M. Borland took place in 1905. 
Mrs. Willa M. (Borland) Cline was born in Essex, Iowa, a daughter of 
William and Mary (Mudgett) Borland, the former of whom is deceased 
and the latter now resides near Chatsworth, Illinois, having married 
Dwight Davis after Mr. Borland's death. Mr. Davis died in October, 
1917. 

During the year 1917, Mr. Cline harvested ninety acres of corn which 
yielded from thirtv to sixty bushels per acre; thirty acres of wheat which 
^nelded an average of fifteen bushels to the acre ; and had sown sixty-five 
acres of wheat for the harvest of 1918. Mr. Cline had a field of sixty acres 
of oats which yielded fifty bushels to the acre. He believes thoroughly 
in the efficacy of fertilization as a means of growing larger crops and has 
put his belief into actual practice on his land with excellent results. He 
raises the Duroc Jersey hogs and Polled Angus cattle, his herd leader 
being a registered Polled Angus bull. 

Politically, Mr. Cline is an independent Republican. He and Mrs. 
Cline are members of the Baptist church and Mr. Cline is affiliated with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 



43- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Isaiah L. Weirick. The A\'eirick stock farm in Howard township, 
Bates county, is a splendidly equipped place for the purpose; in fact, no 
better nor more modern place exists in the county or this section of Mis- 
souri. The farm buildings, in their color tone of white, resemble a small 
village when seen from a distance. Besides the home, Mr. Weirick has 
erected a tenant house on the place. A large barn, one of the largest of 
its kind in the county, was completed in 1917 at a cost of forty-live hun- 
dred dollars, and which is 40x120 feet in extent. The horse barn is 
30x44 feet in size and the buildings are conveniently grouped. The engine 
house, garage, granary, 36x64 feet, with a fourteen foot shed, and other 
necessary buildings all fit into the business-like arrangement. Mr. Weir- 
ick has also erected a large silo, 16x36 feet with a capacity of one hun- 
dred fifty tons of silage. He maintains a dairy herd of grade cows, head- 
ed by a Polled x\ngus bull of the registered thoroughbred type. In De- 
cember, 1917, he was feeding twenty-seven hundred head of sheep for the 
markets. For the past four years, Mr. A\'eirick has been a heavy sheep- 
feeder. He is planning feeding five hundred hogs during 1918 and has 
seven thousand bushels of corn purchased for this purpose. During 1917, 
he raised eightv acres of corn, into which the sheep were turned for the 
purpose of consuming grain and forag'e fodder without waste. 

I. L. Weirick was born September 1. 1871, in Ohio, a son of William 
and Sarah (Beach) Weirick, both of whom were natives of the Buckeye 
State. They removed to Shelby county, Illinois, in 1872 and resided 
there until 1900, when both Mr. I. L. \\'eirick's parents removed to 
Oklahoma, where they now reside. \\'illiam and Sarah \\'eirick are 
the parents of the following children : Mrs. Margaret Wamsley, resides 
in Oklahoma, her parents living with her; ]Mrs. Irene Ehrsman, of 
Nebraska: Minnie, lives in Oklahoma with her parents: James and 
Charles, live in Oklahoma; Mrs. Ora .Gay resides in Oklahoma; and 
Edna, lives in Oklahoma. 

Reared on the home farm in Illinois, and after receiving" his educa- 
tion in the district schools, Mr. \\>irick began for himself upon attaining 
his majority. From 1892 until 1896, he worked upon his father's farm 
and in 1897 accompanied his parents to their new home in Oklahoma. 
However, he returned to Illinois in 1897 and engaged in farming for 
himself. His first farm in Illinois consisted of two hundred acres to 
which he later added eighty acres and also boug"ht twenty-five acres 
adjoining the town of Cowden whereon he made his home. During 
the summer of 1908 he disposed of his Illinois holdings, invested the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 433 

proceeds in Bates county land, and in February, 1909, he moved his 
family to this county, where he soon attained a reputation as being a 
successful stockman and a man of decided business ability. 

Mr. Weirick was married in August, 1899, to Miss Grace Fritts, 
born in Illinois, a daughter of T. J. and Mattie Fritts, the former, a 
native of Indiana and the latter, of Illinois. Two children have been 
born to this union, namely: Fritts Henry, born April 17, 1905, and 
Russell True, born April 23, 1908. In January, 1918, the Weiricks took 
up their residence in Rich Hill. Mr. Weirick is independent in his 
political views and votes as his conscience and good judgment dictate. 
He and Mrs. Weirick are members of the Church of Christ. 

James J. Franklin, — The late James J. Franklin, leading citizen and 
early settler of Howard township. Bates county, Missouri, was a son of 
one of the earliest of Missouri's pioneers. Settling in Bates county in 
1872, at a period when there were very few people living in the south- 
ern part of the county, he became one of the most prominent and active 
citizens of his section of the county. Mr. Franklin was born March 
17, 1833, in Tennessee, a son of Fayette Smith Franklin, a native of 
Amherst county, Virginia, who was a son of John Franklin, who kept 
a tavern in Amherst county. His father was a brother of Benjamin 
Franklin, author of "Poor Richard's Almanac," statesman, and inventor, 
the value of whose services in behalf of his country while the struggle 
for freedom of the American Colonies was going on, can never be 
overestimated. Fayette Smith Franklin moved from Virginia to Ten- 
nessee after his marriage with Mary Ann Tyree, of Virginia. In 1839, 
he migrated to Greene county, Missouri. After a short residence there, 
he moved to Taney county, where he died in 1850. James J. Franklin 
moved to Pettis county, Missouri, in the early sixties and there enlisted 
in the Confederate army, serving throughout the Civil War under the 
Confederate banner until the surrender of Vicksburg by General Pem- 
berton, when he was paroled and returned to his home. From Pettis 
countv, he moved to Bates county in 1872 and settled on a farm located 
north of the present Franklin home, later moving to the farm now owned 
by his widow and which was given to Mrs. Franklin's mother by her 
grandfather Ewing as a part of her inheritance from the Ewing estate. 
•Mrs. Franklin's mother deeded the farm. This farm was raw, unbroken 
land at the time Mr. and Mrs. Franklin began to make it their home. 
The Franklin farm consists of one hundred sixty acres and the resi- 

(28) 



434 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

dence is located in a beautiful grove of maples and evergreen trees, 
presenting an attractive appearance to the traveler. Mr. Franklin died 
April 12, 1915, after a long life spent in useful and honest endeavor. 

James J. Franklin was married December 17, 1867, to Miss Mary 
R. Field, a daughter of \\'illiam H. and Mary (Fwing) Field. I\Iary 
(Field) Franklin was born in 1841, in Henry county, Missouri. Her 
father was born in Virginia in 1814 and died in 1889. He migrated 
to Cooper county, Missouri, during the early thirties with his father 
and was there married to Mary Ewing, after which he made a settle- 
ment in Henry county, where he resided until 1841. when he returned 
to Cooper county. After the close of the Civil War, he settled in Pettis 
county, where he lived until 1872, when he moved to Bates county. 
Both parents of Mrs. Franklin died at her home. Five children were 
born to James J. and Mary Franklin, as follow: Marie Ewing, at 
home with her mother; Eugene, who lives on the home place with his 
mother; Arthur G. and Ernest, of Kansas City, Missouri; and Earl, 
who died at the age of nineteen years. Eugene Franklin, the eldest 
son, was born in 1871 and was married in 1905 to Harriet Shepherd, 
born in Pettis county, a daughter of J. L. Shepherd, a resident of How- 
ard tovviiship. Eugene and Harriet Franklin have three children: Earl 
Bedford, Mary Mildred, and Eugene Lee. Eugene Franklin has served 
two terms as township tax-collector and has served one term of two 
years as township assessor, having been re-elected to the position in 
Alarch, 1917. The office came to him unsolicited and was bestowed 
upon him ])y his fellow-citizens as a token of the liigh esteem in ^vhich 
he is held. He is a Mason and prominent in Howard township. 

In politics, the late James J. Franklin was a Democrat and for years 
was one of the capable leaders of his party in Bates county. He served 
as township assessor of How^ard township and performed the duties 
of the office in a capable manner. He was a member of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian church and was fraternally affiliated with the Ancient 
Free and Accepted Masons. The death of Mr. Franklin marked the 
passing of one of the best-known pioneer settlers of this neighborhood 
and a man who was held in affectionate esteem l)y his neighbors and 
by those who knew him best. His death was sincerely and truly mourned 
by his family and the people of Bates county with whom he was widely- 
acquainted. Mrs. Mary R. Franklin is one of the oldest pioneer women 
of Bates county living at this time, and, in point of years of residence in 
this section of the county, she holds second place. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 435 

Robert J. Sproul, farmer and dairyman, New Home township, was 
born in 1879, in Vermilion county, Illinois, a son of William and Flora 
(Pribble) Sproul, who came to Bates county in 1880 and settled on a 
farm three miles south of the Sproul place in New Home township. 
William Sproul cultivated his farm in New Home township until 1914, 
when he went to Montana and filed upon a government homestead and 
has since proved up on the place. There were seven children in the 
Sproul family, four of whom are living. 

Robert Sproul was educated in the pul)lic schools of Bates county 
and has resided on his present farm of two hundred ninety acres since 
1904. This farm was formerly owned by his wife's father, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Sproul are gradually improving the place, one of the most recent 
of the improvements Ijeing the handsome bungalow. The Sproul 
homestead is located just north of Nyhart, which furnishes a convenient 
shipping point for the farm products. Mr. Sproul maintains a fine herd 
of Jersey milch cows, to the number of twenty, on the place and ships 
the product of his dairy to the creameries. 

Mr. Sproul was married in 1904 to Miss Lettie Daniel and to this 
marriage have been born four children: Max. born June 16, 1905; 
Clare, born August 22, 1908; Zyx, born June 2, 1911; and Bill, l)orn 
December 27, 1914. Airs. Lettie (Daniel) Sproul was born in New 
Home township within a short distance from her present home. She 
is a daughter of AX'illiam and Sarah A. (Winston) Daniel, natives of 
North Carolina. \\'illiam Daniel was born in 1837 and died in Novem- 
ber, 1895. A\4ien Mr. Daniel was a child his father died and the lad 
came to Missouri with his mother in 1848. The family first settled in 
Pettis county and W^illiam Daniel made a settlement in Bates county 
after completing his service in a Missouri Union regiment during the 
Civil War. He came to this county in 1865 and located in New Home 
township, first purchasing a tract of fifty acres which he improved and 
added gradually to his holdings until he became owner of five hundred 
twenty acres in one large tract. Airs. Sarah A. ( Winston ) Daniel was 
born in 1838 in North Carolina and accompanied lier parents to Lafay- 
ette county, Missouri, in the early forties, later settling in Pettis coun- 
ty where her marriage with William Daniel took place. She met her 
death under tragic circumstances while living on the Daniel home place 
with her brother, Jess. She was all alone at the home and was busily 
engaged in raking leaves and tidying up the lawn in the fall of 1906. 
As she piled up the leaves she built a fire in order to consume them and 



436 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

make a clean job. While plying her rake too near the fire of blazing 
leaves and brush, her clothing was ignited and she was burned to death 
while at the pump trying vainly to quench the fiames. 

Mr. Sproul is a Socialist, politically. Mrs. Sproul is a member of 
the Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. Sproul are both intelligent, enter- 
prising, hard-working citizens, who are making a pronounced success 
of their farm and dairy work and have many friends. 

Thomas Henry Tilson, proprietor of "Blue Grass Valley Farm," 
consisting of four hundred fifty-five acres in New Home township, 
and owner of one hundred seventy-six acres of rice land in Liberty county, 
southeastern Texas, is one of the real "old timers" of Bates county, 
having been born on a pioneer farm situated just a half mile north of 
his present home. His sixty-six years in Bates county have been indus- 
triously and profitably spent in accumulating a substantial competence. 
Not content to sit down and rest upon his hard-won laurels and take 
life easy, Mr. Tilson has only recently begun the pioneer life all over 
again in a new and hitherto undeveloped country. On October 3, 1916, 
he entered a homestead in Campbell county, Wyoming, consisting of 
a half section of good farming land. He spent the summer season on this 
tract and has filed upon another half section. 

T. H. Tilson was born December 20, 1851, in New Home township, 
a son of William Stewart Tilson (born in 1815, died January 28, 1858). 
William S. Tilson was a native of Washington county, now Unicoi 
county, Tennessee and came to Bates county in 1838. In September 
of that year he arrived at Balltown in Vernon county, Missouri, and then 
came to Bates county. Upon his pre-emption tract in New Home town- 
ship he built a one-room log cabin with a chimney at the end built of 
sandstone. After Mr. Tilson's death, the roof of the cabin was enlarged 
and extended so as to make covered porches on two sides, one end of 
each porch being boxed in so as to make two additional rooms. This 
cabin stood until 1911. In those early days, deer, wild turkeys and 
prairie chickens were plentiful and the Tilson larder was never empty 
of plenty of good meat. Wm. S. Tilson was married in this county 
to Judith Turner, born in old Virginia, September 30, 1826, a daughter 
of George W. Turner, who came to Bates county from his native state 
in the early thirties and here spent the remainder of his days in farm- 
ing pursuits. Mrs. Tilson died in 1881. During the dark days of the 
Civil War, times were bad, and when Order No. 11 was issued the entire 
family went to Vernon county and resided near Balltown until 1866, 




THOMAS HENRY TILSON. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 437 

when they returned to the home place in Bates county. All of the live 
stock owned by the family had been stolen or run off but one old mare. 
There were not boards enough about the place sufficient to build a pig 
pen. The floors, windows, and doors were gone from the cabin, and 
they were in poor circumstances for some time. There were seven 
children in this pioneer family, as follow : George W., died in October, 
1911; Mary E., deceased; John F., died in 1864; Thomas H., subject of 
this sketch; William Stewart, died in infancy; James Edward and Marion 
Francis, deceased. 

During Thomas H. Tilson's boyhood days, the only school house 
was located four miles distant, and he was enabled to attend but little 
during the winter term of three months, securing in all about thirty-two 
days' schooling in his boyhood. Being strong and willing, he assisted 
in the support of the family for a number of years before he attempted 
to make a start for himself. Before his mother's death he became owner 
of the old homestead by purchasing the several interests of the other 
heirs. His father pre-empted the forty-acre tract upon which his own 
residence is built and he settled upon this farm in 1875. This farm was 
the nucleus around which he has built up his splendid large estate. 
During former years, Mr. Tilson was an extensive feeder of cattle for 
the market, and dealt heavily in mules for a period of seven years. He 
has made considerable money through handling hogs and cattle. 

Flis first marriage took place in 1881 with Mary Ann Floyd, who 
died in 1896, leaving two sons and a daughter, namely: John W., a 
ranchman near Gillette, Campbell county, Wyoming; Mrs. Audrey B. 
McCauley, Washington; Thomas Francis, now in France with General 
Pershing's National Army, a member of Headquarters Company, One 
Hundred Sixty-third United States Infantry Regiment, Forty-first 
Division, which had been stationed at Camp Merritt, New Jersey. Mr. 
Tilson's second marriage occurred on January 11, 1911, with Anna L. 
Thompson, born in Kansas, a daughter of T. C. Thompson, a Union 
veteran, who died in Bates county in 1915. Two children have blessed 
this marriage, Charles Burnett, aged five years, and Opal Lucille, aged 
three years. 

The Democratic party has generally had the allegiance and support 
of Mr. Tilson and he has filled the office of constable of New Home town- 
ship. He is a member of the Christian church and is affiliated with the 
Rich Hill Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. During the 
sixty-six years in which he has lived in Bates county he has seen wonder- 



438 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

fill changes and has done well his part in the development and upbuild- 
ing of this county, besides having the honor and distinction of being 
one of the few remaining pioneers who were among the first to brave 
the loneliness and hardships of the pioneer life on the frontier of civili- 
zation in this county in order to carve a home from the wilderness. 
Too much credit and encomiums can not be given the memory of the 
brave men and women, such as were the parents of Thomas H. Tilson. 
who w'ere in the vanguard of the people who settled and developed Bates 
county and made it habitable for mankind. 

Jesse G. Doolittle, — For a period of over sixty years the name of 
Doolittle has been prominently identified with the agricultural and 
banking interests of Bates county. The family is one of the oldest in 
this section of Missouri and dates from the year 1857 when John 
Doolittle, father of the subject of this review, made a settlement in 
Walnut township. The first progenitor of the family in America came 
across the Atlantic from England in 1620 and settled in Massachu- 
setts. J. G. Doolittle. cashier of the Farmers Bank of Foster, Missouri, 
w^as born May 18, 1887, on a farm in Walnut township. He is a son 
of John and Mary (Campbell) Doolittle, the former, a native of Vermont, 
and the latter, a native of Cass county, Missouri. 

John Doolittle was born in Vermont in 1828, a son of Col. Joel 
Doolittle, a scion of an old New England family. John Doolittle was 
reared to young manhood in his native state and there received a good 
education. He accompanied his father to the Pacific Coast during 
the stirring days of the great gold rush of 1849. He and his father, 
accompanied by others, made the long trip overland by ox-team, which 
trip naturally consumed weeks and months. Time was no object to 
them, however, and they chose the most comfortable way to travel, 
transporting plenty of provisions and seeing the country as they made 
the long journey. On the outward-bound trip, the "Argonauts" went 
by way of St. Louis across Missouri, and then overland to Sacramento. 
This gave them a good opportunity^ to view the country and it is practi- 
cally certain that John Doolittle passed through this part of Missouri 
and was so impressed by the agricultural possibilities lying dormant 
in the undeveloped country that he was influenced later to make a 
permanent settlement in Bates county. He and his father spent six 
years in the gold mines of California, accumulated comfortable for- 
tunes, and then returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama 
and New York City. In 1857, he came to Bates county and settled upon 
a farm located three miles west of Foster in Walnut township. He 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 439 

developed the place into a fine property and increased his holdings as 
the years passed until he owned over eight hundred acres of valuable 
land. He resided on his place until his death in 1900 at the age of 
seventy-two years. Mr. Doolittle was one of the prominent and influen- 
tial citizens of the county. He was widely and favorably known through- 
out this section of Missouri. John and Mary Doolittle were parents of 
the following children: Mrs. Elvira Smith, Cass county, Missouri; Mrs. 
Irene Moore, Kansas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Dora Smith, who died in 
Foster, Missouri; A. A., who is engaged in business in Kansas City; 
Jesse G., subject of this review; T. B., Kansas City, Missouri, Mrs. 
Mary (Campbell) Doolittle, mother of the above-named children, was 
born in 1842, in Cass county, Missouri, a daughter of James and Irene 
(Dickey) Campbell, natives of Virginia, who came to Missouri in 1840 
and made a settlement in Cass county, residing there until 1849, when 
they removed to Bates county and were among the very earliest set- 
tlers of Walnut township. \¥. M. Campbell, one of the founders of the 
Farmers Bank of Foster, a man who was very prominent in Bates county 
affairs for many years, was a brother of Mrs. Doolittle. Mrs. j\Iary 
Doolittle now makes her home in Kansas City. 

The early education of Jesse G. Doolittle, subject of this review, 
was obtained in the public schools of Foster and in the Chillicothe Normal 
College, Chillicothe, Missouri. Following his classical education, he 
pursued a business course in the college at Sedalia, Missouri. After 
completing a practical business education he engaged in farming in AA'al- 
nut township until his acceptance of the position of cashier of the Farmers 
Bank at Foster. He became a director of this bank in 1905. In 1909, he 
became president of the bank and in 1911, he took charge of the bank, as 
cashier. Mr. Doolittle resided on his farm of three hundred twenty 
acres, located west of Foster, until 1912, at which time he took up his 
residence in Foster, from which point he still oversees the work on his 
farm. In addition to his duties as bank cashier, he is secretary and treas- 
urer of the Bates County Bankers' Association. 

The marriage of J. G. Doolittle and Bertha E. Bailey was solemnized 
in 1914. Mrs. Bertha Doolittle is a daughter of the late J. W. Bailey, 
of Walnut township, concerning whom an extended biographical review 
is given elsewdiere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Doolittle have 
one child, Louise, born March 25, 1915. 

Mr. Doolittle is allied with the Republican party and takes an 
interest in local and county politics, doing all that he can to assist 



440 ^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

his party's success at the polls. He and Mrs. Doolittle are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, North. Mr. Doolittle is fraternally 
affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Foster Lodge 
No. 554. Mr. Doolittle is one of Bates county's hustling young citi- 
zens, one of the youngest successful bankers in the state. At the time 
he became president of the Farmers Bank, he was the youngest bank 
president in Missouri and he has given ample evidence of decided busi- 
ness judgment and financial ability of a high order. 

The Farmers Bank of Foster, Missouri, was organized in 1877 and 
is one of the oldest established financial institutions in the county. 
This bank was organized by William E. Walton, president emeritus 
of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, Missouri; W'. M. Campbell, 
the first president ; J. Everingham, now deceased ; Dr. T. C. Boulware ; 
J. P. Edwards; and L. W. Jones, now deceased. F. M. Allen served 
as assistant cashier under William E. Walton for the first year. Judge 
John H. Sullens was the next cashier, followed by W. A. Ephland, who 
was succeeded by W. S. James, who served until J. G. Doolittle took 
charge in 1911. Prior to becoming cashier of the bank, Mr. Doolittle 
served as president, succeeding W. M. Campbell in 1909. 

The capital stock of the Farmers Bank is fifteen thousand dollars; 
surplus fund is six thousand dollars; with total resources of one hun- 
dred twenty thousand dollars at this writing, December, 1917. The 
present officers are as follow: H. A. Rhoades, president; J. G. Doolittle, 
cashier; and H. A. Rhoades, J. G. Doolittle, H. G. Davis, E. E. Laugh- 
lin. Bertha E. Doolittle, directors. 

E. A. Porter. — The one hundred sixty acres of land owned by E. A. 
Porter and located one mite west of Adrian, in Deer Creek township, 
is one of the best improved and finest agricultural plants in this section 
of Bates county or in Missouri. Everything about the place denotes 
thrift and good farm management on the part of the proprietor. When 
Mr. Porter purchased this place, in 1907, it was practically devoid of 
improvements. During his tenure, he has erected a thoroughly modern 
eight-room residence of handsome appearance. He has built a large, 
white barn 50 x 60 feet in size; a hog and cattle barn, 36 x 40 feet in 
dimensions ; a concrete-floored feeding shed for hogs ; and a silo, having 
a capacity of one hundred tons. Mr. Porter feeds generally about one 
hundred head of Poland China hogs and keeps a herd of Red Polled and 
Durham milch cows. Altogether he has spent in excess of eight thou- 
sand dollars upon farm improvements and the unanimous judgment 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 44I 

of persons who observe the Porter farm is that he is thoroughly pro- 
gressive, energetic, intelligent agriculturist. 

E. A. Porter was born in September, 1869, on a farm in Bates 
county, a son of R. I. and Catherine (Pulliam) Porter, the former, 
born in Jefferson county, Missouri, in 1838, and the latter, born in 
Cass county in Februai-y, 1849. The father of R. I. Porter was a Alis- 
souri pioneer who came to this state from Illinois. Catherine (Pulliam) 
Porter was a daughter of Augustus Pulliam, who came to Missouri 
from Kentucky in the early fifties. R. I. Porter was reared to young 
manhood in Jefferson county and during the early sixties he journeyed 
to Montana, where he followed mining in the Western mountains for 
a period of live years or thereabout. In 1866, he located in Bates 
county and settled on a farm eight miles northeast of Adrian in Grand 
River township, where there were both timber and water in abundance. 
He developed this tract into one of the finest farms in Bates county and 
recently sold it for a good price. Mr. and Mrs. R. I. Porter now reside 
in Nevada, Missouri. They have three children: Edward A., subject 
of this review; Dr. E. M., of Great Falls, Montana, one of the most 
famous surgeons of the Western country; and Miss Eva, who lives with 
her parents at Nevada. 

Edward A. Porter was educated in the district school near his 
father's home and afterward attended Butler Academy, following which 
he studied at the ^^'arrensburg Normal College. He cultivated the 
home place until he was tw^enty-one years old and, after his marriage, 
he settled on a farm one mile southwest of Altona. He first pur- 
chased eighty acres of land which he improved and to which he suc- 
cessively added two "eighties." He ultimately owned two hundred forty 
acres of land, wdiich is rated among the best farms in the county. Mr. 
Porter sold this farm at a considerable profit in 1907 and invested the 
proceeds in his present home farm. 

Mr. Porter was married in February, 1890, to Miss Mary Cantrell, 
who was born in Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of Stephen and 
Lillian (McClure) Cantrell, natives of Georgia, who came to Bates 
county in 1868 and resided here until death claimed them. Three 
children have been born to Edward A. and Mary Porter, as follow: 
Cora, wife of Virgil S. Proctor, living in Montana ; Lola, wife of Frank 
Mathers, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Adrian; and 
Alma, at home with her parents. 

The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Porter 



442 HISTORY OF RATES COUNTY 

and he lias al\\a\s ])ocn more or less interested in the alTairs of his 
partN'. h'or a period of ten }ears he tilled the olViee of assessor of 
Grand River township. He and Mrs. Porter are niend)ers of the Metho- 
dist ['Episcopal chureh. Mr. Porter is fraternally alViliated with the 
Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd h'ellows, 
and the l*-ncam[)ment. 

William H. Patchin. — Durinj;- the forty years in which William 
H. Patchin, snhstantial farmer and stockman of West l')Ot)ne townshi[). 
has resided in Pates count}-, he has won a place for himself as a success- 
ful farmer and business man excelled by no citizen of the county, who 
has sta\ed close to the mother earth in the elTort to secure a lixelihood 
and competence. h'rom a modest hes^innino- in his youns;" manhocKl. 
durins;- the strenuous days of the i;reat rush for free homesteads in 
Oklahoma in 18<S'), in which he was a successful participant, he has suc- 
cessfulh' built uj) his holdiui^s until he is owner of li\e lumdred sixty 
acres of splendid farm land in West P)Oone townshii). Three hundred 
twent^' acres of rich prairie land comprise the home farm upt)n which 
Mr. Patchin erected a modern eis;ht-room farm residence in P)10. The 
residence is lighted and heated with natural gas flowing from a well, 
drilled in 1911 to a depth of one hundred ninety-eight feet on the place. 
Mr. Patchin is an extensive stockman and large feeder of cattle of 
which he feeds from one t(^ two carloads annuallw lie also feeds from 
one to two carloads of hogs each year. Mr. Patchin has all the grain 
grcnvn on the farm fed to his livestock and the grain ration is supple- 
mented \n' a balanced ration of cottonseed meal autl oil meals, lie 
has made a thorough stud\- of lixestock production and attributes his 
success as a stockman to careful and obserxant feeding. W. 11. Patchin 
was born April 20. 1865. in Hancock county, Illinois, a son of lliram and 
Susan ( Power) Patchin, natives of New York and \'irginia, respectively. 

lliram Patchin was born in 1816 and died in 1881. His birth and 
earh' upbringing were in New York state, wdience he migrated to Illi- 
nois in 1841. He was a son of Abijah Patchin. of an old American 
family. Pliram Patchin was married in Illinois to Susan Powell, who 
was born in N'irgiuia in 1828, runl died in P)ates county in 1893. He 
l)uilt up a good farm of one hundred sixty acres in Hancock county, 
Illinois, and resided there until 1877. when he came to Rates county and 
])urchased a farm in West Boone township just to the west of the 
present home of his son. ^\'illiam 11. He reared a family of four chil- 



HISTORY OF 15ATES COUNTY 443 

drcn: Harvey, deceased; Mary Jane, deceased; Mrs. Alice Akins, living- 
near Gentry, Arkansas; and William H., this subject. 

William H. Patchin was eleven years of age when he came with 
his parents to Bates county. His schooling was practically completed 
before coming here, due to the fact that schools were very few and 
poor in Bates county in that early period of its history. With a deter- 
mination to secure a farm for himself, he joined the rush of homestead- 
ers in 1889, when the territory of Oklahoma was tin-own open for set- 
tlement, and secured a line (juarter section of land. He developed and 
improved his homestead and resided there until 1894. He then sold 
out and returned to his old home county, purchasing one hundred acres 
of farm land adjoining the towm of Merwin. He increased his hold- 
ino-s to two hundred acres, wdiich he sold in 1909, and moved to his 
present location, where he made an initial purchase of eighty acres; 
He has simply added one tract after another to this small nucleus 
until he has one of the large stock farms of the county. 

Mr. Patchin resided in lUitler from September 1, 1913, to March 
27, 1914, in order to give his children the advantage of a high school 
education. Whije a citiz-en of Butler, he became widely acquainted in 
the city and made many warm friends, l)ecoming associated with the 
Walton Trust Company and the Denton-Coleman Trust Company, as 
a stockholder. 

Mr. Patchin was married February 5, 1890, to Miss Bessie Winn, 
who was born in Johnson county, Missouri, August 13, 1870, a daughter 
of A. C. and Louisa Frances Winn, natives of Orange county. New 
York, and Greene county, Illinois, respectively. Her parents removed 
from Indiana to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1865, and came to Bates 
county from Johnson in the fall of 1872, settling in West Boone town- 
ship. Mrs. Winn is deceased and Mr. Winn resides with his daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Lucinda May Baker, in West Point township. He is eighty- 
one years of age. To William H. and Bessie Patchin have been born 
children, as follow: Elmer, born May 12, 1894, a graduate of the 
Mechanical Engineering School of Kansas City, studied four years in 
the Butler High School and now in the employ of the Federal Govern- 
ment at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; Lawrence, born December 16. 
1897, a graduate of the Butler High School and now a student in the 
Kansas City Business College; and Carl Henry, born March 27, 1913. 

Politically, Mr. Patchin is allied with the Republican ])arty. He 



444 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

is essentially a home man, one who finds his time taken up with his 
extensive agricultural affairs and his family. He and Mrs. Patchin are 
held in high esteem by their many friends in Bates county, and are 
numbered among the county's leaders. 

William C. Foster, one of the leading livestock producers of Bates 
county, proprietor of "Fair Acres," a splendid country estate situated in 
the southern part of Walnut township, near Hume, Missouri, has achieved 
a success in the agricultural and livestock fields which is remarkable, 
in view of the fact that his beginning in Bates county forty years ago 
and more was a modest one, and made without capital. Mr. Foster has 
accumulated a very large acreage during these years, his home estate 
comprising 378 acres of rich prairie land, in addition to another farm 
of 105 acres in Walnut township, and a recent purchase of a tract of 
154 acres in Howard township. His first investment in land was in an 
eighty-acre tract bought in 1879 at a cost of six dollars an acre. He 
later paid sixty dollars an acre for one hundred five acres. Mr. 
Foster has a large, comfortable farm residence, and two large barns on 
his place. He is an extensive feeder of cattle and has at the present 
writing (January, 1918) one hundred thirty head of cattle. He feeds 
and sells from one hundred to one hundred fifty head of cattle 
annually ; and about one hundred head of hogs. 

W. C. Foster was born July 25, 1846, in England, and was a son of 
George and Martha Foster, wdio emigrated from their native land in 1851 
and made a permanent settlement in Illinois, where both lived the 
remainder of their days and died. W. C. Foster remained in Illinois 
until 1872, and then came westward to Pettis county, Missouri. He 
rented land in Pettis county for five years, after which, in 1877 he came 
to Bates county. After tilling rented ground until 1879 he bought his 
first eighty-acre farm on time payments. His subsequent successful 
career is an epitome of industry, untiring energy, and excellent financial 
management on his part. If Mr. Foster were asked to tell how he had 
managed to build up his large estate and explain how he had become 
one of the wealthy men of Bates county, his answer would undoubtedly 
be, "Hard work, good management, and always stay on the job." 

Mr. Foster was married March 27, 1870, to Amanda Smith, born 
August 14, 1840. in Columbiana county, Ohio, a daughter of Michael 
and Rebecca Smith. Mrs. Foster's parents died in Ohio and she came 
to Illinois in 1868. The following children have been born to William 
C. and Amanda Foster; William C, a farmer and stockman living in 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 445 

Howard township; Mrs. Mattie, wife of U. G. Goodenough, living- on 
the Foster home place, has six children: Marie, William, Charles, Alvin, 
Ada, and Esther; Mollie, wife of J. E. Lee, a farmer of Walnut township; 
Stella, wife of Edward Graves, Walnut township. 

Mr. Foster is a pronounced Democrat and a member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church. He is affiliated fraternally with the Ancient Free 
and Accepted Masons of Hume, Missouri. In addition to his farming 
interests, Mr. Foster is president of the Commercial Bank of Hume, a 
thriving and well patronized financial institution. He is one of the most 
popular and most highly respected citizens of his locality, whose honesty 
and integrity of purpose are proverbial and whose word in a business 
transaction is considered inviolable. 

Niels Peterson, of West Point township, is one of the most suc- 
cessful farmers of his day and generation. Beginning in this countv 
as a poor man in 1900, he made his first investment in a farm, buying 
on time. His first year was a bad one, 1901, being a dry year during 
which he raised practically no crops whatever. The year before he 
made his purchase he paid five hundred dollars cash rent for a place 
but did not earn his rent. He decided wisely that it was much cheaper 
to pay interest than to pay rent for land, especially when it seemed so 
difficult to raise anything at all. Things began soon to go his way, 
and he has prospered from year to year. Mr. Peterson is now owner 
of one hundred thirty-five and a half acres of excellent land, a farm 
which is kept in a high state of cultivation by methods which only citi- 
zens from that far-away land of Denmark, where he was born, instinct- 
ively know how to apply. 

Niels Peterson was born in the little kingdom of Denmark, Sep- 
tember 14, 1850, a son of Peter Larson and Helen Ludwig, both natives 
of Denmark, who lived all their days in the land of their birth. On 
March 14, 1873, Mr. Peterson left the land of his birth to seek his 
fortune in America, arriving in New York City, April 9, 1873, a poor, 
immigrant lad, who found it necessary to at once obtain employment 
or starve. In this country, however, there is always work for the will- 
ing and able, and he soon obtained employment as a laborer in the 
great city and he remained there for seven years. 

Coming of a hardy race to whom economy is both a necessity and 
a virtue, he saved money sufficient to invest in a farm in Cloud county, 
Kansas, but suffered the misfortune of being defrauded out of his title 
by the shrewd and unscrupulous individual with whom he made the 



446 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

trade. He remained in Kansas for six years, saved another stake, and 
then located in Ottawa county, Kansas, where he remained for twelve 
years without appreciably increasing his fortunes. All the while, how- 
ever, his wonderful cheerfulness and optimism upheld him and he 
eventually got together enough funds to make another start. He came 
to Bates county in the fall of 1900 and after one season's experience 
in paying cash rent for his land he again bought a farm. During the 
past year of 1917, Mr. Peterson had planted twenty-five acres of corn 
which yielded the splendid crop of fifty bushels to the acre. Some of 
the acreage yielded as high as sixty bushels to the acre. From six acres 
of corn planted for silage he filled his sixty-ton silo and provided feed 
for his fine herd of Hereford cattle. Where others have failed with 
the use of a silo, Mr. Peterson has solved the problem of perfect silage 
during the winter months. He planted his corn, intended for silage, 
on June 20, 1917, and harvested the crop when the stalks were still 
full of moisture, thus avoiding the necessity of using artificial methods 
of giving moisture to the silage by watering, practiced with indifferent 
success by others. The silage is allowed to settle of its own weight 
and when taken from the silo for feeding purposes it is still sweet and 
savory, full of natural juices and makes ideal provender for livestock. 

]\Ir. Peterson is certain that he has discovered the proper way to 
put up silage and, besides being the first man in his neighborhood to 
erect a silo, he is the first in his section to properly fill the silo. There 
is absolutely no waste with his methods of feeding, as the livestock eat 
every shred and scrap of the forage. He has a fine herd of thorough- 
bred Herefords, including eleven cows and as many calves, all in first- 
class condition. In 1908, ^Ir. Peterson erected a large barn, painted 
red, with concrete floors, thirty-four feet wide, twenty-nine feet high, 
with a tw^elve-foot shed on each side, one of the best barns in the neigh- 
borhood. 

Mr. Peterson was married in Rochester, New York state, Septem- 
ber 14, 1880, to Miss Jane Watson, who was born in 1863, in Penfield 
near the city of Rochester, New York, Monroe county, a daughter of 
Edward Marshall and Catherine (Eagan) Watson, the former a native 
of Cambridgeshire, England, and the latter of Brooklyn, New York. 
A\'hen seventeen years of age, Mrs. Peterson left home and came West 
with her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have no living children. Air. 
Peterson is a Republican. He is a member of the Catholic church. 

John J. Houtz, extensive farmer and livestock breeder of West 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 447 

Boone township, a native of Illinois, is one of the recent additions to 
the progressive citizenship of Bates county, a man wdio is doing his 
full share in bringing the agricultural interests of this county to the 
front. Progressive, enterprising and aggressive in his methods, he has 
achieved a remarkable success in his vocation during the fifteen ye^irs 
of his residence in this county. Mr. Houtz was born in Woodford 
county, Illinois, October 26, 1873, a son of John C. and Sarah J. (Garst) 
Houtz, natives of Virginia. During the Civil War, John C. Houtz 
served in the Home Guards of his native State. George and James P. 
Houtz, his brothers, served in the Confederate army during the Civil 
War. In 1865, John C. Houtz located in Woodford county, Illinois, 
where he built up a splendid farm of two hundred sixty acres of very 
rich and valuable land. He died in Illinois, in February, 1895, aged 
sixty-six }'ears. The mother of John J. Houtz departed this life in 
1889, aged fifty-three years. There were ten children in the Houtz 
family, six of wdiom are living; John J., subject of this review; Henry 
A., Edward L., Frank I., and Mrs. Lulu B. Harris, reside in Boone 
county, Nebraska; Mrs. Etha L. McMullen, who lives in Salt Lake City. 
John J. Houtz was reared in Woodford county, Illinois. He began 
farming on his own account when twenty-one years old. He purchased 
eighty acres of rich Illinois land and owned the farm until 1902, at 
which time he sold out and came to Bates county where he first invested 
in a quarter section of land. Some time later, he added another quarter 
to this tract and farmed a half section of land. Fire destroyed the 
buildings on this place and he erected what were considered the finest 
improvements on the countryside. In fact, Mr. Houtz has found it a 
profitable business to take hold of a rundown farm, place better im- 
provements upon it, bring l)ack the soil to a l)etter state of cultivation, 
and then dispose of the farm at a profit. He has handled, during the 
course of his residence in this county, over two thousand acres of land. 
He is at present owner of seven hundred twenty acres of land in the 
vicinity of Merwin and has one of the best improved farms in the north- 
west part of Bates county. Lipon his large acreage there are four 
sets of farm improvements and his home place near Merwin comprises 
a half section, upon which he erected a handsome residence and barns 
in 1916. He maintains a herd of one hundred pure-bred, registered Here- 
ford cattle on his farms and is a breeder of Poland China hogs. Mr. 
Houtz specializes in the breeding of Percheron horses and mules, own- 
ing a fine blooded Percheron stallion, registered as "Brown Richard," 



448 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

t 

and he keeps two jacks in his barns. He is thoroughly versed in the 
science of Hvestock raising and is ever ready to give his neighbors 
assistance and advice in the proper care of their stock. 

Mr. Houtz was married November 28, 1895, to Miss Sarah Jeter, 
who was born in Woodford county, Ilhnois, daughter of James H. and 
Mary (Peterson) Jeter, natives of Virginia and New Jersey, respective- 
ly. James H. Jeter settled in Illinois wnth his parents and resided there 
until his death, which occurred in June, 1916, at the age of seventy- 
five years. Mr. Jeter died at Raymore, Missouri, the family having 
removed to this state in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Houtz have four children: 
Pauline, a graduate of the Raymore High School, taught school for 
three years and was a student of the Warrensburg Normal College; 
Pearl, a high school graduate and student of the Warrensburg Normal; 
Edith, attending the Merwin High School; and Gale. 

After four years' residence in Merwin, the Houtz family took up 
their residence on the present home place in October, 1916. The Houtz 
farm is one of the best equipped in this part of Bates county and the 
land is underlaid with natural gas. Mr. Houtz is independent in his 
political views. He is a member of the Christian church. He is frater- 
nally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Court 
of Honor. 

David Clayton Wolfe, a late prominent citizen of Charlotte town- 
ship, an early settler of this county, was one of the most advanced and 
progressive farmers in this section of Missouri. Self-educated, a great 
reader, a religious worker, gifted mentally beyond the attainments of 
ordinary men, he was a visionary to the extent that he frequently advo- 
cated measures for the lasting benefit of the people, which measures 
were in advance of the thought of his time. To Mr. Wolfe belonged 
the credit of originating the system of road dragging which is now in 
use along the main highways of this county. He was the first man to 
drag the roads in the vicinity of his farm in Bates county and he started 
the campaign for road dragging and a better system of roads in Bates 
county, when the greater part of the citizenship was opposed to such 
a procedure. He was a stanch advocate of prohibition and had he lived 
to the present day would have been gratified at the steps and measures 
that have been taken to insure national prohibition in the United States. 
David Clayton W^olfe was born September 23, 1864, and died February 
10, 1917. His place of birth was in Dallas county, Iowa, and he was a 
son of Charles W. and Mary Josephine (Young) W^olfe, natives of 
Ohio. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 449 

Charles W. Wolfe, his father, was born in Athens county, Ohio, in 
1842, a son of Jacob and Sarah (Brunson) Wolfe, the former a native 
of Athens county and the latter, a native of Bedford county, Pennsyl- 
vania, but reared in Ohio. 

C. W. Wolfe was reared and educated in the county of his birth, 
and in 1861 he enlisted in the Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, and served 
for five months. He then went to Dallas county, Iowa, and farmed 
and taught school until September, 1864, when he enlisted in Company 
"K," Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He saw active service in Georgia, Mis- 
sissippi, and was with Sherman on his famous march to the sea. Mr. 
Wolfe was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 24, 1865, and 
discharged at Davenport, Iowa, in August, 1865. He then returned 
home. Mr. Wolfe was married July 10, 1862, to Mary Josephine Young, 
who was born in Athens county in 1844, daughter of John and Mary 
(Higgins) Young. In 1870, Mr. Wolfe came to Bates county and lo- 
cated in Homer township, wdiere he resided for two years and then 
purchased a tract of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township, 
which he improved. There were five children born to Charles W. and 
Mary Wolfe: James Irvin, David C, Julia E., Jacob V. and Bertha. 
Mr. Wolfe resides in Butler. 

David Clayton Wolfe was reared to young manhood at the Wolfe 
homestead, located two and a half miles southwest of Virginia in 
Charlotte township. He lived practically all his days in this locality, 
excepting a short time spent in Colorado. He was married February 22, 
1888, to Miss Telia May Park, and eight children were born of this 
marriage: W. J., living at Blue Mound, Kansas; Warren D., in real estate 
investment and loan business, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Bonnie 
Darnes, who formerly taught school in this county, and now lives at 
Attica, Kansas; Mrs. Bessie Hardinger, Charlotte township; Joe Clay- 
ton, Burdee Marie, George and Charles, twins, at home. (Three grand- 
children have been born: Willard Wolfe Hardinger, deceased; George 
Robert Darnes, and Telia Virginia Darnes.) The mother of the chil- 
dren was born October 25, 1866, in Crawford county, Ohio, a daughter 
of George Washington and Susan (Quaintance) Park, natives of Ohio, 
who came to Missouri in 1876 and settled on a farm in Charlotte town- 
ship. Bates county. G. AV. Park resided here until his death in 1906, 
becoming an honored and highly respected citizen of the county, hav- 
ing been the pioneer advocate of prohibition in Bates county. Mrs. 
Park is still living at the age of eighty-six years. 

(29) 



450 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

At the time of his marriage, David Clayton Wolfe purchased eighty 
acres of land one-half mile east of Virginia. The first home was a small 
two-room house of one and a half stories, and he also erected a barn. 
The first small house served as his home for some time and he later 
erected the present beautiful home of the family, which is one of the 
most attractive and best-kept places in Bates county. A beautiful 
grove of shade trees fronts the highway, all of which were planted by 
Mr. Wolfe. He increased his acreage gradually until, at the time of 
his death, he and Mrs. Wolfe owned a total of three hundred well- 
improved acres. Politically, Mr. Wolfe was allied with the Democratic 
party. He belonged to the Christian church, of which he served as elder 
for a number of years. He was a candidate for state representative 
on the Democratic ticket in 1912 and made the race for the office upon 
a pronounced advanced platform which he enunciated with clearness 
and decisiveness during the campaign. His platform as published in 
the newspapers at that time called for the enactment of: *'A law limit- 
ing the owners of land to possession of 640 acres in each county; a 
law changing the time of tax assessments from June to March of each 
year; a system that will solve the question of roads." 

He was the pioneer in the good roads movement in Bates county, 
although his first efforts to have the county authorities undertake the 
grading of highways met with bitter and determined opposition. The 
first graded and dragged roads in the county were those which bor- 
dered upon his land. He dragged these roads with a "King Road 
Dragger" for years without pay, and lived to see the authorities make 
a fair start upon a system of better roads throughout the county. He 
was a Good Templar and was a strong advocate of national prohibition. 
He was also a firm adherent to the cause of "woman suffrage" and, had 
he lived to the present, his hopes regarding national prohibition and 
woman's suffrage would have been gratified. Mr. Wolfe was a con- 
stant reader who kept abreast and even ahead of his own time. He 
was a deep thinker and, endowed with literary ability, he was enabled 
to express his thoughts in poetic vein on many occasions. He was a 
"man worth while" in the community and his loss to the county was 
deeply mourned by his many friends and acquaintances. His influence 
among his fellow-citizens was always for good, he was never known to 
sanction evil in any form, a Christian in name, he endeavored to live a 
Christian life, and he bequeathed a respected and honored name to his 
children who will always revere his memory because of his upright- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 45 1 

ness, his kindness, his broadness of vision, and his integrity of purpose. 

Edgar D. Waller, successful farmer, livestock and grain dealer, 
New Home township, Bates county, Missouri, while his grain and live- 
stock business office is maintained at Foster, is one of the "live wires" in 
the livestock and business world of Bates county. Since he began for 
himself upon a rented farm seventeen years ago, he has accumulated 
three farms totaling eight hundred acres located in New Home town- 
ship. Since 1902, he has been engaged in the grain and livestock busi- 
ness with headquarters at Foster. Mr. Waller was born on a farm in 
Walnut township, Bates county, in 1879, a son of George and Eveline 
(DeMott) Waller, natives of Illinois, where they were reared and mar- 
ried. George Waller removed to Bates county, Missouri, in 1870 and 
made his home here until his removal to Madison, Kansas, in 1901. 
Mrs. Eveline Waller died in 1883. George and Eveline Waller were 
parents of three children: Harvey, deceased; Edgar D., subject of this 
review, and Walter, Kansas City, Missouri, • 

E. D. Waller was educated in the Foster public schools and began 
farming on his own account in New Home township. His first purchase 
of land was for a quarter section in 1900 at a cost of twenty dollars per 
acre, which was bought on time. The place was but poorly improved 
with an old shack, but Mr. Waller soon replaced this with a good 
dwelling and other buildings. He lived on this place for two years, 
then sold it and went to Madison, Kansas, where he purchased a farm 
and remained but one year. Selling out, he returned to Missouri, where 
he rented the farm owned by I. H. Botkin, his father-in-law. He pros- 
pered in this venture, and, in 1906, bought a farm consisting of one 
hundred twenty acres, adjoining the Botkin place; added fifty acres in 
1907; bought eighty acres more in 1915; and, in 1917, he purchased a 
large tract of five hundred sixty acres, making a total of eight hundred 
ten acres which he now owns and manages. Mr. Waller feeds over 
one hundred head of cattle annually for the markets and employs from 
three to twelve men in the conduct of his farming operations. During 
1917, he harvested three hundred acres of corn which yielded forty 
bushels to the acre ; one hundred fifty acres of wheat which averaged 
seventeen bushels to the acre, and eighty acres of oats, which gave a 
yield of forty-five bushels to the acre. For the wheat harvest this year 
(1918) he has sown three hundred acres. 

Mr, Waller was married in 1900 to Miss Ina Botkin, a daughter of 
Isaac H, Botkin, an aged and highly respected pioneer resident of Fos- 



452 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ter, concerning whose career an extensive biography is given in this 
volume. From October, 1916, to February, 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Waller 
made their residence in Rich Hill, Missouri. Mr. Waller is a Democrat 
in politics, but his whole time and energy are devoted to his extensive 
farming and business interests. His success is, without doubt, the most 
striking of that accomplished by members of the younger generation 
in Bates county. 

Warren Littlefield. — The late Warren Littlefield, of New Home 
township, Union veteran, and successful farmer, was favorably known in 
Bates county. He was an industrious and enterprising citizen who 
was held in high esteem by all who knew him in this county, and his 
influence was ever felt on the side of good deeds and worthy move- 
ments. He was born August 11, 1834, and died January 25, 1906. Mr. 
Littlefield was a native of Pennsylvania, and a son of George and Mary 
(Miller) Littlefield, natives of Pennsylvania, who removed to Brown 
county, Illinois, in 1840. In this county, under pioneer conditions, War- 
ren Littlefield was reared to young manhood, and upon the outbreak 
of the Civil War he enlisted on September 17, 1861, in Company C, 
Third Missouri Cavalry Regiment, and saw over three years of hard 
service in the southwest. He fought in many battles and skirmishes 
and was honorably discharged from the service November 26, 1864. 
He was married in 1866 and he and his young wife made their start 
in life on eighty acres of land which had been given to them by Mrs. 
Littlefield's father. This tract they sold and in 1881 purchased one 
hundred twenty acres of land in New Home township, Bates county, 
Missouri, upon which Mr. Littlefield erected substantial improvements. 
To this farm they later added forty acres more from the old Sam 
McCowan place. The Littlefield farm is one of the best in Bates county 
and from year to year has yielded its owners excellent crops. Under 
Mr. Littlefield's wise management the farm prospered and he accumu- 
lated sufiicient of this world's goods in the form of money and property 
to maintain him and his devoted wife in comfort the remainder of their 
days. His death in 1906 was a sad loss to his family and the commun- 
ity in which he had long been held in high respect. 

On July 4, 1866, in Illinois, the marriage of Warren Littlefield and 
Margaret Ellen Tyson was solemnized. This marriage was blessed 
with the following children: Mrs. Augusta Vanatta, living in Iowa; 
Mrs. Eva Gray, residing near Lorimer, Iowa; Mrs. Ella Barnard, Mon- 
tana; Minnie, wife of George Kelly, New Home township; Frank, at 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 453 

home with his mother and managing the home place; Harry, owner 
of the old Shannon farm in New Home township ; Bertha died at the 
age of twenty-four years; Alice died in infancy, Mrs. Margaret Ellen 
Littlefield, nee Tyson, was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, March 
5, 1847, a daughter of George Tyson, one of the pioneers of Schuyler 
county, Illinois. George Tyson was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, 
in 1807, a son of Zephaniah Tyson, who was born in Virginia in 1771, 
who enlisted in the Indian Wars in 1790 and fought under General 
Wayne. He also fought in the War of 1812 under General Harrison. 
He married Margaret De Long, and in 1830 he moved to Illinois, dying 
there in 1849 at the age of seventy-eight years. George Tyson went 
to Cincinnati, Ohio, when a young man and worked on a flat boat, 
engaged in trading on the Ohio river for some time. He married Lucinda 
Bellamy of Culpepper county, Virginia, then sold his flat boat and went 
overland to Schuyler county, Illinois, wdiere he accumulated 480 acres 
of land and became wealthy. He owned a saw-mill and a grist-mill 
which he operated with profit. In 1866 he went west and disappeared, 
his death probably coming at the hands of savage Indians. He also 
owned a half section of land in Henry county, Missouri. Mrs. Tyson died 
September 10, 1876. They were parents of the following sons and 
daughters: Robert, deceased; Alfred, deceased, served in Second Illi- 
nois Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War; William, deceased, served 
in the One Hundred Fifteenth Illinois Infantry Regiment ; Levi 
lives near Abilene, Kansas ; Mrs. Caroline Kirkham, Mt. Sterling, Illi- 
nois; Mrs. Melissa Johnson, deceased; Mrs. Angeline Dimmick, deceased, 
whose husband was a Union veteran. Mrs. Warren Littlefield makes her 
home on the old family farmstead and is an intelligent, right-thinking 
woman who holds dear the memory of her late husband and keeps 
abreast of the times, being proud of the fact she and Mr. Littlefield are 
numbered among the early settlers of Bates county. 

Mr. Littlefield was a stanch Republican, who, while he never sought 
political preferment, often attended political gatherings and delighted 
in hearing the issues of the day discussed and in discussing them among 
his friends and associates. He was a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church which is also the church attended by Mrs. Littlefield. He 
was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a very religious 
individual, a sterling, upright, moral citizen who loved his home life, 
and was good and kind to the members of his family. Mr. and Mrs. 
Littlefield are deserving of a place of honor in the annals of the county 
which they have assisted so ably in creating. 



454 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Joseph T. Smithy ex-sheriff of Bates county, member of one of the 
honored pioneer famihes of Missouri, proprietor of one of the best im- 
proved farmsteads in western Missouri, located in Walnut township, 
near Foster, was born in Clay county, Missouri, July 23, 1854. His 
parents were William S. and Mary M. (Birkhead) Smith, natives of 
Kentucky. 

William S. Smith immigrated to Missouri in the early forties with 
his parents when he was but a youth, and became one of the famous 
"forty-niners," making the long overland trip to the newly discovered 
California gold fields in 1849. He crossed the plains via the ox-team 
route in company with other adventurous spirits and remained for two 
years in the gold country, returning home by the sea route with a small 
fortune in gold. After his return in 1851, he was married in Lincoln 
county, Missouri, to Mary N. Birkhead and then moved to a farm in 
Clay county. In 1855 he came to Bates county, and first settled near 
Papinsville, then the county seat. When the decision was made to lo- 
cate the county capital at Butler in 1856, he went there and erected the 
first store building. He later traded his stock of goods and store build- 
ing for a tract of land located one mile west of Butler, engaged in 
farming, and died in 1862. He left a widow and the following children 
to mourn their loss: Margaret, deceased; Mrs. Sarah Ann Spicer, Clay 
county, Missouri; Alice Ruth, deceased; Joseph T., subject of this 
sketch; Reuben B., James N., William W., deceased, and two children 
died in infancy. 

Joseph T. Smith was reared in Butler and upon the family farm 
west of the city and the family resided there until Order No. 11 was 
issued in 1863, after which they went to Lincoln county, Missouri, and 
resided with Mrs. Smith's people until 1868. They then returned to the 
farm in Bates county and set about rebuilding and repairing the dam- 
age which had been done during the war. Mr. Smith lived upon the 
home place for ten years, assisting his mother in supporting the family. 
In 1878, he moved to Butler and for thirteen years was engaged in the 
livery business. In 1880, he went to Colorado, and remained in the 
western mountain country from the spring of that year until 1883, when 
he returned to Butler and again entered the livery business. In 1885, 
he made a visiting trip to Nebraska points and remained in that state 
until 1888, when he returned home. He received the appointment of 
deputy sheriff of the county soon after his return and served for four 
years. He then engaged in the livestock business, entered politics and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 455 

was elected sheriff of Bates county in 1899, taking up the duties of 
his ofBce on January 1, 1900. He served two terms of two years eacli 
as sheriff, and the concensus of opinion is that Mr. Smith made the best 
sheriff Bates county had had up to that time. During his term of office, 
the hanging of James B. Gartrell for the murder of D. B. Donnekin in 
the western part of Bates county, took place. Following his term in 
office, Mr. Smith bought a farm one mile east of Butler upon which he 
and his family resided until 1909. He then disposed of his farm and 
lived in the city of Butler until purchasing his present home farm in 
Walnut township in March, 1912. 

The Smith farm is beautifully located in a fertile valley just south- 
west of the town of Foster and is considered the best improved tract in 
Walnut township. The farm consists of two hundred acres of rich bot- 
tom land and is devoted to the raising of cattle, hogs and horses. Mr. 
Smith prefers the Shorthorn breed of cattle. 

On November 8, 1882, Joseph T. Smith and Nora May Porter were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Nora May Smith was born at Ottawa, Illi- 
nois, in 1867, and is a daughter of Samuel B. and Mary E. (Burwell) 
Porter, natives of Ohio, who first located in Illinois, then went to Min- 
nesota, from there to Iowa, thence to Colorado, resided in Nebraska 
and Iowa and from there went to Montana, finally making their home 
with Mr. and Mrs. Smith when old age came upon them. Her father 
died in Butler in 1911, her mother following him in death two years later 
in 1913. The parents of Mrs. Smith were descended from Pennsyl- 
vania ancestry, her mother, Mary E. (Burwell) Porter, a daughter of 
Samuel and Celia (McKinley) Burwell, the latter a sister of President 
William McKinley's father. 

The Democratic party has always had the firm allegiance and sup- 
port of Mr. Smith and he and Mrs. Smith are members of the Christ- 
ian church. He is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of 
America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Free 
and Accepted Masons. He is one of the most popular and best-known 
. pioneer citizens of Bates county and enjoys a wide and favorable ac- 
quaintance in the county. 

Frank Ray Swarens, grain dealer and sucessful farmer of New 
Home township, whose place of business is at Foster, Missouri, was 
born June 10, 1865, in Menard county, Illinois. His father was John 
Swarens, born in 1837. and died in 1899, a native of Woodford county, 
Illinois, and of German ancestry. He, John Swarens, was left an orphan 



456 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

at the early age of eleven years and was reared in the home of a mar- 
ried sister. When he reached mature age, he married Miss Anna Ray, 
who was born in 1843 in Sangamon county, Illinois, a daughter of Sam- 
uel Ray, who moved from his home state of Kentucky to Illinois, in an 
early day. She died in 1908. In 1867, John Swarens moved from Men- 
ard county to Sangamon county, Illinois, and resided there until he 
came to Bates county, the entire family arriving in this county on 
March 1, 1882, making a permanent settlement in New Home township. 
John Swarens prospered exceedingly in his new environment and be- 
came one of the leading and most substantial citizens of Bates county. 
Prior to his death he was owner of five hundred thirty acres of rich 
farm land. 

John and Anna Swarens were parents of the following children: 
Ella, wife of N. L. Livingston, died at Foster, Missouri; Frank Ray, 
subject of this biographical review; C. C, a leading farmer of New 
Home township; Mrs. Laura Bowman, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. 
Hattie Barron, Kansas City; Mrs. May McCombs, deceased; Mrs. Joe 
Stetter, Kansas City; Iva and Emma, deceased. Mr. Swarens was a 
pronounced Democrat in his political affiliations. He and Mrs. Swarens 
were members of the Christian church and Mr. Swarens was a member 
of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. and Mrs. Swarens were 
a valuable addition to the civic and agricultural life of Bates county and 
left a reputation for honest, upright, industrious living, for a high plane 
of right thinking and doing, which will make them long remembered 
in this locality. Their virtues and habits of life were visited upon their 
children, who occupy respected niches in the various communities in 
which they each reside. 

The early education of F. R. Swarens was obtained in the schools of 
his native county in Illinois, and, at the time of his coming to Bates county 
with his parents, he was a sturdy boy of seventeen years, who was able 
and willingr to do a man's work in the fields. He assisted his father in 
developing and cultivating the home place and, after his father's death, 
elected to remain there, subsequently purchasing the various interests 
of the other heirs in the family homestead. In 1913, he moved to Fos- 
ter, where he had become interested in the grain business. In 1918, 
this year, he deemed it the best policy, in view of the scarcity of farm 
help, to remove to the farm in New Home township where he could 
personally oversee the cultivation of his land. His home place in New 
Home township is a splendidly improved farm of two hundred forty 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



457 



acres. For the past five years, Mr. Swarens has been residing on the 
Mort Campbell place of one hundred twenty acres adjoining Foster on 
the east, and which he sold in December, 1917, 

On September 4, 1889, Frank Ray Swarens and Vida, eldest daugh- 
ter of James P. Thomas, of New Home township, were united in mar- 
riage. The reader is referred to the biography of James P. Thomas, the 
oldest pioneer resident of this township, for further information regard- 
ing the Thomas family. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Swarens, nine of whom are living: Nona, wife of Charles Cobb, 
living on the home place in New Home township; Mrs. Mamie Sieg, 
living on an eighty acre farm in Howard towmship; James and Ray- 
mond, at home on the farm; Mrs. Oneta, wife of E. C. Cullison, Archie, 
Cass county, Missouri, where Mr. Cullison is employed as book-keeper 
for the Hurley Lumber Company; Leslie, book-keeper for Swift & Co., 
Trenton, Missouri; Leonard and Ruth, at home; Viola, deceased; For- 
rest, at home; and Martha, deceased. 

Mr. Swarens has always been allied with the Democratic party 
and has held various township offices in New Home township, during 
the course of his residence there. He is a member of the Christian 
church and is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Swarens are highly esteemed citizens of Bates 
county, and are of that sturdy, progressive class who have done so much 
to bring Bates county to the front. 

John J. March, ex-judge of the county court of Bates county, a 
pioneer citizen of New Home township, leading farmer and stockman, 
is a scion of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri and a de- 
scendant of colonial ancestry, of Swiss origin. His great-great-grand- 
father was Rudolph March, who immigrated to America from his native 
land, Switzerland, and settled in North Carolina about the middle of 
the eighteenth century, or 1750. His son, Jacob March, great-grand- 
father of Judge John J. March, saw service in the American Revolution 
during the campaigns which restored the Carolinas to the American 
Colonial Government and drove the British from their strongholds in 
the Southern states. John J. March was born, January 1, 1861, in 
Boone county, Missouri, a son of Willis March (born 1820, died 1895) 
and Sarah (Dejarnette) March (born 1839, died 1907). 

Willis B. March was born in Clark county, Kentucky, a son of John 
March, a native of Kentucky, who was a son of Jacob March, born in 
North Carolina, who was a son of Rudolph March, a native of Switzer- 



458 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

land, mentioned in the preceding- paragraph as having emigrated from 
Switzerland to America in abont 1750. John March left Kentncky and 
made a settlement in Boone connty, ]Missonri, as early as 1844. His 
son, Willis B., was there reared to yonng manhood and served as a 
soldier in the Mexican War. 184o to 1848. In 1849 he made the over- 
land trip to the gold fields of California, remaining fonr years and made 
a fortnne. He again went to California in 1853. remaining three years. 
He married Sarah Dejarnette. who bore him children, as follow: John 
J., snbject of this review; Mrs. Emma L. Hart, a widow living at Bns- 
sev. Iowa ; Joseph B.. a farmer living in Osage township, connty sur- 
veyor of Bates county for two terms, later graduated from the Law- 
School of the Missouri University, who soon after our government be- 
gan the construction of the Panama Canal, offered his services and was 
accepted, remaining there for more than seven years, the latter half of 
this time being a district judge, having been appointed by the noted 
Joe Blackburn, of Kentucky, then Governor of the Canal Zone : Mrs. 
Carrie Yeates. Lamar. Colorado: ]\Irs. Mattie E. Ford A\'elch. \'ernon 
countv. Missouri, whose son. Dr. Lester R. Ford, born in October, 
1886. graduated from the \\'arrensburg Normal College, graduated with 
honors at Missouri Cniversity. winning the Harvard Scholarship, later 
winning another scholarship at Harvard, studied in Paris, filled the 
chair of Professor of Mathematics at Harvard, lectured upon ^lathe- 
matics at Edinburgh University. Scotland, for two years, holds several 
degrees, and is now a member of the National Army stationed at Camp 
Meade. Boston: Richard \\'.. the youngest son. is a master mechani- 
cal engineer in charge of the operation of steam shovels in the strip 
coal mines at Rich Hill. Missouri. 

In 1868. Willis B. ^larch removed with his family to Bates county 
and settled on a pioneer farm four miles southwest of Rich Hill in 
Osage township. There were very few settlements on the prairie at 
this time and vast unfenced stretches of grazing land met the eye in 
every direction. Game was plentiful and herds of deer ranged the 
prairies. Highways were unknown and the settlers followed the beaten 
trails when traveling. In 1881. Mr. March sold his first farm and moved 
to another tract located a short distance west of the original home- 
stead. He resided here until his death, highly respected in the com- 
munity, which he had helped to create. He was a Democrat and filled 
various township offices. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 459 

John J. IMarch attenrled the State Normal School at W'arrensburg, 
after receiving what education the district school was able to afford 
him. He taught school for several terms in Bates and Vernon counties 
and pursued a business course in a commercial college at Kansas City. 
From 1886 to 1891 he was engaged as bookkeeper for a coal mining 
concern in the vicinity of Rich Hill and during that time became finan- 
cially interested in mining. He was connected with the mining industry 
near Rich Hill from 1884 to 1894 and during that time purchased his 
farm in Xew Home township, removing to the place in 1892. ]\lr. 
March has, with the exception of the seven years intervening between 
1910 and 1917, which were spent in Nevada, Missouri, resided on his 
place since 1892. He moved to Nevada to afford his children high school 
educational advantages. He formerly owned two hundred twenty-five 
acres in New Home township, but has recently disposed of a tract of 
sixty-five acres. 

October 13, 1887, ]Mr. ^March was married to ]Miss Alice V. Powers, 
who has borne him two children, as follow: Nellie H., a teacher in the 
public schools, and a graduate of the Nevada High School, and A\'alter 
B., a graduate of the Nevada High School and now farming on the home 
place. Mrs. Alice V. March was born February 14, 1867. in California, 
a daughter of William and Mary (McCoolj Powers, natives of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, respectively. William Powers was a son of one 
of the early Missouri pioneers who came to this state in 1840 and made 
a settlement in Bates county in 1845. He went to the gold fields of Cal- 
ifornia in 1849 and remained for three years. He was born in 1824 
and died in 1868. His wife, prior to her marriage, was Mary McCool; 
she was born in 1827 and died in 1892. William Powers died when on 
a visit to Bates county to see about his property in this county. The 
Powers family returned from California in 1871. 

Mr. and Mrs. ]Vlarch are members of the Christian church and Mr. 
March filled the post of elder of the Christian church at Nevada while 
a resident in that city. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America. He has been a life-long Democrat, one w^ho has been prom- 
inent in the councils of his party and held the of^ce of associate judge 
of the county court for two terms of two years each. He was first 
elected to the office in 1900 and again elected in 1902. During his term 
of office, the court in which he was a member, had charge of the erec- 
tion of the county court house at Butler — the name of Judge March 



460 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

being carved upon the front entrance stone as one of the builders. 
Judge March was also a member of the District Drainage Commission 
which has had charge of the draining of the Marais des Cygnes valley 
and the redemption of a vast acreage of overflow land. Judge and Mrs. 
March are among the best and most intelligent of the citizens of Bates 
county and are prominent in their home community and the county. 

David Willicim Laughlin, late prominent resident of Walnut town- 
ship, was born near Mansfield, Ohio, January 23, 1831, and died in 
Bates county, on his country estate north of the town of Foster, Janu- 
ary 31, 1908. He was the son of James and Elizabeth (Lee) Laughlin. 
James Laughlin was a native of Pennsylvania and a son of James Laugh- 
lin (I) founder of the family in America, a Scotch-Irishman, who crossed 
the Atlantic in 1786, and settled in Pennsylvania, where he plied his 
trade of expert weaver. James, father of David William, fought in the 
War of 1812 under General William Henry Harrison and took part in 
the campaign against the British and intended to relieve General Hull at 
Detroit. David William Laughlin was reared to young manhood in 
Ohio and in 1853 he made a settlement in Tama county, Iowa. He served 
for about five months as a soldier in Company E, Twenty-fourth Iowa 
Regiment of Infantry, during the Civil War and was severely wounded 
by accident just before the Battle of Helena, Arkansas, receiving a bullet 
wound just below the heart, through the lungs. He was married in 1854 
and continued to reside in Tama county until 1869 when the condition 
of his lungs required that he seek a dryer climate. He came to Bates 
county, Missouri, in that year and purchased a farm on Walnut creek in 
the township bearing that name. He chose for his future home one of 
the most beautiful sites in western Missouri overlooking the timbered 
area of Walnut creek to the south of the residence. He first purchased 
a tract of two hundred eighty acres. He settled permanently in 
Bates county in 1871. He erected a comfortable residence which was 
beautified as the years passed and the trees and shrubbery with which 
he surrounded his domicile grew. Mr. Laughlin increased his land 
holdings to a total of twelve hundred eighty acres, wdiich included 
a section of land in Walnut township and another section in Kansas. 
The Laughlin home place north of Foster is one of the most attractive 
in Bates county or western Missouri. The white farmstead is located 
on a hill overlooking the wooded valley of the Walnut and is surrounded 
by shrubbery and trees. It resembles an eastern homestead with its 
flowers and vines. Upon Mrs. Laughlin's land is growing what is prob- 




DAVID WILLIA:M laugh LIN. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 461 

ably the largest wild cherry tree in Missouri or the West and the greater 
part of the walnut timber is still standing in all of its virgin strength. 
Some of the walnut trees have attained a great growth, and it is a mat- 
ter of sentimental attachment to the beautiful stretch of woodland for 
Mrs. Laughlin to continually refuse all offers for the valuable timber 
contained in the tract. 

On October 13, 1864, David William Laughlin and Mary Eliza 
Blangy were united in marriage. To this marriage were born the fol- 
lowing children : Elmer E., a prosperous farmer and large land owner 
of Walnut township, a sketch of whom appears in this volume ; Adelia, 
born February 3, 1868, wife of Dr. Herbert Canfield, Seattle, Washington, 
and mother of eight children — Clerice, David, Florian, Damon, Iris, Ruby, 
and Evelyn and Charles, deceased — David Canfield, the second oldest 
of these, being married and father of two children — Donald and Char- 
lotte; Florence, born September 22, 1870, wife of Bert Hartshorne, Car- 
terville, Missouri, mother of three children — Doyle, Lois, and Elpha; 
Vvilson, born May 6, 1873, and died January 16, 1909, married Nettie 
Humphrey, of Pleasanton, Kansas, in 1899, who died in May, 1916, leav- 
ing two sons: Harold and Reese; Irving Scott Laughlin, born Decem- 
ber 19, 1875, married Mattie Sherburne, and died at Topeka, Kansas, 
.December 13, 1908, leaving one son, Winston; Fred, youngest of the 
family. The widow of Irving S. Laughlin is now a trained nurse at San 
Diego, California. Mrs. Mary Eliza Laughlin, widow of David William 
Laughlin, was born January 26, 1846, in Ohio, a daughter of James and 
Mary (Scott) Blangy, natives of Pennsylvania, and whose respective 
parents moved to Ohio, and thence to Iowa in 1852. The Blangys came 
to Missouri in 1869 and settled in the northern part of Walnut township 
on the farm now owned by Fred Laughlin. James Blangy died in this 
county in 1903 aged eighty-two years. His wife died in 1881 aged fifty- 
eight years. Two children survive them: Mrs. David W. Laughlin, 
and John T. Blangy, who resides in Walnut township. 

David W. Laughlin became a member of the Presbyterian church 
in 1863 and in 1873 became one of the founders of the Greenview Metho- 
dist Episcopal church in Walnut township. He was also a liberal sup- 
porter of the Foster Methodist church and was a liberal giver to all 
religious works. His remains are interred in the old Woodfin burial 
ground in Walnut township. Mr. Laughlin was a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic and his entire life was so lived that none knew 
him but to love him and his death was regarded as a sincere loss to the 



462 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

community in which he had been such a prominent and leading factor. 

Fred Laughlin, who resides with his mother on the old home place, 
was born June 20, 1881. He was educated in the public schools and after- 
ward studied at the Missouri and Iowa Agricultural Colleges, specializing 
in agriculture and animal husbandry. Since assuming charge of the 
farm he has been identified with the building up of a herd of registered 
Hereford cattle and registered Percheron horses, also in the feeding 
of hogs and cattle. 

Fred Laughlin was married on March 31, 1911, to Miss Willia Darr, 
who was born August 24, 1891, at Walker, Missouri, a daughter of Rob- 
ert and Jennie (Martin) Darr, natives, respectively of Shelby and Moni- 
teau counties, Missouri. They came to Vernon county, Missouri and 
thence to Bates county, where both died and their remains lie buried 
in Amoret cemetery. Two children have been born to Fred and Willia 
Laughlin: Wilfred, born May 22, 1912; and Weston, born September 
27, 1916. 

William Perm Cobb, or ''W. P." Cobb, proprietor of a fine farm of 
one hundred sixty acres in Walnut township, is one of the old settlers 
of Bates county, having been a bona fide resident of this county, with 
the exception of a few years during which he tried to find a better place 
of residence, since 1874. He was born August 29, 1855, in Lucas county, 
Iowa, a son of Robert Winchester and Sarah (Arnold) Cobb, both of 
whom were born and reared in Tennessee, whence they removed in 
1S53 and made a settlement in Iowa. From Lucas county, Iowa, they 
came westward to Saline county, Missouri, in 1868. Four years later, 
the family removed to Texas, and, in 1874, they came to Bates county 
and the father purchased a farm near Appleton City in this county and 
resided thereon until his retirement to a home in Rich Hill, his death 
occurring in 1896 at the age of sixty-three years. His wife and the 
mother of the following children died in 1875 at the age of forty years. 
The children were: William Penn, subject of this sketch; Mrs. Lizzie 
IDerickson, resides in Oklahoma; John A., lives in western Kansas; 
Mrs. Anna Haynes, died in 1890, leaving five children; Mrs. Alice Hart, 
Kansas City; Mrs. Mollie Merchant, Rich Hill, Missouri, mother of four 
living children, and two children died in infancy. 

W. P. Cobb accompanied his father to Missouri, Texas and thence 
to Bates county, where he resided with his father on the home place of 
the family, until 1875. He was then employed by John Brown, a far- 
mer living near Montrose, Missouri, after which he rented land in this 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 463 

county until 1891. He removed at this time to western Kansas and 
purchased a homestead relinquishment of three hundred twenty acres, 
near Garden City, which he improved and cultivated until 1906. He 
sold his western Kansas farm in that year and, returning to Bates 
county, bought a farm one mile south of Rich Hill. He also owned an 
eleven-acre tract within the city limits of Rich Hill which he traded to 
Dr. E. N. Chastain for one hundred twenty acres in Walnut township 
in 1907, To this tract he has added forty acres, making a splendid 
farm of one hundred sixty acres in all. 

Mr. Cobb was married in 1877 to Lizzie Griggs, who was born in 
Kentucky in 1861, a daughter of Roland and Minnie (Lewis) Griggs, 
who migrated to Bates county in 1870, moving thence to western Kan- 
sas in 1885, both parents dying in their new western home. To this 
marriage were born children, as follow: Claude, living on a farm east 
of Foster, married, but has no children; Chester, farmer. Walnut town- 
ship, married and has two children, Roland Wendell and Claude Tyrus; 
Arthur, farmer. New Home township, has two children, Selma May and 
Royal Weldon; May, a stenographer in Kansas City; Harold, conducting 
a dairy farm at Overland Park, Kansas; Glennis, at home; Mrs. Maude 
Bright, Foster, Missouri, mother of two children, Evelyn and Cleo 
Irene. The mother of these children died in 1906 at the age of forty- 
six years. 

Claude Cobb married Myrtle Jones, a daughter of N. C. Jones and 
niece of the famous "Buffalo" Jones. Mr. Cobb's first two children 
born, Millard, who died at the age of sixteen months, and Elmer, who 
died at the age of eight months, are buried in the family burial plat in 
Snodgrass cemetery, where also lie sleeping the remains of his father 
and mother. Mr. Cobb's second marriage occurred on September 13, 
1908, with Emma Goodenough, of Foster, Missouri, a daughter of Jesse 
Goodenough. 

Mr. Cobb is a Republican in politics and belongs to the Christian 
church. He is fraternally afifiliated with the Modern Woodmen of 
America. He is an honest, industrious, hard working farmer citizen of 
Bates county, one who has been successful despite the fact that he had 
little or nothing of this world's goods when he started on his career. 

Albert Clay Collins, an enterprising and successful farmer and 
stockman of New Home township, one of the more recent additions to 
the citizenship of Bates county, has "made good" as a farmer and dairy- 
man. The Collins farm, consisting of two hundred acres of prime, rich 



4t)4 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

land, is utilized so as to produce a maximum of crops. The home, with 
its buildings grouped about with large trees growing on the lawn and 
among the farm buildings, resembles a small village. The farm is pri- 
marily devoted to the dairy business, Mr. Collins maintaining a fine herd 
of thoroughbred Jerseys for cream production. The cream obtained 
from the milking of the thirty cows is shipped to the condenser at Fort 
Scott, Kansas, which is one of the finest concerns of the kind in the 
United States. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have a flourishing poultry busi- 
ness and raise each year from eight hundred to twelve hundred white 
Leghorns, a breed of poultry noted for their egg production. They 
also have at present a fine flock of Pekin ducks to the number of 
twenty-five. Mr. Collins raises two hundred fifty hogs annually. Mrs. 
Collins has what is the only aviary in Bates county, and probably the 
only one in western Missouri, outside of Kansas City. She is raising 
Hartz Mountain and Rowler canaries and has seventy of the feathered 
songsters in the home at the present writing. With all these things to 
care for and all of which are money makers and each intended to add 
to the revenue of the Collins farm, it will thus be seen that Mr, and 
Mrs. Collins are very busy people. 

A. C. Collins was born September 26, 1874, in Platte county, Mis- 
souri, a son of Harrison and Eliza (Herndon) Collins, natives of Ken- 
tucky, who removed from Platte county to Cass county, Missouri, in 
1877. The senior Mr. Collins bought a farm in Cass county and re- 
sided there until 1884. In that year he went to Anderson county, Kan- 
sas, and bought a farm which he improved and resided upon until his 
return to his old home county. Having met with reverses in Kansas, 
he found it expedient to begin again in Platte county and eventually 
owned a fine farm of one hundred sixty acres, which he sold, in 1916, 
and retired from active farm work. Harrison Collins is now making 
his home at Smithville, Missouri, and is aged sixty-five years. A. C. 
Collins left home in 1900 and went to the Indian Territory where he 
remained two years. Returning to Platte county, Missouri, he re- 
mained there until 1909, when he made his permanent home in Bates 
county. 

November 26, 1907, Mr. Collins and Miss Lillian L. Bell, a daugh- 
ter of James S. Bell, a Bates county pioneer, were married. Mrs. Col- 
lins was born and reared in Bates county. They have one child, Luella, 
born March 11, 1911. 

^ Pplitically, Mr. Collins is a Democrat. Mr. Collins is a member 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 465 

of the Baptist church, and Mrs. ColHns belongs to the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. Mr. Collins is fraternally allied with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows of Smithville, Missouri. The team work, the 
co-operation in the management of their many departments of the farm 
work demonstrated by Mr. and Mrs. Collins is worthy of emulation. 
They always find plenty to do at all times of the year. They are mu- 
tually interested in the dairy business and the cultivation of the farm 
and are looked upon as an industrious, enterprising couple who are not 
afraid of work and are making good in their life work. 

James S. Bell, a well-known Bates county pioneer, who is making 
his home with Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Collins, on the old Bell homestead, 
was born August 10, 1836, in Virginia, a son of James L. and Hannah 
Maria (Sherman) Bell, natives of Virginia, who immigrated to Missouri 
in 1837 and made a settlement in Cooper county. During the Civil War 
the family lived in St. Louis county and the elder Bell suffered losses 
exceeding sixty thousand dollars through the ravages of warfare. They 
remained in St. Louis county until 1867 and then came to New Home 
township, Bates county, in order to make a new start. James L. Bell 
lived in Bates county for the remainder of his days and died here. He 
was twice married, his second wife being Marinda (McCutcheon) Bell, 
who is still living at the age of over ninety-four years. 

J. S. Bell enlisted in the Southern Army in 1864 down in Texas, 
whither he had gone in 1861. He was a member of a band of Partisan 
Rangers connected with the Confederate forces and he served until the 
close of the war, taking part in many battles, the most miportant en- 
gagement being the battle of Mansfield, or Sabine Cross Roads. His 
service extended in all parts of Texas and Louisiana. After the war 
ended he became a trader in cattle and drove large herds of Texas cat- 
tle to the Northern states to be sold. When he first went to Texas he 
was interested in sheep raising but lost out in this venture and engaged 
in cattle raising and herding on the Texas plains. James S. Bell, his 
father, had entered large tracts of land in New Home township, enter- 
ing six hundred forty acres, which he gave back to his father during 
the war, when his father had met with severe reverses. 

Until he was forty years old James S. Bell lived with his father 

and assisted him and helped to rear the entire family. During the war 

he helped to support the family in St. Louis county, and frequently 

shipped produce and grain to his father. He also kept the taxes paid 

(30)" 



466 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

on his father's land holdings. Eventually his father gave back the 
land to him and he prospered exceedingly, becoming ow^ner of eight 
hundred acres in Bates county and a part owner w^ith his brother, 
Charles Bell, of four thousand acres in Kansas. Having given land to 
his children he now^ owns a tract of three hundred sixty acres. During 
his active career, Mr. Bell was an extensive raiser and feeder of cattle. 

James S. Bell was married in 1876 to Fannie Rand, who was born 
in Missouri in 1853, a daughter of James Rand, a pioneer settler of 
Bates county, concerning whom an account is given elsewhere in this 
volume. Mrs. Bell departed this life in 1889. The following children 
were born to James S. and Fannie (Rand) Bell: Frank, Bartlettsville, 
Oklahoma; James S., a farmer in Osage township, and Mrs. Lillian L. 
Collins. 

It is worthy of note that James L. Bell was father of twelve children, 
all of whom attained maturity and of whom the following are now liv- 
ing: James S. ; Mrs. Louisa Sulens, Pueblo, Colorado; Mrs. Virginia 
Yagle, Saline county, Missouri; Charles C, Oklahoma; Lida and Hat- 
tie, Pueblo, Colorado. 

Mr. Bell has been a life long Democrat. He was the first Demo- 
cratic township-official to hold office in New Home township after the 
war when the vote was given to the former secessionists. He is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church. 

William M. Bell. The late William M. Bell, of New Home town- 
ship, a pioneer settler of Bates county, was the son of Missouri pioneer 
parents. He was born in Cooper county, Missouri, March 21, 1850, 
and departed this life at his home in Bates county, January 5, 1916. 
He was a son of James L. and Hannah Maria (Sherman) Bell, both of 
whom were natives of Virginia. James L. Bell was a son of Rev. 
Charles Bell, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal faith, a miller and 
owner of a large plantation in Virginia. Rev. Charles Bell was ol Eng- 
lish descent and his ancestors settled in Virginia prior to the Revolu- 
tionary War. 

James L. Bell was born in Virginia in 1807, married in that state 
and migrated to Cooper county, Missouri, in the early thirties. He 
was a son of Charles Bell, who was born November 20, 1770, and died 
August 29, 1825. The Bell family became well established in Cooper 
county and were wealthy prior to the Civil .War period, during the 
course of which so many families of Southern extraction were impov- 
erished. Hannah Maria (Sherman) Bell was a daughter of Captain 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 467 

Samuel Sherman, who was born in Virginia on March 3, 1776, and 
there married Nancy Martin, who was born November 27, 1781. Sam- 
uel M. Sherman was a veteran of the War of 1812, and departed this 
life January 14, 1815. During the Civil War, James L. Bell, with his 
family, removed to St. Louis county, Missouri, and remained there until 
the close of the war. After the war was over, he came to Bates county 
and settled on land in New Home township which he had previously 
entered from the United States Government. 

William M. Bell accompanied his parents to St. Louis county, 
where he remained until the Civil War closed and then went to Cooper 
county and spent about one year in assisting close up his father's affairs 
in that county. This task being accomplished he came to Bates county 
and lived with his father on the Bell homestead until he erected the 
home now occupied by his widow and son in New Home township. He 
began with one hundred acres of land which he improved and brought 
to a high state of cultivation. He prospered during the course of time 
and added to his possessions until he owned two hundred sixty acres of 
the best land in Bates county. The Bell homestead is located on a hill 
and the farm land gently slopes to the southward from the home. For 
the first year of their residence on the place, he and his wife lived in 
a one-room cabin which was boxed, ceiled, and weatherboarded, after 
which additions were made to the residence. 

Mr. Bell was married on December 7, 1881, to Miss Rosa Caldwell, 
who was born November 6, 1860, in Johnson county, Missouri, a daugh- 
ter of Benjamin and Martha (Craig) Caldwell, natives of Kentucky and 
Tennessee, respectively, and whose parents were pioneers who settled 
near Boonville, Missouri. Benjamin Patton Caldwell, father of Mrs. 
Bell, was a son of Benjamin P. Caldwell, who resided in Kentucky and 
died there. His wife was Elizabeth Toomey, who was left a widow 
with a large family which she brought to Missouri in 1839. Her chil- 
dren were James, Benjamin P., Elizabeth, Mary Jane, Margaret, 
Phoenis, Christopher, and Catherine Caldwell. Benjamin Patton Cald- 
well was born in 1824 and died in July, 1907. He located in Johnson 
county, Missouri, in 1848, and came to Bates county in 1878, settling 
in New Home township. Mrs. Caldwell, mother of Mrs. Bell, died 
when Mrs. Bell was a child, and Benjamin P., married Mrs. Martha 
Koontz, a widow. 

To William M. and Rosa (Caldwell) Bell were born children as 
follow: Mary, wife of Albert Ellis, Alamosa, Colorado, mother of two 



468 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

children, Irene and Rosalie; William Louis, a farmer living in Ne^v 
Home township, married Sylvia Goodrum, and has four children, Har- 
old, Donald, Pauline and Virginia; and Fletcher Caldwell, who is man- 
aging the home place of the Bell family, born April 11, 1894, received 
his education in the district schools, a very intelligent young man who 
is a capable farmer and a good citizen. Like his father before him, 
Fletcher Caldwell Bell is a Democrat and he is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, South. 

The Bell family is one of the oldest and most highly respected 
pioneer families in Bates county, every member of which is a successful 
and enterprising citizen. William M. Bell was a worthy representative 
of his family and his life was so lived that when death called him from 
his earthly labors his loss was sincerely mourned by the people of his 
home community. 

Joseph S. Franklin, during the forty years of his residence in Bates 
county, has achieved a success which is remarkable, and he has risen 
from a condition of comparative poverty in his young manhood to become 
one of the large land owners of w^estern Missouri. The Franklin holdings 
comprise eleven hundred acres of productive prairie lands in Walnut 
township bordering on the Kansas line just south of the town of Wor- 
land. There are six sets of farm improvements on this vast acreage 
and the land is tilled by the sons-in-law of Mr. Franklin. Mr. Franklin 
began his career as a herder of sheep and cattle on the plains in the w^est 
part of Bates county in the interest of Judge B. Clark, of Boonville, 
who formerly owned the land which Mr. Franklin gradually purchased. 
Much of the Franklin land is underlaid with extensive coal deposits 
which are on the eve of development by mining concerns. 

J. S. Franklin was born August 4, 1849, in Owen county, Indiana, 
and was a son of John and Jane (Elliot) Franklin. His father was born 
in Burke county. North Carolina, October 14, 1824, and was the son of 
Thomas C. and Dorothy (Davis) Franklin, natives of North Carolina of 
English extraction. Thomas C. Franklin, grandfather of the subject 
of this review, was a cousin of Benjamin Franklin, famous in American 
colonial and Revolutionary history. He settled in Indiana as early as 
1825. John Franklin was educated in the Spencer Academy, Indiana, 
and on October 28, 1844, married Jane Elliot, of Virginia, who bore him 
three children: James D., deceased; Joseph Samuel, subject of this 
sketch; and John Thomas. Mrs. Jane Franklin died September 28, 1853 
and on October 3, 1857, John Franklin married Susan J. Moore, daugh- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 469 

ter of Hon. George W. Moore, who bore him five children : Robert 
Burns, Highland Mary, Dorothy, George and Delia. John Franklin 
became owner of four hundred twenty acres of land and departed 
this life in 1892. James D., his oldest son, served in the Union army 
during the Civil War and died in 1913. John Thomas Franklin, his sec- 
ond son, is living in Greene county, Indiana. 

The early education of J. S. Franklin was obtained in the district 
schools of his native county in Indiana. He left home to make his own 
way in 1868 and located in Carroll county, Missouri, where he was em- 
ployed at farm labor until 1871. He then went to Kentucky and remained 
there for one year, returning to Carroll county. In 1874 he made a 
return trip to Indiana and remained amid old home scenes until 1877 
when he again came to Missouri and made his home with Judge Clark, 
of Cooper county. Judge Clark owned a large tract of land in the west- 
ern part of Bates county and he leased this tract to Mr. Franklin who 
came out here and took charge of it in 1878. Mr. Franklin at first cared 
for a drove of one thousand, five hundred thirty-five sheep on a 
partnership basis, but the raising of sheep proving to be unprofitable 
during the first six years of his tenure, he engaged in cattle raising, made 
good profits and paid back his losses incurred during the sheep raising 
venture. He then went to see Judge Clark and leased the land so as to 
engage in cattle raising on his own account. For the past thirty years 
he has been accumulating acreage. His first investment was in eighty 
acres at the cost of ten dollars an acre; he then bought another "eighty"' 
at a purchase price of twenty-five dollars an acre; bought two hundred 
forty acres at eighteen dollars an acre, and so on, until he had gath- 
ered together his large estate of one thousand one hundred acres. Seven 
hundred acres of the Franklin land is underlaid with the top vein of coal 
which is being mined in different parts of the county and another five- 
foot vein has been discovered at a depth of two hundred seventy- 
five feet below the surface. Mr. Franklin has recently leased one hun- 
dred acres for coal mining of the surface coal, the mining to be done by 
drifting. 

Mr. Franklin was married September 25, 1879, to Mattie E. Smith, 
born April 27, 1852, in Cooper county, Missouri, a daughter of Jeremiah 
Smith (born 1810 — died 1896), a native of Tennessee, who w^as a Mis- 
souri pioneer, and witnessed the first steamboat which steamed up 
the Missowri river in 1817. He lived at Old Franklin, where his papents 
were pioneers. He was a son of Thomas Smith, and when a young 



470 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

man, he married Letitia George, who was reared to maturity in Cooper 
county. Col. Robert McCuhough, an early sheriff of Cooper county, 
was a relative of the Smith family. Mr. and Mrs. Franklin have six 
children, three sons and three daughters, as follow: Maude, wife of 
L. P. Sylvester, living on the Franklin land, has four children — Alice, 
Lemuel, Efton, and Edra; Minnie H., wife of I. E. Mullies, also living 
on the Franklin farm, has two children — Edna, and Ewing; Clark C, 
Clay Center, Nebraska, married Jennie Ellis, and has three children — 
Ruby, Joseph, and Maxine ; Edward, Cheyenne, Wyoming, married 
Maude Miller; Lura, wife of Lon Baldwin, on the Franklin farm, has 
two children — Vernie, and Lavina Fern; AVilliam Wirt, a druggist, Hume, 
Missouri. 

Mr. Franklin has always been a Democrat and served as deputy 
sheriff of Bates county for twenty years, holding of^ce under Sheriffs 
Glazebrook, Ludd, Morris, Collier and Joe T. Smith. He belongs to the 
Baptist church while Mrs. Franklin is a member of the Presbyterian 
church. Few men who began their active careers without capital and 
have spent their whole lives as tillers of the soil have accomplished more 
than has J. S. Franklin. His industry during these many years has been 
unabated and his business judgment was always been sound; his stand- 
ing in Bates county places him among the county's leaders. 

William D. Clouse, an intelligent, enterprising, progressive farmer 
of Walnut township, is a native of Jackson county, Missouri. Mr. 
Clouse was born January 3, 1878, a son of William Henry and Mrs. 
Lovina (Schroyer) Shepherd Clouse, natives of Ohio and Indiana, re- 
spectively. His father was born in Meigs county, Ohio, and his mother 
was born in Posey county, Indiana. The first husband of William D. 
Clouse's mother was killed at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, while 
serving in the Union army. William Henry Clouse was reared in Ohio 
and when a young man went to Illinois. He was married in that state 
and in 1867, came out West and made a settlement in Jackson county, 
Missouri, where he resided until 1880. In that year he located in Bates 
county, living on a farm near Worland, until his removal to a farm near 
Foster. When the town of Foster was started, he engaged in the livery 
and transfer business and also carried the mail for several years. I^ater, 
he engaged in the grocery business after disposing of his livery busi- 
ness. When the town, or business section, of Foster was destroyed by 
fire, his place of business was burned out and he then went to Okla- 
homa and is now residing on a farm located just on the outskirts of the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 47I 

city of Shawnee. Mr. and Mrs. Clouse celebrated their Golden Wedding 
Anniversary on December 5, 1914. The following children were born 
to William H. and Lovina Clouse: James Albert, Shawnee, Okla- 
homa; Charles H., an extensive farmer and stockman, Walnut town- 
ship; Mrs. Araminta Pierce, living near Mulberry, Kansas; Thomas 
Thornton, now a soldier in the National Army, in training at Long 
Island, New York; Mrs. Mary Alice Teckel, Kay county, Oklahoma; 
William D., subject of this sketch; Emma Jane, wife of M, H. Thomas, 
Walnut township; Sabitha, deceased. By her first marriage, Mrs. 
Clouse is mother of one child, Mrs. Ada Belle Epham, Shawnee, Okla. 

W. D. Clouse was educated in the Foster public schools and as- 
sisted his father in his business for several years. He then joined the 
Eldorado Springs Brass Band and played in this organization for two 
years. He also clerked for his brother in the store at Foster for some 
time. In 1901, he began farming on his own account near Sprague, 
Missouri. In 1902, he located on the J. P. Thomas place and resided 
there for a year. In 1903, he made his first purchase of ninety acres from 
the Walnut Coal Mining Company and to this tract he has added an- 
other forty acres. Mr. Clouse has built all the improvements on his 
farm and has a very pretty farmstead, improved with handsome cot,- 
tage, a splendid barn, and other necessary buildings, all kept in a fine 
state of repair. 

Mr. Clouse was married on May 28, 1900, to Miss Martha Thomas, 
born July 21, 1882, in New Home township, the youngest daughter of 
J. P. Thomas, pioneer settler of New Home township, concerning whom 
an extended review is given elsewhere in this volume. To W. D. and 
Martha Clouse have been born two children: Cecil Calvin, born De- 
cember 13, 1903, and Doris Pauline, born December 15, 1913. Mr. 
Thomas is allied with the Republican party but votes independently 
of party domination, believing that the cause of good government can 
best be served by voting for the man who seems best fitted to perform 
the duties of the office sought, rather than to adhere strictly to party 
lines. He and Mrs. Clouse are members of the Christian church and 
both are members of the Red Cross, in which organization Mrs. Clouse, 
with many other women of the Foster neighborhood, is a worker. 

Matthew S. Simpson, proprietor of "Valley View Farm," located 
upon the Jefferson Highway southwest of Butler in New Home town- 
ship, widely known livestock dealer, is a "self-made", successful citi- 
zen, who has lived in Bates county for nearly forty-eight years and can 



472 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



rightly be classed with the old settlers of the county. Valley View 
Farm comprises one hundred seventy-seven acres, the odd acreage 
being due to the fact that the Missouri Pacific Railroad runs through 
the farm. Mr. Simpson has resided on his present place since October 
2, 1907, and during his tenure on the farm has rebuilt practically all of 
the fences, replacing the worn out and delapidated fences, which for- 
merly divided the land into fields, with woven wire fencing of the best 
quality. He has remodelled both residence and barns and liberally 
used paint until the Simpson place is one of the most attractive farm- 
steads along the Jefferson Highway. As a usual business venture, Mr. 
Simpson feeds about four car-loads of cattle annually and at the time 
of this writing, December of 1917, had about three loads of cattle on 
the place. He feeds all grain raised on the farm and also buys grain 
to complete his feeding. The splendid grain crops raised on the place 
in 1917 obviated the necessity of buying grain during the past winter 
season. For a number of years, Mr. Simpson has been an extensive 
buyer and shipper of cattle, an occupation which has given him a wide 
and favorable acquaintance thoughout Bates county. 

M. S. Simpson was born October 30, 1864, in Hancock county, Illi- 
nois, a son of William Harrison and Sarah Ellen (Zinn) Simpson, na- 
tives of Illinois. William H. Simpson was a son of Irish parents and 
the parents of Mrs. Sarah Simpson were natives of Virginia. In 1870, 
the family came to Bates county and located on a farm seven miles 
northwest of Butler, on Miami creek in Charlotte township. William 
H. Simpson developed a good farm and is still residing on the place 
upon which he settled forty-eight years ago. He was born in 1838 and 
is one of the oldest settlers of Charlotte township. His children are 
as follow: William A., died March 9, 1915; Matthew S., subject of 
this sketch; E. E., living in Kansas City; C. A., resides in Butler; Harry 
H., living in Charlotte township ; L. P., living on a farm one mile 
southwest of Butler; Fred G., residing near Centralia, Oklahoma, and 
Mrs. Josephine Wilcox, Butler, Missouri. The mother of these children 
died in 1887. 

The small amount of schooling which M. S. Simpson received was 
at Hazel Dell school house. Being the second son of the family, it was 
necessary for him to begin working on the farm when still a youth. 
Being strong and hardy, he was able to do a man's work while still in 
his teens, and his boyhood days were spent in tilling the acreage upon 
his father's farm, planting and harvesting the crops from year to year. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 473 

When he became of age, he began farming on his own account. His 
first farm was located in Elk county, Kansas, where he engaged in graz- 
ing stock for a period of six years. In 1891 he left Elk county, Kansas, 
and went to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was employed with the 
Waupam Wind Mill Company for one year. He then moved to Edgar, 
Clay county, Nebraska, and farmed in that county for a year, returning 
to Bates county in 1894. He rented land for two years after his re- 
turn and then purchased eighty acres. Upon the opening of the Kiowa 
Indian reservation in Oklahoma in 1901 he drew homestead claim No. 
3213, located sixteen miles northwest of Anadarko, McKinley town- 
ship, McAdoo county, September 19, 1901, he located on his claim and 
sold it in the spring of 1903 to W. C. Mason, of Ainsworth, Iowa. He 
returned home and purchased eighty acres in section 18, Mound town- 
ship, upon which he resided until October 2, 1917, when he moved to 
his present farm in Section I of New Home township. 

Mr. Simpson was married May 25, 1889, to Laura M. Dunbar, who 
w^as born in Nebraska, a daughter of James A. and Margaret (Tripp) 
Dunbar, native residents of that state. To this marriage have been 
born the following children: Mrs. Nellie B. Osborne, living on a farm 
nine miles southwest of Butler; William H., married Olive Nightwine, 
and lives near Nyhart; Sarah Ellen, wife of Orlen Eggleson, Butler, 
Missouri, has one child, Anna Laura; James A., employed in a Kansas 
City bank; Charles, farming on his own account in Bates county; and 
Leona, Cleo, Joseph, and Louise, at home. Mrs. Nellie Osborne is 
the mother of three children: William, Christina, and Robert. Mr. 
Simpson is a Republican in politics. 

Mrs. Lulu (Rand) Fleming, residing on her farm of one hundred 
sixty acres in New Home township, located on the Jefferson Highway, 
not far from Rich Hill, is a daughter of one of the old and prominent 
families of Bates county. She was born July 20, 1861, in Benton county, 
Missouri, a daughter of James Rand, a native of Indiana. 

James Rand was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, November 16, 
1829, a son of James and O. (McLean) Rand, natives of Ohio. His 
grandfather, Thomas Rand, was a Revolutionary soldier and one of the 
pioneers of Kentucky. James Rand was reared on a farm, and at the 
age of twenty-three years, married Margaret Bassett, who was born in 
1833 and died in 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Rand came to Missouri in the 
early fifties and located in Benton county. During the Civil War, Mr. 
Rand was a captain of the Home Guards. He had removed to Indiana 



474 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

soon after the outbreak of the Civil War. He returned to Benton county 
at the close of the war, in 1865, and after a further three years' resi- 
dence in that county removed to Bates county and began the improve- 
ment of a tract of about two thousand acres of land, which he had 
entered from the government in 1857. His home place contained four 
hundred eighty acres and upon this tract he erected a home which was 
considered a splendid mansion in those days. He developed in all about 
one thousand acres and was extensively engaged in cattle raising, feed- 
ing from one hundred to one hundred fifty cattle and a proportionate 
number of hogs yearly. Mr. Rand died July 23, 1882. His children 
were as follow : Charlie, who died at the age of twenty-three years ; 
Carrie, died when seven ; Thomas, died at an early age ; Harry, died 
when one year old; Rolla, lives in Kansas City; Mrs. Lulu Fleming, 
subject of this sketch; Benjamin L., Osage township; and Fannie, 
deceased wife of J. S. Bell, of New Home township, who was the eldest 
of the family. 

Mrs. Lulu (Rand) Fleming inherited a quarter section of land from 
her father's estate. January 8, 1882, she was united in marriage with 
T. L. Fleming. The children born to this marriage are: Margaret, 
wife of Charles Ganaway, Rich Hill, mother of following children, one of 
whom, Thelma, aged fifteen years, has been reared by her grandmother 
as her very own, the others living being Moselle, thirteen years old; 
Ruth, eleven years old, and Gertrude, aged six; Samuel J. Fleming, born 
October 17, 1888, now a private in the National Army, stationed at 
Camp Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas, Headquarters Three Hundred 
Thirty-sixth Field Artillery. 

The Fleming residence, situated upon an elevation overlooking 
Jefferson Highway, is a very attractive place. Many evergreens dot the 
large lawn, which slopes gently from the house to the road. The land 
is underlaid with coal, which is now being mined to assist in supply- 
ing the great demand for fuel in the country at the present time. Mrs. 
Fleming is a member of the Christian church. She is a capable business 
woman, one who is amply able to manage her own affairs. 

James L. Strien. — The Strien family is one of the oldest and most 
historic of Bates county and the old homestead in New Home township 
contains many reminders of the days of long ago when this thickly set- 
tled country was a wilderness. A wide open fireplace sends out a cheery 
blaze on cold, wintry days to the visitor upon entering the large living- 
room of the house. Natural forest trees shade the yard bordering on 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



475 



the highway. An account of this old family covers a period of four 
score years of their part in Missouri's history and sixty-three years 
of the history of Bates county. 

The late James L. Strien, of New Home township, was born Sep- 
tember 11, 1842, in Franklin county, Missouri, a son of William P. H. 
and Levicy Cole (Boles) Strien, the former, born October 22, 1812, 
and the latter, born August 16, 1813. Both parents were natives of 
White county, Tennessee. William P. H. Strien was one of the earliest 
of Missouri's pioneers. He came from Franklin county to Bates county 
in 1854, after two years' residence in Vernon county, Missouri. He 
pre-empted and also purchased land in what is now the northeast part 
of New Home township. The Strien place was practically covered with 
timber which required the hardest kind of labor to clear and place in 
cultivation. William P. H. Strien died November 17, 1862, and his 
remains are interred in the family burial plat near the homestead. 
Levicy Strien, his wife, died May 30, 1860. 

James L. Strien was twelve years old, wdien his parents came to 
Bates county, and he was a strong lad for his years. He wielded an 
axe and drove an ox-team, thus assisting clear the place of timber and 
place it under cultivation. About 1861, or 1862, he crossed the plains 
with a freighting outfit and for a period of three years served as a "bull 
whacker" or ox-team driver in the West. His first overland trip was 
made from St. Joseph to the famous mining camp of Virginia City in 
Nevada and he made the return trip mostly by boat on the Missouri 
river. While in the Western country, he hauled goods over the moun- 
tains and handled flour, when it retailed for one hundred dollars per 
sack. He drove for the Diamond R. Freighting Company and had many 
interesting and exciting experiences during his three years as plainsman. 
He drove a freight wagon pulled by six yoke of oxen. Mr. Strien 
freighted between Helena, Montana, situated at the head of navigation 
on the Missouri river, to Virginia City, and it is said that he hauled 
the first load of goods into Virginia City, when the famous mining 
city was in process of building. When he returned to his old home in 
Bates county in 1865 he found nothing but the ruins of the house which 
his father had built, and of necessity, was compelled to erect another 
home for himself. Mr. Strien returned home in 1865 and settled on 
the old home place of the family, residing there until his death, June 
19, 1915. He became owner of four hundred twenty acres of well- 



4/6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

improved land in New Home township and was highly regarded by all 
who knew them. 

November 3, 1878, James L. Strien and Sarah J. Berry were united 
in marriage. To this union have been born the following children : 
Lydia Frances, born October 23, 1880, at home with her widowed mother; 
Annie Catherine, born October 21, 1882; and James Walter, born Octo- 
ber 9, 1884, is operating the home farm. 

Mrs. Sarah J. (Berry) Strien was born August 19, 1851, in Pettis 
county, a daughter of John and Polly Ann (Adams) Berry. Her father 
v/as born in Cooper county, Missouri, in 1823 and died in 1898. Her 
mother was born in Kentucky in 1829 and died on May 14, 1892. John 
Berry was the son of Tyree H. Berry, who came to jMissouri from the 
South and lived at old Fort Boone as early as 1870. \Mien John Berry 
was reared to young manhood, he located in Pettis county and there 
married. He resided there until 1854 and then made a settlement in 
Bates county, settling near the site of Nyhart. During the Civil War, 
both the Strien and Berry families returned to Pettis county, where 
they remained until the end of the war. 

No honor is too great to bestow upon the memory of hardy pio- 
neers like James L. Strien, his father and John Berry, for the great work 
accomplished in assisting to open up this country for settlement and 
to prove to others that Bates county soil was capable of sustaining a 
considerable population. Since the old days, when these men plied 
their axes in the woods and broke the first furrows in the virgin soil, 
a wonderful transformation has taken place — the forests, prairies which 
stretched in unbroken lines as far as the eye could reach, with but here 
and there the smoke from a settler's lonely cabin or from the campfires 
of the nomadic Indians rising in the clear air, have given way to the 
march of civilization. Now a prosperous and contented community of 
intelligent people reside in amity where once was such a wilderness. 

Jason Shed Woodfin. — The late Jason Sherl or J. S. Woodfin, who 
was a prominent citizen of Walnut township, was a son of one of the 
first pioneer settlers of Bates county. He was born March 8, 1833 in 
North Carolina, a son of John Woodfin, who emigrated from North 
Carolina in 1837 and made a settlement in Johnson county, Missouri. 
He resided there for four years and in 1841 made a permanent settle- 
ment in Walnut township. Bates county. He made a settlement on a 
tract located one and a half miles north of the Woodfin place in ^^^alnut 
township and built up one of the finest country estates in this section 
of Missouri. John Woodfin prospered and accumulated a total of eleven 




> 
o 

5 




HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 477 

hundred acres of land. During the winter of 1861, John Woodfin, on 
account of threats having been made against his life by the anti-slavery 
adherents and Kansas "jayhawkers," went to Johnson county. He left 
his home sorely against his own inclinations and only yielded to the 
importunities of his relatives and friends in the end. Becoming anxious 
about his family he returned to his home during the winter and a band of 
"jayhawkers" came to the home wnth the intention of killing him. Snow 
lay deep upon the ground and the cold was intense. Mr. Woodfin escaped 
through a window and made his way to the nearby wood where he 
remained all night until his enemies had left. The exposure resulted in 
a severe cold which caused his death soon afterward. By his first mar- 
riage wnth Hannah Hyatt, he had four sons and two daughters. His 
second wife was Mrs. Emily (Bryant) Granthem, wadow of a "forty- 
niner'' who died on his way home by sea from the gold fields of Cali- 
fornia. A daughter born of his first marriage is yet living — Mrs. Miller, 
wife of Rev. William Miller of New Home. 

J. S. Woodfin's first wife was Ruth Turner, who died during the 
Civil AVar leaving three daughters : Mary, wife of James H. Sacre, 
Charlotte township; Mrs. Alice Warman, died in Colorado; Mrs. Lucy 
Williams, widow living at Wellsville, Kansas. During the Civil War, 
Jason S. Woodfin served for a time in the state militia in Capt. John 
Newberry's company and then spent the remainder of the time on the 
western plains and in Colorado. He served as a government teamster 
until 1865. He then returned to Bates county and engaged in farming 
on his Walnut township land. He was married then to Miss Prudence 
E. Miller, who bore him the following children : Mrs. Elizabeth Char- 
lotte McHenry, Foster, Missouri; Mrs. Lillie May Clouse, deceased; 
Frances J., wife of W^illiam Hyatt, Grant county, Oregon; Mrs. Emily 
C. Lester, Aberdeen. Washington; Mrs. Prudence Olive Farrell, Colo- 
rado; Mrs. Ethel Goodenough, Foster, Bates county; Maude A., wife of 
E. L. Thomas, New Home township; Jason S., living in Idaho, married 
in April, 1900 to Cannie Sells, of Butler, who died August 4, 1915, leav- 
ing three children, Ree Jefferson, Prudence B.. and Lillie May; Willie 
Cleveland, deceased ; Mrs. Minnie Ellen Blevin. AA^alnut township. 

Mrs. Prudence (Miller) Woodfin was born November 5, 1848 on 
a pioneer farm located four miles east of Foster, Bates county. She is 
a daughter of Oliver Hazard Perry Miller, a native of Missouri, and 
Charlotte (Vryans) Miller. O. H. P. Miller was born in Franklin county, 
Missouri in 1815 and died in the Federal prison at Springfield, Missouri, 



4/8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

April 30, 1863. He was a son of Samuel Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, 
who was among the first pioneers of Franklin county, Missouri, settling 
at Miller's Landing on the Missouri river. At the age of seventeen 
years, O. H. P. Miller left home and located in Bates county in 1832. 
His first settlement was made north of the Marais des Cygnes river and 
in 1845 he came to New Home township and settled on a farm one-half 
mile east of old New Home. When the Civil War broke out he lost every- 
thing, the home and buildings being burned and his live stock stolen 
or killed. In the fall of 1861 the family removed to Henry county and 
remained there until the spring of 1866. O. H. P. Miller and his oldest 
son left home for the war and served with the Confederate forces. Henry 
Miller, the son, was killed at the battle of Lone Jack, August 8, 1862. 
O. H. P. was quartermaster and served with Captain John McCombs' 
company. He was taken prisoner in Arkansas and interred in the Fed- 
eral prison at Springfield, where his death occurred. His eight children 
were as follow: Henry Clay, deceased; Rev. William Barton Miller, 
New Home, Missouri; Emily Jane, deceased; Mrs. Prudence E. Wood- 
fin, Walnut township; Susan Mahala, wife of W. A. Comer, living near 
Nevada, Missouri; Lucinda, wife of Charles B. Briscoe, Walnut town- 
ship; Josephine, deceased; John, residing near New Home; and Martha, 
wife of John Weadon, New Home township. After the war the family 
settled on the old place and rebuilt the home and. made another start. 
Time healed the wounds and sorrows caused by the misfortunes of war 
and they prospered. The mother died March 12, 1890, at the age of 
seventy-six years. 

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Woodfin started housekeeping 
in a little log house of one room to which he added other rooms as the 
family increased and they were able. They owned an eighty-acre tract 
which had been given to Mr. Woodfin by his father. He entered land 
and purchased other tracts as he was financially able and at the time 
of his death, he was owner of five hundred twenty acres. All 
that the family had left at the close of the Civil War was an old log- 
cabin, with both doors and windows gone and all the fences on the place 
were burned and the orchard uprooted and reset in Kansas. During 
his later years, Mr. Woodfin was ill for a good part of the time and Mrs. 
Woodfin courageously shouldered the burden of caring for her husband 
and looking after their extensive farm interests. Mr. Woodfin died 
September 9, 1899, aged sixty-five years. 

Mr. Woodfin was a life-long Democrat who was ever loval to his 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 479 

party. He was a member of the Christian church and was a good Chris- 
tian citizen who loved his home and fireside and was devoted to his wife 
and family. For over fifty-one years, his widow, Mrs. Prudence Wood- 
fin, has resided in the home which she and her husband made lonsf aeo, 
and has never left home except for visits to Idaho 4nd among her chil- 
dren. She recalls the old pioneer days and remembers how happy the 
people were even in their rude surroundings. Her father, O. H. P. 
Miller taught the first school in New Home township, which was held 
in one room for a term of three months, of the double log cabin which 
was the Miller home in New Home township. Her father was a well 
educated man who was skilled in languages and familiar with the classics. 
Previous to the outbreak of the war he had built a fine mansion on his 
farm, native woods such as walnut being used in its construction, one 
room of which was lined with book shelves. When the family went to 
Henry county and located near Clinton for safety during the war the 
house was first looted of its contents and then burned to the ground 
by marauders on Christmas night. The father of John Woodfin was 
Thomas Woodfin who came with his family to Johnson county, Missouri, 
Vvdien he was an old man and mainly spent his time in fishing and hunt- 
ing while his sons all engaged in farming. He accompanied his family 
to Bates county and died here. Mrs. Woodfin is energetic and capable 
and well preserved, despite her age, and still looks after her farm. She 
prefers to reside in the home which has served her for so many years 
rather than move to the town or city. She is a member of the Christian 
church and is a devout Christian who is always ready to assist in worthy 
undertakings. She is one of the most honored and most highly respected 
of the Bates county pioneer women. 

Mark Henry Thomas, better known as "Mark" Thomas, proprietor 
of the "White Rock Farm" in Walnut township, consisting of one hun- 
dred thirty acres of excellent land, is a native of Bates county, a mem- 
ber of one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of western 
Missouri. The Thomas home is a pretty cottage situated upon a rise 
of ground, overlooking Walnut township to the westward, located just 
a short distance from the town of Foster. The improvements on the 
place were all built under Mr. Thomas' direction and the farm is 
equipped with a large white barn, 36 x 40 feet in size with a height of 
sixteen feet to square, and a sixty-ton silo. Mr. Thomas is engaged in 
general farming and raises cattle and hogs for the markets. He was 
born September 11, 1878, in New Home township and is a son of James 



480 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Pendleton Thomas, familiarly known as "Uncle Jim," one of the oldest 
of the Bates county pioneers and a patriarch in his own right because 
of his great age and his long residence in New Home township. (See 
biography.) 

M. H. Thomas attended the school in the Virginia district near his 
home and also studied in the Foster public schools. When twenty years 
of age, he began farming on his own account on rented land. Some 
time later, his father, in making a division of his estate among his chil- 
dren, gave him a tract of eighty acres of land which he improved in 
December of 1900, and January of 1901. In 1910, he received another 
gift of forty acres, and to this has added ten acres, making one hundred 
thirty acres in all, which he owns. 

On December 21, 1898, M. H. Thomas and Emma Jane Clouse were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Emma Thomas was born October 25, 1881, 
in Walnut township. Bates county, a daughter of William Henry and 
Lavina (Shroyer) Clouse, natives of Ohio and Illinois, respectively. 
Mr. and Mrs. Clouse came to Missouri in the early seventies and later 
made a settlement in Walnut township. Mr. Clouse is now making his 
home in Oklahoma. The reader is referred to the sketch of W. D. 
Clouse, a brother of Mrs. Thomas, for further and more detailed in- 
formation regarding the history of the Clouse family. Two children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas: Glenard, born May 6, 1902, 
a student in Butler High School ; and Lelia Orlena, born October 19, 
1899, wife of Lawrence Galvin, a farmer living in New Home township. 
While Mr. Thomas is a professed Democrat, he is inclined to vote in- 
dependently in local political elections. He and Mrs. Thomas are mem- 
bers of the Christian church and Mr. Thomas belongs to the Modern 
W^oodmen of America. 

Gustavus A. Corbin, old settler of Howard township, proprietor of 
a splendid farm of two hundred thirty-four acres, has the distinction 
of having taught the first public school ever organized in the town of 
Hume, Missouri. Mr. Corbin came to Missouri in 1871 and has resided 
on his present home farm for twenty-nine years. This farm was origi- 
nally a gift from his father, a Virginian, wdio had traded for a tract of 
land in Bates county without seeing the land and offered the quarter 
section to his son, Gustavus, while stipulating that the son should come 
to Missouri and improve the tract, after trying vainly to induce his 
father to deed the land to him without the necessity of coming out 
here and improving it, young Corbin decided that he had better make 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 481 

a trip to Missouri and see about his legacy. He has never regretted 
coming and has prospered with his neighbors who have taken part in 
the development of Bates county as a great agricultural center. 

G. A. Corbin was born July 22, 1846, in Harrison county. West 
Virginia, a son of Oliver P. and Nancy Ann (Taylor) Corbin, natives 
of Virginia. Oliver P. Corbin was a son of John Corbin, of Culpepper 
county, Virginia, a soldier in the War of 1812, stationed at Norfolk, 
Virginia, for some time during the war. The direct progenitor of the 
Corbin family is reputed to have been a British soldier, a Scotch-Irish- 
man, who came to America with the British forces during the American 
Revolution, and for some reason or other, probably because he was 
impressed with the right of the colonial cause, he deserted the British 
and allied with the American side, fought for the Independence of the 
Colonies against his former comrades. Oliver P. Corbin lived all his 
days in West Virginia and died there. He was twice married and was 
father of seventeen children. G. A. Corbin's mother died in 1856. 

G. A. Corbin received a good education in his native county in 
West Virginia and began teaching school when still a very young man. 
He taught in his native state until his removal to Missouri in 1871. He 
continued teaching school after his arrival in this state and taught, in 
all for ten years. To him belongs the honor of having taught the first 
free public school held at Hume, Missouri, in 1882, this first school being 
held for a period of nine months. In 1872, Mr. Corbin located at old 
Papinvile. In 1881, he located in Howard township, this county, and 
has since remained here. He engaged in teaching until his removal to 
his farm in February, 1889. Mr. Corbin erected the residence and all 
buildings situated upon the place and set out all the shade trees which 
serve to beautify the place. He has been engaged in general farming 
and stock raising until of late years his son has relieved him of the 
burden of the hard tasks of cultivating his land. 

Mr. Corbin was first married in 1871 to Harriet McDonald, of West 
Virginia. She died in 1873. His second marriage occurred September 
6, 1882, with Margaret L. Shockley, of Illinois, born April 30, 1860, a 
daughter of John Shockley, a native of Pennsylvania, and Catherine 
(Beck) Shockley, a native of Ohio. John and Catherine Shockley were 
married in Illinois, where both had removed wnth their respective parents. 
John Shockley served as captain of Company "I", One Hundred Sixth 
Illinois Infantry throughout the Civil War. He came to Bates county, 

(30 



482 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Missouri, and settled on a farm three miles north of Papinsville. His 
wife died in 1914 at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Shockley was 
born February 21, 1831, and is still strong and active, despite his 
advanced age. He reared a family of nine children : John B., died in 
April, 1914; Louisa, wife of D. O. Bradley, Rich Hill; Ada, wife of 
Frank Seelinger, Greeley, Colorado; Mrs. Margaret L. Corbin; Emma, 
died as the result of injuries received in an auto wreck, which occurred 
on the road between Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Ringgold, in 1915, 
her death taking place in the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 
September of 1915, her father receiving painful injuries at the same 
time, they both returning from a visit to the Gettysburg battlefield; 
Mrs. Nora Maupin, and Mrs. Cora Kelly, twins, reside at Waurika, 
Oklahoma; Nathaniel, on part of the old home place in Prairie township, 
near Papinsville; and James C, also on a part of the home place in the 
same neighborhood, in Prairie township. To G. A. and Margaret L. 
Corbin have been born children, as follow: Mrs. Catherine Smith, 
born July 11, 1883, lives at Santa Barbara, California, and has one 
child, Earl Dillon, born May 26, 1907; Oliver G., born April 1, 1889, 
now a private in the National Army, was formerly engaged in the gas 
engine and vulcanizing business at Bottineau, North Dakota; Ivan, born 
April 19, 1891, an instructor in bookkeeping and commercial law in 
Spalding's Commercial College at Kansas City, member of the Ancient 
Free and Accepted Masons; John Byron, born December 23, 1893, at 
home with his parents, manager of the Corbin farm, a member of the 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Blue Lodge of Hume, Missouri, 
and of the Chapter at Rich Hill. 

Politically, Mr. Corbin has generally been allied with the Demo- 
cratic party, as are his sons. Mrs. Corbin is a member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church. 

William Wheatley, substantial farmer and stockman of New Home 
township, proprietor of two farms, aggregating three hundred sixty 
acres located in New Home township, is one of the old settlers of Bates 
county. Perhaps the greatest thing to Mr. Wheatley's credit, during 
his long and successful career in this county, has been his ambition 
and determination to give each member of his family of children the 
benefit of a thorough education in preparation for their own careers. 
He has done this, at personal sacrifices on several occasions, but has 
never regretted putting into effect his well-defined plans of educating 
his children. His reward is, and will be, the satisfaction of knowing 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 483 

that each and every member of his family will be better citizens and 
better equipped to take their places in the world than if he had allowed 
them to grow up without the necessary training and opportunities 
for acquiring knowledge which he has bestowed upon them. 

William Wheatley was born in Lucas county, North Carolina, in 
184S, son of James and Elizabeth (Shumate) Wheatley, children of Vir- 
ginia parents. In 1857, James Wheatley made a trip to the state of 
Missouri for the purpose of looking over the country and finding a 
location for a new home. This decided upon, he returned home and 
moved his family by wagons to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1859. 
There was a considerable party of North Carolina people in the com- 
pany which came to Missouri and misfortune befell the company. For 
some reason or other, twenty-five members of the company contracted 
disease and died, either on the journey northward or after they had 
arrived in Johnson county. The trouble is thought to have been due 
to the bad water which they were obliged, of necessity, to drink. James 
Wheatley and his daughter, Jane, were two of the band who succumbed 
to disease and died on the same day in 1860, not long after their arrival 
in Johnson county. The family settled on a farm near Warrensburg, 
Missouri, and there William Wheatley remained until 1874. In that 
year he came to New Home township. Bates county, and bought twenty 
acres of land upon which he built a small, box house. He had no money 
when he came to this county and became a land-owner by trading a 
team and wagon for a half interest in the twenty acres. Mr. Wheatley 
had met with serious financial reverses in Johnson county and his 
object in coming to Bates county was to get a new start. He has never 
regretted coming and prosperity has smiled upon him during the many 
years of his residence in New Home township. He has built up a 
splendid estate. During his first four years in this county, Mr. Wheat- 
ley suffered greatly from chills and fever, and, in order to get rid of 
the affliction, made a trip to Texas, and the change of climate proved 
beneficial to him. The little twenty-acre tract grew to a fine farm of 
two hundred eighty acres through additions, and, in 1910, Mr. Wheat- 
ley purchased the "eighty" where his present home is located. His 
son-in-law is operating his former home place. The Wheatley farm 
has a never-failing spring which supplies water for the stock and the 
residence. 

Mr. Wheatley was married in 1872 to Elizabeth Grier of Johnson 
county, who died in 1890, leaving two children: Carlos, a railroad man 



484 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

in Oklahoma; and Mrs. Lillian Bowan, Visalia, California. His second 
marriage, in 1892, was with Mrs. Margaret (Moore) Graves, widow of 
George Graves, and daughter of Macklin Moore. By her first mar- 
riage with George Graves, Mrs. Wheatley had three children, namely : 
WiUiam, living in Kansas; Roy, deceased; and George Graves, deceased. 
To William and Margaret (Graves) Wheatley have been born seven 
children: Mrs. Julia Ayer, Rich Hill, Missouri; Dr. James Wheatley, 
a practicing dentist, Seneca, Kansas; Mrs. Goldie Caton, New Home 
township; Ivy and Ira, twins, the former a teacher in the public schools, 
and the latter, at home; Mary, a student in Rich Hill High School; 
and Mildred. 

Mr. Wheatley has generally been a follower and supporter of Repub- 
lican principles but has never taken an active part in political affairs. 
He belongs to no lodge or organization which would have a tendency 
to take him from the bosom of his family. He is an exemplary citi- 
zen whose course in life has been marked by a steadfast devotion to his 
wife and children, and everything which he accomplishes is with the 
end in view that the different members can be comfortable and happy. 

Isaac H. Botkin, retired farmer. Union veteran, and Bates county 
pioneer, is one of the grand old men of Bates county. He is now living 
comfortably retired in Foster and his long life has been an eventful and 
very useful one. Mr. Botkin was born in Belmont county, Ohio, March 
10, 1834. His parents were R. C. and Rachel (Vernon) Botkin, natives 
of Maryland and Pennsylvania respectively. His mother was born on 
the banks of the historic Brandywine in the Keystone state. Both his 
father and mother lived all of their days in Belmont county, Ohio. The 
Botkin family is one of the oldest and best known of the old American 
families and its members are prominent in various sections of the United 
States. Secretary of State Thomas H. Botkin of Kansas is a relative of 
Isaac H. Botkin, subject of this biographical review. There were ten 
children in the Botkin family, all of whom are deceased except two. The 
children were as follow: Maria, born January 27, 1819; Arlotto, born 
August 21, 1820; Benjamin V., born July 15, 1822; Sarah, born April 7, 
1825; Elma N., born July 25, 1827; John Y., born April 5, 1829; Susan 
Y., born March 21, 1832; Isaac Harry, born March 10, 1834; Catherine E., 
born July 4, 1836; Caroline, born July 12, 1839. The only member of 
this family living besides Isaac Harry Botkin, is Mrs. Susan Y. Chap- 
man, of Claysville, Washington county, Pennsylvania. 

In the spring of 1858, Isaac H. Botkin went westward to Iowa and 




ISAAC H. BOTKIN. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 485 

settled in Adams county, where he purchased one hundred sixty- 
acres of land. He erected a small cabin, and broke up the land for his 
first crops with a breaking plow pulled by ox teams. Civil War breaking 
out between the Union and the Southern states, he enlisted in Company 
C, Fourth Regiment of Iowa Cavalry on November 15, 1861 and served 
until his honorable discharge at Atlanta, Georgia, August 17, 1865. He 
was sixth sergeant of his company, and after his term of enlistment 
expired he re-enlisted as a veteran December 12, 1863, and was promoted 
to the post of first lieutenant of Company I on February 18, 1865, under 
General Winslow. His first battle in the war was at Pea Ridge, after 
which he was placed in charge of two thousand prisoners who were to 
be escorted from Rolla, Missouri to Springfield. His command then 
went to Batesville, down the White river to Helena. He was then detached 
from his command and sent back to southwestern Iowa on recruiting 
duty. This work being performed he returned to Camp McConnell at 
Davenport, Iowa, and a short time later was ordered to report to his 
regiment which was to take part in the siege of Vicksburg under Gen- 
eral Grant. After the fall of Vicksburg they were ordered to destroy 
the Central Mississippi railroad as far as the environs of Memphis, thus 
severing one of the arteries of communication held by the Confederates. 
This task partly accomplished, they went to Yazoo City where they 
awaited supplies. Their provision ship being grounded in the river, 
the men of the regiment elected to go on without their supplies and 
finish the task of tearing up the railroad. From Memphis they were 
then ordered back to Vicksburg. Other engagements in which this 
valiant soldier participated were Gunntown, Mississippi; Tupelo, Mis- 
sissippi; Jackson, Mississippi; Champion Hills; battles which were fought 
before the siege and capture of Vicksburg. His next encampment was 
at Louisville, Kentucky, where his regiment remained until the spring 
of 1865, and then proceeded to Gravelly Springs, Tennessee, under Gen- 
erals Wilson and Upton who moved out and struck the forces of General 
Forrest at Selby, Alabama, capturing the Confederate forces and blow- 
ing up the munition supplies. They then crossed the river and took 
Fort Montgomery and after a night attack, captured Columbus, Georgia. 
They met a flag of truce at Macon, Georgia and learned that General 
Lee had surrendered. After receiving his discharge at Atlanta, he with 
the regiment Was sent to Davenport, Iowa, and mustered out. 

Mr. Botkin returned to his farm and remained in Iowa for two and 
a half years, then traded his Iowa farm for land in New Home town- 



486 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ship, Bates county, taking possession of his new tract in the fall of 
1869. The Botkin farm is unquestionably one of the best and richest 
four-hundred-acre tracts in western Missouri, with splendid improve- 
ments and known as "Maple Grove Farm." The Botkin farm residence 
is an imposing place of eleven rooms almost completely encircled with 
wide verandas and sitting in a beautiful grove of large maple trees planted 
by Mr. Botkin. For some years this fine farm has been in the capable 
hands of Mr. E. D. Waller, a son-in-law of Mr. Botkin. 

On December 5, 1869, the marriage of Isaac Harry Botkin and Miss 
Emma F. Jones took place and the marriage has been a very happy and 
prosperous one, blessed with children as follow: Robert Edward, de- 
ceased, and his remains lie in Foster cemetery; Benjamin V., born in 
1875, lives in Spokane, Washington; Mrs. Ina Waller, wife of E. D. 
Waller, Rich Hill, Missouri. The mother of this family was born Janu- 
ary 7, 1838, in Culpepper county, Virginia, a daughter of William Edward 
and Lucretia (Barrack) Jones, the former of whom was born in North 
Carolina and the latter was a native of Virginia. William E. Jones 
located in De Kalb county, Missouri, in 1866 and there bought a four- 
hundred-acre farm which he sold in 1869 and then came to Bates county 
where he died. 

Mr. Botkin has been a Democrat in politics and during his younger 
days, he took a keen interest in political matters, serving his township 
as trustee. He and Mrs. Botkin are members of the Foster Baptist 
church, and Mr. Botkin is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons. They retired to a home in Foster, by reason of advancing age 
on April 4, 1905. When Mr. Botkin moved to Foster the town was 
infested with saloons. During all of his life he has been a strong temper- 
ance advocate and he promptly led the fight for the abolition of the saloon 
from the village and eventually succeeded. Despite threats from the 
saloon advocates who sent him word to "leave town or be killed" he 
stayed by his guns and won out in behalf of morality and order. He is 
still overseeing the cultivation of one hundred thirty-five acres adjoin- 
ing the city all of which are sown to wheat for the next harvest. For 
twenty-five years, this aged citizen fed hundreds of cattle and has bought 
and sold live stock in this section of Missouri for many years. 

Despite his great age and the fact that he gave four of the best 
years of his life to the defense of the Union, during which time he never 
experienced a sick call and was never wounded, he is still able to manage 
his own business affairs and his intellect is keen, and his patriotism is 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 487 

undimmed — his love of the old flag under which he marched and fought 
being as great as when in the flower of his young manhood he freely 
offered his life that the Union might be saved, and would now be on 
the firing line in Europe fighting in defesne of democracy were he still 
a young man. 

Francis Marion Wheeler, of Howard township, is a "self-made," 
very successful agriculturist, owner of a quarter section of highly pro- 
ductive land which has served as his home place since April 8, 1888. 
Mr. Wheeler was born May 1, 1851, in Schuyler county, Illinois, son of 
Austin King and Adeline C. (Chipman) Wheeler, natives of Guilford 
county. North Carolina, members of old Southern families. Austin H. 
Wheeler was born May 23, 1813, and died in 1901. He was married in 
North Carolina on May 31, 1838. He was the son of John and Keziah 
Wheeler. His wife was a daughter of Obadiah H. and Keziah Chip- 
man. She was born October 22, 1816. Austin Wheeler migrated to 
Pettis county, Missouri, in 1856, and purchased an improved farm which 
he later sold and opened a blacksmith's shop. Civil War breaking out, 
he lost his business and then engaged in farming. When his health 
failed him in 1878, he came to Bates county, making his home in Sprague, 
after living at the home of his son, F. M. Wheeler. He died in 1882. 
He was father of six children : Rensselaer Harris, deceased ; Keziah 
Ann Larue, living in New Mexico; John Henry, deceased; Harriet, 
died in infancy; F. M., subject of this review and his twin sister, Mrs. 
Mary Frances Winston, Rich Hill. 

The early life of Fr?ncis Marion WHieeler was replete with hard- 
ships and he obtained but little education. From boyhood he has been 
self-supporting. When he came to Bates county on March 20, 1878, 
all that he owned in the world was a good span of mules, a plow, a 
wagon, a cultivator, and one hundred dollars in money, which money 
he had carefully saved. The first thing he did upon coming here was 
to purchase eighty acres of land in Howard township at a cost of five 
dollars an acre. He broke up thirty acres of this tract and sowed it 
to wheat, the crop yielding only ten bushels to the acre. He planted a 
good corn crop which was ruined in August of that year by a hail- 
storm. His beginning in this county was not auspicious and the out- 
come of his first year in farming here was not encouraging. But, Mr. 
WHieeler was made of true pioneer material and he kept at the task 
of improving his farm and the second year was a better one. Con- 
tinual good crops, in spite of the ordinary set-backs, of course, have 



488 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

made him a well-to-do citizen. His first home, which is still standing 
on the premises, was a small two-room house, which has been sup- 
planted by a pretty cottage, erected in 1910. In addition to his fine farm 
in Bates county, Mr. Wheeler owns a tract of timber land comprising 
fifty-three acres in Howell county, Missouri. 

November 28, 1877, he was married to Miss Phoebe Ferguson 
Bright, wdio was born in Saline county, Missouri, September 8, 1854, 
a daughter of John and Margaret (Grissom) Bright, natives of Vir- 
ginia and Kentucky, respectively. John Bright made a settlement in 
Missouri in the early thirties and entered government land. He died 
in July, 1890, and his wife followed him in death three years later, her 
death occurring in July, 1893. The following children have been born 
to Francis Marion and Phoebe Wheeler: Charley, born February 6, 
1879, is employed in the Rich Hill lumber yard; Aubrey Blaine, born 
October 14, 1880, lives in Arkansas; Mrs. Rose Thomas, born Novem- 
ber 20, 1882, lives at Pittsburg, Kansas; Arthur W., born December 
18, 1884, a farmer in Howard township; Burch F., born January 24, 
1887, lives in Kansas City; Austin K., born December 22, 1888, makes 
his home at Rich Hill; Lydia Ann, born February 23, 1891, at home; 
Francis Marion, Jr., born September 26, 1893, a private in the National 
Army, stationed at the training camp at Fort Pike, Little Rock, Arkan- 
sas; Joseph F., born October 4, 1898, at home. 

Mr. Wheeler votes the Republican ticket but is not greatly inter- 
ested in matters which would have a tendency to divert him from his 
fireside and home interests. He is essentially a home man, one whose 
family and farm are his first consideration at all times, 

James Claude Berry, or "J- C." Berry, extensive farmer, tax col- 
lector of New Home township, Bates county, was born November 22, 
1870, in Saline county, Missouri, a member of an old pioneer family 
of Missouri. His father was A. M. Berry, a native of Bates county, 
and his mother was Mary E. (Prewitt) Berry, a native of Jackson 
county, Missouri. A. M. Berry was born in 1843 and died January 
3, 1917, in Oregon, at the time of his death being probably the oldest 
living pioneer of Bates county. Mary E. Berry was born in 1838 and 
departed this life in June, 1915. A. M. Berry was born in New Home 
township, a son of John Berry, a native of Kentucky who settled in 
Bates county in the early thirties. During the Civil War period, the 
Berry family left the county and did not return until the war closed. 
A. M. Berry served in the Confederate army under General Price and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 489 

saw much hard service in Missouri, Arkansas, and the South. After 
the war, he returned to Sahne county and made his home there until 
his removal in 1883 to Bates county and to Charlotte township, where 
he lived until 1895, when he removed to Oklahoma. Ten years later, 
he moved to Oregon and there died. His children were as follow: 
W. H., Oregon; N. A., living in Kansas; S. A., living in Washington; 
James Claude, subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Bessie L. Wallace, 
Oregon. 

J. C. Berry was educated in the schools of Saline county and of Bates 
county. He began doing for himself when nineteen years old and first 
farmed on his own account in Mt. Pleasant township. He purchased 
his first farm in New Home township in 1896. He improved the tract 
and sold it shortly afterward. He then bought a place consisting of one 
hundred twenty acres, located just north of his present home. He sold 
forty acres of this tract and the remaining eighty acres are included 
within his present holdings of two hundred forty acres. His present 
home place is well improved with a good home, barns, and silo. Mr. 
Berry is farming and pasturing a total of six hundred acres, in all, and 
raises and feeds over seventy-five head of cattle yearly. 

J. C. Berry was married in 1893 to Lillie Pickett, a daughter of 
John E. and Maria J. (Lindley) Pickett, who came to Bates county in 
1883. That is, the widow and family located in this county at that time, 
Mr. Pickett having died in Illinois. Mrs. Pickett now makes her home 
among her children. Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Berry have children, as fol- 
low: Ruby, Ralph, Grace, Frank, Sina, Lena, Emmet, and Mabel, 
all at home with their parents. 

Mr. Berry is prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party in 
Bates county and is now serving his second term as tax collector of 
New Home township. He was first elected to this office in 1915 and 
re-elected in March, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Berry and the three oldest 
children are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Berry is affiliated 
with the Modern Woodmen of America at Butler. 

Fred Crabb, proprietor of a splendid farm of two hundred acres 
of Osage township, was born in 1867 in Mason county, Illinois, a son of 
Willis and Mary (Forsythe) Crabb. former residents of Bates county, 
who have the unique distinction of holding the record for long marriages 
in Missouri and probably the United States. Willis Crabb was born 
January 7, 1823, in Greene county, Illinois, son of Edward and Eliza- 
beth Crabb, pioneer settlers of Greene county, Illinois. Willis Crabb 



490 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

was reared in his native state and brought up on a pioneer farm. He 
made a settlement in Bates county, Missouri, in 1884. Prior to this 
year, in 1879, he came to this county and purchased a tract of land. 
Land was cheap and plentiful in those days in Bates county and there 
were not many permanent farmers in the southern part of Bates county. 
Much of the land was open prairie but the deep rich soil was awaiting 
the touch of the husbandman to transform its appearance and furnish 
a place upon which to build homes. Willis Crabb was very fortunate in 
his first venture in this county. He had broken up sixty acres of his land 
and had it sown to wheat which yielded a fine crop and brought the large 
sum of two dollars twenty-five cents per bushel. He sold his wheat 
crop, or rather his share of it, for enough to pay for his land. He made 
a permanent settlement in Osage township in 1884 and erected excel- 
lent improvements upon his farm. He resided on the home place until 
1900 and then moved to Rich Hill. He resided in Rich Hill until the 
fall of 1917 and then removed to Springfield, Missouri, where he is now 
living and enjoying life at the great age of ninety-five years. 

The marriage of Willis Crabb and Mary Forsythe, born in Illinois in 
1829, occurred in 1848, and was blessed with children as follow: Mrs. 
Fannie Cunningham, living in Chicago; John, a resident of Los Angeles; 
Lott, a railroad man who was killed in California, while engaged in his 
regular occupation; William, connected with the Farmers Bank of Rich 
Hill ; Edith, wife of Charles Faylor, residing in Howard township ; Rachel 
and Ida, residing in Springfield, Missouri; Fred Crabb, subject of this 
review; Florence, wife of C. C. McGinness, Howard township; and 
Mrs. Gussie Noble, Springfield, Missouri. 

February 14, 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Crabb celebrated their Seventieth 
W^edding Anniversary at their home in Springfield. The event attracted 
widespread attention because of the fact that the anniversary was a 
unique one in point of years of continuous married life, which the aged 
couple have enjoyed. Both are well past the allotted span of life, are 
well, hearty, and in full possession of their faculties. Seventy years 
seems a long, long time as years come and go and Mr. and Mrs. Crabb 
probably hold the record for Missouri in having attained to such great 
longevity and having been married for such a length of time. Many 
wonderful changes have taken place in their life-time and it is given 
to but few people to reside on earth for such a period. They enjoy 
the respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. 
Mr. Crabb was one of Bates countv's best citizens. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 49 1 

PVed Crabb was a sturdy youth of seventeen years, when the family 
settled in Bates county and he was well able and willing to perform 
a man's work. He received his public school education in Illinois and 
also attended the Rich Hill High School, after coming to Bates county. 
He has resided constantly in Bates county since 1884 with the exception 
of three years in Illinois, from 1896 to 1898, inclusive. He then returned 
to this county and in 1899 purchased the Crabb home place and is owner 
of two hundred acres of land at the present time. Mr. Crabb is engaged 
in general farming and stock raising and is one of the successful agri- 
culturists of Bates county. He was married in 1895 to Rachel Stickle, 
of Rich Hill, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Stickle, who were born 
in Austria apd immigrated to this country and settled in Rich Hill. 
Eleven children have been born to Fred and Rachel Crabb, as follow: 
Mary, a teacher in the Howard township public schools; Joseph Daniel, 
an enlisted man in the United States Navy; Willis, deceased; Frances, 
a teacher in the public schools of Osage township; Edith and Florence, 
students in the Rich Hill High School; Charles, Virgil, and Gussie, 
attending the district school; Margaret, aged four years; and Alma, aged 
one year. 

Politically, Mr. Crabb is aligned with the Democratic party and 
has filled the office of township trustee. He is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America. Mr. Crabb is a genial, whole-souled citizen, 
who is well liked by his neighbors and friends and is looked upon as a 
progressive Bates county citizen. 

Frank U. Mathers, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of 
Adrian, Missouri, is one of the young citizens of Bates county who are 
widely and favorably known as industrious, enterprising, successful men. 
Mr. Mathers is one of Bates county's own sons. He was born in 1890, 
a son of J. W. and Anna Mathers, who came to Missouri from Indiana 
in 188v3 and located at Adrian, where J. W. Mathers was engaged in 
the mercantile business for more than twenty-five years. He died in 
1917 and the widowed mother makes her home at Adrian and with her 
reside her son, Frank U., and his wife. J. W. Mathers was a well- 
known and well-to-do merchant and at the time of his death was the 
owner of considerable property in Adrian, including his residence and 
his business establishment. 

Mr. Mathers, whose name introduces this review, is a graduate 
the Adrian High School and a former student of the Warrensburg State 
Normal School, which latter institution he attended two years. He 



492 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

also completed a course of study at the Central Business College, 
Kansas City, Missouri, after which he was employed for six years by 
the VYarnken Dry Goods Company. Mr. Mathers resigned his posi- 
tion with this company to accept the assistant cashiership of the First 
National Bank of Adrian, Missouri, which place he is capably filling 
at the time of this writing in 1918. He graduated from the Adrian 
High School in the class of 1906. 

November 20, 1916, Frank U. Mathers and Lola Porter were united 
in marriage. Lola (Porter) Mathers is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
E. A. Porter, of Adrian, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Mathers reside at 
Adrian with Mr. Mathers' mother. He is a stockholder as well as 
an official of the First National Bank of Adrian. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Mathers richly merit and possess the warm regard of a host of friends 
in Adrian and in Bates county. 

James T. Ackerman. — Hard work and rigid economy was the pro- 
gram for the early life of James T. Ackerman, well-to-do farmer and 
stockman of Howard township. The Ackerman farm was purchased by 
its proprietor during the winter of 1871. Mr. Ackerman made his first 
investment in Bates county land when the ground was covered with snow 
to a depth of nearly two feet but has never regretted his purchase. His 
first quarter section cost him ten dollars an acre — unbroken prairie land 
which he fenced and improved. The farm now consists of four hundred 
acres of rich, valuable soil which produces bountiful crops each year. 
His handsome home stands on a commanding knoll which affords a 
view of the surrounding country for miles in every direction, the rich 
bottom land lying about the farm buildings on all sides. During his 
residence of forty-seven years in Bates county, Mr. Ackerman has never 
purchased any fiour, the farm producing his needs each year. He has 
sown one hundred acres to wheat for next year's harvest. During the 
past year he harvested ninety acres of corn which yielded an average 
of forty bushels to the acre; forty acres of oats which produced forty 
bushels to the acre. At the present time (December, 1917) he is feed- 
ing seventy-five head of cattle and thirty hogs and keeps ten horses 
and mules to do the farm work. Mr. Ackerman has expended over 
fifteen thousand dollars for improvements on his farm and it is his proud 
boast that he "owes no man a dollar." The farm is equipped with nat- 
ural gas obtained from a well drilled in 1912 to a depth of two hundred 
eighty-six feet. 

James T. Ackerman was born at Salem, Forsythe county, North 




\ 



JAMES T. ACKERMAN AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 493 

Carolina, January 13, 1850, a son of William and Jeanette (Spock) 
Ackerman. William Ackerman was a son of John Ackerman who emi- 
grated from Germany to America when a young man and settled in 
North Carolina. The Ackerman family came to Missouri in 1868 and 
resided at Montserrat, in Johnson county for a period of fifteen years, 
then removed to Warrensburg. When James T. Ackerman came to 
Bates county in 1881 the father accompanied him and he cared for him 
until the end of his days, the father dying in 1911 at the age of eighty- 
three years. The mother departed this life in 1858. WHiile a resident 
of Montserrat, James T. Ackerman worked as a section hand on the rail- 
road and drove a team for the coal mines for a period of eleven years 
at a wage of one dollar and fifty cents per day. During this time he 
carried the burden of supporting and rearing his father's family but 
managed to save money each year. He was never averse to earning an 
honest dollar aside from his regular employment and managed to earn 
a good many extra dollars which he carefully saved. Opportunities for 
loaning money at 10 per cent, interest were plentiful in those days and 
he increased his hoard by doing this. It was and has always been his 
contention, that it matters not what a man earns, "it is what he saves 
that counts in the end." When he had accumulated a total of one thou- 
sand six hundred dollars, he said one day to his wife, 'T guess I'll go 
and buy me a home." This he did in Bates county where he now ranks 
as one of the oldest of the pioneer settlers and one of the most substan- 
tial and best respected of his section. 

The marriage of James T. Ackerman and Lesta Stultz took place 
on October 18, 1874 and has been blessed with the following children: 
Minnie, wife of J. P. Adams, assistant cashier of the Bank of Hume, 
Hume, Missouri; Arthur, born in 1877, resides on one of his father's 
farms, married Lola Liggett, and has four children: Vivita, Oscar, 
Golden and A. J.; Alfred, born in 1879, lives at El Dorado, Kansas; 
Cleveland, born 1885, United States railway mail clerk since 1905, and 
resides at Kansas City, Missouri. The mother of these children was 
born in 1853 in North Carolina, first came to Indiana in 1865 and came 
to Montserrat, Johnson county, Missouri with her parents, Elisha and 
Matilda Stultz, in 1866. 

The Democratic party has always had the steadfast allegiance of 
Mr. Ackerman and he has generally voted the straight Democratic 
ticket. He has never had any time for political matters and has never 
cared for nor ever sought political office. He and Mrs. Ackerman are 



494 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

members of the Presbyterian church. He is a genial, kindly, shrewd, 
and capable citizen whose word is considered as good as his bond, one 
who has found Bates county a profitable and a good place in which to 
live and rear a family. Mr. Ackerman's unswerving loyalty to Bates 
county is inspiring and he is certain that there is no better plat of ground 
in America than this county. 

Clarence C. Swarens, a leading citizen of New Home township, pro- 
prietor of a splendid farm of one hundred thirty acres, candidate for the 
nomination for the office of clerk of the circuit court of Bates county, 
is one of the best-known of the second generation of Bates county's 
citizens. Mr. Swarens was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, Aug'ust 
9, 1867, a son of John and Ann (Ray) Swarens, who migrated from 
Illinois to Bates county, Missouri, in 1882 and made a permanent settle- 
ment in New Home township, where they reared a fine family. For 
further information regarding the parents of C. C. Swarens, the reader 
is referred to the biography of Frank R. Swarens, brother of the sub- 
ject of this review. 

Mr. Swarens attended the public schools of Springfield, Illinois, 
and completed the prescribed course in the Springfield public schools at 
the early age of twelve years. After studying for one year in the 
Springfield High School, he spent one year in Business College. He 
accompanied his parents to Bates county and assisted his father in the 
operation of the home farm during his boyhood days. As early as 
1892. he engaged in the profession of teaching and successfully taught 
in the public schools in Bates county and Texas for twenty or more 
terms. During 1892 and 1893 he pursued the study of law at the Uni- 
versity of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, and graduated from the law^ depart- 
ment of the university. Following his graduation, being admitted to 
the bar, he went to Houston, Texas, and practiced law for one year in 
that city. He then taught school near Houston for some time. 

Following his teaching experience in Texas, he was employed as 
chief night clerk in the Houston postoffice for a period of three years. 
He then returned to Bates county in 1898 and has since resided here, 
with the exception of one year (1915) spent as clerk in the mailing 
clepartmeni of the Kansas City postoffice. Mr. Swarens, having been 
born and brought up on a farm, is an excellent farmer, progressive 
in his agricultural methods. The Swarens place in New Home town- 
ship is one of the most attractive in Bates county and is well equipped 
wnth a handsome farm residence and good buildings. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 495 

Mr. Swarens was married on February 3, 1895, to Miss Lizzie 
Thomas, born in New Home township, March 6, 1876, a claugliter ot 
James P. Thomas, the patriarch of New Home township, one of the 
oldest of the Bates county pioneers, concerning whose career an extended 
review is given elsewhere in this volume. Two children have been born 
to Clarence C. and Lizzie Swarens: Goldie, born August 14, 1897; 
and Lewis, born April 5, 1901. Goldie Swarens was married February 
5, 1916, to Lugene Casebolt, of Warrensburg, Missouri. 

The Democratic party has had the unswerving allegiance of Mr. 
Swarens at all times and he has been prominent in the affairs of his 
party in Bates county for a number of years. He has served as central 
committeeman for his township and has generally been active in the 
support of his party's activities and policies. He is one of the best- 
known of the leaders of the Democracy in Bates county and at the 
present writing (March, 1918) is a candidate for the nomination for 
clerk of the circuit court at the August primaries. The candidacy of 
Mr. Sv^arens for this oftice has met with considerable encouragement 
and it is universally conceded that he is equipped educationally and 
mentally, and possesses ability above the average to enable him to 
perform the duties of the office sought. He is popular with all classes 
and is deserving of the support of his fellow citizens for the office. Mr. 
Swarens is a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Mr. and Mrs. 
Swarens take an active part in the social life of their neighborhood and 
are well esteemed in their home neighborhood. 

D. B. Reist, the capable and highly respected cashier of the Adrian 
Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, formerly local manager of the 
Hurley Lumbe" Company of Adrian, an ex-councilman of this city, is 
a native of Indiana. Mr. Reist was born in 1876 at Flora in Carroll 
county, Indiana, a son of J W. and Mrs. Reist. His mother died when 
he was an mfant ten months of age and he was adopted by Mr. and 
Mrs. W. B. Switzer, natives of Indiana, who reared and educated him. 
Thev moved from Indiana to Missouri in 1880 and located at Rich 
Hill, where they resided two years, and in 1882 purchased a small tract 
of land located three miles east of Adrian, to which they moved. 

Mr. Reist, whose name introduces this review, obtained his educa- 
tion in the public schools of Bates county, Missouri. He was a small 
lad, four years of age, when he came with his foster parents to this 
part of the country and while the Switzers resided at Rich Hill he 
attended school at that place, school being held in the old Presbyterian 



496 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

church building. When they moved to 'their farm, D. B. Reist attended 
school at Little Deercreek school house. Mrs. W. B. Switzer was 
employed as teacher of Little Deercreek school the first session which 
Mr. Reist attended. After he had completed the prescribed course of 
study, he continued to reside with Mr. and Mrs. Switzer and to assist 
with the work on their farm. In 1900, Mr. Reist located at Adrian, 
where he accepted a position with the Hurley Lumber Company of 
of Adrian and for four years was local manager of the lumber yards 
in this city and for two years at Archie. In 1906, Mr. Reist resigned 
his position with the Hurley Lumber Company of Archie, returned to 
Adrian, and accepted a position as bookkeeper with the Adrian Bank- 
ing Company and the ensuing year he was elected assistant cashier. 
Since August 1, 1911. Mr. Reist has been faithfully and competently 
filling the position of cashier of the Adrian Banking Company. 

The marriage of D. B. Reist and Minnie M. Stilwell, a daughter 
of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Stilwell, was solemnized in 1899 and to this union 
has been born one child, a daughter, Nadine B., who is at home with 
her parents Mr. and Mrs. Reist are worthy and consistent members 
of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Reist has been superintendent 
of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday School for nine years and, at the 
time of this writing in 1918, is president of the Deercreek Township Sun- 
day School Association. They own their home in Adrian in addition 
to a farm in Grand River township and Mr. Reist is a stockholder and 
director of the Adrian Banking Company. 

The Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, was organized 
in 1883 with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars and the follow- 
ing oflficers: H. Moudy, president; J. Scudder, cashier; and John Murphy, 
H. Moudy, A. J. Satterlee, J. Scudder, H. F. Wilhite, H. L. Fair, 
J. N. Bricker, and F. J. Taggard, stockholders, seven of whom were 
directors. Of the eight original stockholders, three are now 'living, 
namely: H. Moudy, H. L. Fair, and H. F. Wilhite. Mr. Moudy and 
Mr. Fair reside at Adrian and Mr. Wilhite is a resident of Lordsburg, 
Los Angeles county, California. This financial institution was first 
started in 1882 as a private bank and did not organize as the Adrian 
Banking Company until one year later. June 2, 1885, the capital stock 
was increased from ten thousand dollars to fifteen thousand dollars 
and since that time there has been a further increase to twenty-five 
thousand dollars, which in itself speaks well for the efificient manage- 
ment of the bank. The present officers of the Adrian Banking Com- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 497 

pany are as follow: M. V. Owen, president; D. F. Andes, vice-president; 
D. B. Reist, cashier; and W. W. Ricketts, assistant cashier; and M. V. 
Owen, D. F. Andes, J. M. Reeder, G. L. Argenbright, and D. B. Reist, 
directors. This bank is one of the strong, sound financial institutions 
of Bates county, of which all are proud, and its remarkable success from 
the very beginning is undoubtedly due to its wise management by 
gentlemen of supjerdor business ability, wjiose integrity, as well as 
financial standing, is far above question. 

Politically, D. B. Reist is a member of the Republican party. He 
has held different offices of public trust, he has served as a member 
of the city council of Adrian, and he has been secretary of the Adrian 
school board He takes a deep interest in lodge work and is affiliated 
with the Odd Fellows at Adrian. Mr. Reist was a representative from 
the Adrian chapter to the Grand Lodge for two years and he is a 
nominee for the position of grand warden. He was for two years 
district deputy grand warden of Bates county. Mr. Reist is not only 
an able financier, but an honorable, courteous gentleman, one of the 
county's valuable, substantial, public-spirited citizens. 

W. W. Ricketts, the well-know^n and competent assistant cashier 
of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, is one of Bates 
county's native sons whom all are proud to claim, a son of R. R. and 
Sarah Ricketts, the eldest of seven children born to his parents, who 
are, as follow: W. W., the subject of this review; Mrs. Grace Black- 
man. Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Ruby Blackman, Kansas City, Missouri; 
Mrs. Phillis Hooper, Gillespie, Illinois; J. C, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. 
Rosa Hardman, Drexel, Missouri; and Blanche, Adrian, Missouri. Mr. 
and Mrs. R. R. Ricketts have an adopted son, Zolas. R. R. Ricketts 
came to Missouri from California in 1880 and settled on a tract of land, 
embracing one hundred acres located in Grand River township, where 
he has ever since been and now^ is engaged in farming and stock raising. 
He and his second son, J. C, are associated in partnership and they 
rent two hundred acres of land, in addition to their own farm, and are 
successfully conducting a very profitable business, both being intelligent, 
progressive, and industrious agriculturis4;s, and they are widely and 
favorably known in Bates county. 

Miss Edith White was employed as teacher of the Craw^ford school 
in Grand River township. Bates county, when W. W. Ricketts began 
his school work about tw^enty-five years ago. He was later taught by 
Curtis Smith and Mr. Gregg, while a pupil in the same school as men- 

(32) 



498 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

tioned above. Mr. Ricketts completed the public school course at War- 
rensburg in 1905 and immediately accepted a position at Kansas City, 
Missouri, with the National Bank of Commerce, which place he held 
for three years and then resigned to accept a position with the New 
England National Bank of Kansas City. Mr. Ricketts was with the 
latter institution three years when he came to Adrian, Missouri, in 1911, 
to assume the duties of assistant cashier of the Adrian Banking Com- 
pany, a position he is filling with satisfaction to all concerned, at the 
time of this writing in 1918. 

The marriage of W. W. Ricketts and Stella Smith, a daughter of 
W. H. and Anna Smith, of Cass county, Missouri, was solemnized in 
1910. To this union has been born one child, a son, Gordon. Mrs. 
Ricketts is a member of the Christian church and Mr. Ricketts of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. They reside in Adrian, in which city they 
own an attractive residence and, in addition, two building lots. Mr. 
Ricketts is a stockholder of the Adrian Banking Company, a sketch of 
w^hich institution will be found in connection with the biography of 
D. B. Reist, wdiich appears elsewhere in this volume. 

Mr. Ricketts is affiliated with the Democratic party and although 
he is a conscientious upholder of his political principles, he is by no 
means narrow or bigoted in his views. He has now for many years 
maintained an enviable standing in his home county, has filled with 
marked credit to himself several important positions of trust, and he 
possesses to an unusually large degree the confidence and respect of 
tfic people with whom he has so long been associated. W. W. Ricketts 
has attained his present high standing in this community not because 
of wealth, inheritance, or aid of influential friends but because of his 
own inherent worth and Adrian is proud to number him among the city's 
most representative citizens. 

Reverend Ira Witmore, the well-known and competent manager 
of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri, an honored bishop 
of the Church of the Brethren, One of Bates county's most progressive 
and prosperous citizens, is a native of Ohio. Reverend ^^'itmore was 
born in 1868, a son of Jacob and Amanda Witmore. For three genera- 
tions, the Witmores have been ministers in the Church of the Brethren, 
Jonathan, the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Ira, and Ira \\'it- 
more, who traces his lineage back to a prominent and highly respected 
colonial family of Pennsylvania. 

In the state of Ohio, Reverend Ira Witmore was reared and edu- 
cated. He came to Missouri in 1881 and settled in Bates county in 1893 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 499 

on a splendid farm, of eighty acres of land, located one mile from Adrian, 
for which place he paid twenty-five dollars an acre. Reverend Witmore 
was recently offered one hundred dollars an acre for his farm, which is 
not for sale. His home is one of the most beautiful country places in 
this part of the state. He but lately disposed of his stock interests, in 
order that he might give his entire attention to the work of the Farmers 
Lumber Company, of which he is manager. As a minister of the Gospel, 
Reverend Witmore is many times called upon to perform marriage cere- 
monies and funeral rites. 

The marriage of Reverend Ira Witmore and Hannah Blocher, a 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Blocher, who came to Illinois from 
Pennsylvania, in the early days of the settlement of that state, and thence 
to Missouri, was solemnized in 1892. To this union have been born four 
children: Merle, Irma, Gertrude, and Naomi, all of whom reside at 
home with their parents. Reverend and Mrs. Witmore are highly 
esteemed in Adrian, where the Witmore family is numbered among the 
best families. 

The Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri was organized 
in 1903 at Adrian, Missouri with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, 
consisting of four hundred shares. The company has long been self- 
sustaining and has prospered from the very beginning. The Farmers 
Lumber Company of Adrian has annually paid a dividend of from five 
to ten per cent, and stock in the company is at the present time selling 
for sixty dollars a share, which sold originally for twenty-five dollars. 
The officers of the company, at the time of this writing in 1918, are, as 
follow: E. H. Wyatt, president; W. H. Wagner, vice-president; L. 
R. Allen, secretary; Ira Witmore, manager; E. H. Wyatt, L. R. Allen, 
D. F. Andes, W. H. Wagner, H. Baie, directors; D. W. Six and J. P. 
Reeder, clerks. This company financed the building of the Adrian 
Cheese Factory, which is proving to be a most profitable investment. 
Reverend Witmore was elected manager of the company in 1908 and 
for three years prior to that he had been a clerk of the companv. The 
Farmers Lumber Company handle all kinds of building material, includ- 
ing lumber, doors, cement, paint, and builders' hardware, all of which 
have greatly advanced in price during the past ten years. The com- 
parativ-e values of the material in 1908 and 1918 are not only interesting 
in themselves but are of historical value, and are given below. 

1908 1918 

Cement, per sack $ .35 $ .65 



500 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Lumber, per hundred feet --■ 2.25 3.75 " 

Flooring 2.50 4.50 

Shingles. 3.75 ' 5.00 

Galvanized iron, per square 4.25 12.00 

Paint, per gallon 1.65 3.00 

The company had, at the time of this writing in 1918, a carload of 
yellow pine coming from Louisiana, which is costing eleven hundred 
fifty-two dollars and twenty-four cents. S. H. Ray was the first busi- 
ness manager of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian and under 
his capable management a surplus fund of two thousand eight hundred 
eighty-four dollars and eighty-two cents was accumulated. Since Mr. 
Witmore has assumed the management, this fund has been increased 
to ten thousand one hundred dollars, an increase which certainly reflects 
great credit upon the efiticient business management of the company. 
Reverend Witmore has also increased the capacity of the company's 
building and it now owns two large plants. He relates many interest- 
ing and amusing experiences which he has had as manager of a new 
company beginning to make itself felt in competition with older firms. 
The prosperity of the Farmers Lumber Company is sufficient proof of 
its phenomenal success. 

Willard Trout. — Thirty-four years ago, Willard Trout, leading 
farmer and stockman, of Howard township, Bates county, came to Bates 
county without a dollar to his name. He began his career in this county 
as a farm hand and is now one of the wealthy and influential citizens 
of the county. Mr. Trout owes his continued success to the fact that, 
when he had determined upon a certain method of procedure, to follow 
it, whatever the result, and in almost every instance, his judgment has 
resulted to his profit. For many years he has been an extensive feeder 
of livestock, and continues year in and year out to feed stock for the 
markets, regardless of conditions. This unvarying method of trusting 
nothing to chance, but in pursuing an undeviating and decided policy 
as regards his farming operations, has resulted in one of the remarkable 
successes in this section of Missouri. The "Trout Stock Farm" is one of 
the most complete and best equipped in Bates county, comprising four 
hundred acres of land, three sets of farm buildings, a recently completed 
feeding shed eighty by eighty feet in extent with concrete floors, a large 
granary, and two concrete silos, sixteen by forty feet in dimensions, 
with a capacity of two hundred tons of silage each. At the present writ- 
ing, December of 1917, Mr. Trout is feeding forty head of hogs and one 



'/>».: 




fat- 




%%.. s 




HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5OI 

hundred twenty-five head of cattle. He and his sons have harvested 
one hundred fifty acres of corn which made the great yield 
of forty to sixty bushels per acre, eighty acres of which actually 
yielded sixty bushels to the acre. They harvested one hundred ten 
acres of wheat which yielded a total of eighteen hundred bushels; and 
have sown two fields to wheat for the 1918 harvest, one field of one 
hundred fifteen acres and another of fifty acres. They also har- 
vested eighty acres of oats which made a substantial yield of forty 
bushels to the acre. The foregoing figures are direct and irrefutable 
evidence that the Trout farm is one of the most productive and best 
managed agricultural plants in this part of Missouri. 

Willard Trout was born April 7, 1864 in Pendleton, Indiana, a son 
of Isaac and Amelia (Wanbaugh) Trout, natives of Pennsylvania, who 
located in Henry county, town of Greensboro, Indiana, in 1865. Isaac 
Trout was a miller by trade and operated a flouring and grist mill at 
Greensboro until 1870 when he took charge of the Stone Quarry Mill 
in Henry county and operated this mill up to within a few years of his 
death which occurred in October, 1898 at the age of seventy-six years. 
He was widely and favorably known throughout that section of Indiana. 
He was owner of a farm "near the mill" which he cultivated and upon 
which his family of eleven children were reared. Twelve children were 
born to Isaac and Amelia Trout, eleven of whom were grown to matur- 
ity and nine of whom are yet living: Willard, subject of this review; 
Robert, in Colorado; Frank, a resident of Indiana; Joseph, Pittsburg, 
Kansas; Burt, New Castle, Indiana; Mrs. Jennie Duncan, Knightstown, 
Indiana; Mrs. Ida Whitely, Pittsburg, Kansas; Mrs. Dora McNew, How- 
ard township, Bates county; Mrs. Adonis Rogers, New Castle, Indiana. 
The mother of this large family was born in 1841 and died in March, 1913. 

Opportunities were poor for securing an education in his native 
county, and Willard Trout found it necessary to begin work at an early 
age in order to assist in providing for his father's large family. He 
worked in the mill during his boyhood days and until 1884 was employed 
in the cultivation of his father's farm. He then decided to come to Mis- 
souri in search of a home and fortune if possible. Arriving here during 
the harvest season, he secured employment as a farm hand, and his first 
work consisted in shucking twenty-five hundred bushels of corn at three 
cents per bushel. This was the first real money he earned in Missouri 
and was paid him by S. P. Wilson for his first winter's work. For the 
next two years he was employed at a wage of seventeen dollars per 



502 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

month. He then rented land nntil 1893, at which time he bought an 
"eighty" at a cost of one thousand eight hundred dollars. This farm 
was raw land which he improved first with a small shanty and after- 
ward built a frame dwelling. This farm was located west of his present 
home place and formed the nucleus around which he has gathered his 
present acreage, buying his present home "eighty" in 1900 ; another 
eighty-acre tract in 1903; a c|uarter section in 1915 at a cost of nine 
thousand dollars. 

Mr. Trout was married March 11, 1888 to Miss Delia Brown, and 
to this marriage have been born six children : Francis Wayne, farmer, 
Howard township, married Cecil Wilson ; Howard Collier, farmer, on 
the home place; Isaac Harrison, at home; Mary Amelia, Minnie, Maude, 
and Adeline Marie, at home with their parents. Mrs. Delia (Brown) Trout 
was born in Vernon county, Missouri, January 31, 1869 a daughter of 
Harrison and Marie (Miller) Brown, the former of whom was born in 
Anderson county, Kentucky in 1842, and the latter having been born in 
Fulton county, Illinois in 1851. Harrison Brown went to Illinois in 1864, 
removed to Texas in 1867, married in 1868 and located in Vernon county, 
Missouri in the fall of 1868, dying at the age of seventy-four years in 
1916. In 1906 he retired to a home in Hume, Missouri, where his death 
occurred in July, 1916. There were seven children in the Brown family: 
Mrs. Willard Trout, wife of the subject of this review; Mrs. Nova Per- 
rine, deceased ; Mrs. Lillie Rhodes, Kansas City, Missouri ; Miles Alonzo, 
living near Fulton, Kansas; Mrs. Maude Criss, Bates county, Missouri; 
Charles, a dairyman at Rich Hill, Missouri; Neville, a druggist at Spring- 
field, Missouri. 

Mrs. Delia Trout had a painful and terrifying experience during the 
cyclone or tornado which devastated this section of Bates county on 
April 21, 1887. She was visiting at the home of her uncle, Miles Miller, 
located just northeast of the Trout place. The time was six o'clock in 
the evening and the family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Miller and children 
were in the house, she making preparations for the evening meal. The 
sky was overcast and a storm was brewing. A roaring noise was heard, 
and Mr. Miller, looking out of the door, observed a twisting, funnel 
shaped cloud bearing directly down upon the buildings. All of them in- 
cluding Mr. Miller, his wife and babe, a son. Weaver Miller, three years 
old, and Mrs. Trout fled toward the outside storm cellar for safety. Just 
as Mr. Miller had opened the cellar door the tornado reached them in all 
its fury and Mrs. Trout knew nothing more until she found herself caught 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5O3 

in the hedge some distance from the home and badly bruised about the 
body. The bodies of Mr. Miller and his wife and the two-months-old 
infant were found dead in the well where some freak of the "twister" had 
thrown them. The little three-year-old boy was found uninjured and 
was afterward reared by Mrs. Brown to manhood and is now a druggist 
in Nevada. The Miller homestead was one of the finest in Bates county, 
but every building was totally demolished by the fury of the tornado and 
the boards and parts of the buildings scattered to the four points of the 
compass as a result of the twisting power of the wind. 

Mr. Trout takes a good citizen's part in matters political and is one 
of the influential members of the Democratic party in Bates county. He 
served for six years as township treasurer, and is fraternally afifiliated 
with the Modern Woodmen of America. The Trout home is a very 
hospitable one and the several members of the Trout family are held 
in high esteem in Bates county. 

S. L. Bates, M. D., one of the most prominent physicians of Bates 
county, ex-mayor of Adrian, vice-president of the First National Bank 
of Adrian, and the city physician, is a native of Indiana. Doctor Bates 
was born in 1850 at Castleton in Marion county, Indiana, a son of Ozro 
and Mary M. Bates, and a descendant of one of the leading colonial 
families, whose ancestors came to America from Scotland among the 
one hundred two Pilgrims on board the "Mayflower" which set sail 
from Plymouth, England, September 6, 1620. Ozro Bates was born at 
Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1813. When he was a child, five years of age, 
his parents moved from Brattleboro to Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1818 
both father and mother died from cholera, an epidemic of which dreaded 
disease swept the city at that time. The orphan boy was apprenticed 
to a Quaker family residing near Cincinnati, Ohio. In his youth, Ozro 
Bates mowed hay on the land which is the present site of Chicago, Illi- 
nois. He was greatly afflicted with the desire for change in his early 
maturity and he traveled extensively, always on horseback. Later in 
life, he purchased a tract of land, embracing one hundred twenty acres, 
located near Indianapolis, where he spent the remainder of his life 
engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. Ozro and Mary M. Bates were 
the parents of seven children, four of whom are now living, as follow: 
Nathaniel S., Rensselaer, Indiana; David H., Henrietta, Texas; William 
M., Delphi, Indiana; and Dr. S. L., the subject of this review. 

On his father's farm near Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. S. L. Bates 
was reared and his boyhood days were spent much as are spent the days 



504 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of the average lad on the farm. The doctor attended a Httle country 
school, which was held at Vertland school house near his home and 
which was taught by Professor Phipps at the time S. L. Bates began 
his educational career. He vividly recalls an occasion indelibly impressed 
upon his mind because of his keen disappointment in the results. One 
day, when the doctor was a schoolboy, the janitor of the school house 
built a booming fire of "poplar'' wood and the young Bates lad naturally 
thought that that day they would have a "popping" fire and impatiently 
watched through the entire session to hear the "pops." In 1878, Dr. 
S. L. Bates graduated from Ohio Medical College, the oldest medical 
school in the West, and immediately afterward opened his office at 
Colburn in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where he was engaged in the 
practice of his profession for several years. Dr. S. L. Bates completed 
the graduate course in medicine at the Ohio Medical College in 1886 
and in February, 1887, he came West and located at Adrian in Bates 
county, where he has ever since been actively engaged in the medical 
practice. At the time of his coming, Adrian was a new town and pre- 
sented a very primitive appearance. The country was mostly unfenced 
and there were no bridges or roads. Dr. Bates has responded to calls 
fifteen miles from Adrian and in the early days always traveled on 
horseback. 

The marriage of Dr. S. L. Bates and Efiie M. Chapman, a daughter 
of Jacob H. and Mrs. Chapman, natives of Indiana, was solemnized 
in 1880. To this union have been born seven children, four of whom 
are now living: Dr. Carl, who is engaged in the medical practice in 
Colorado; Dr. Gerald C, Adrian, Missouri; ^^'ilma A., Kansas City, 
Missouri; and Gertrude, at home with her parents. Each of the doc- 
tor's children is interested in the medical profession and all his sons 
have entered it. Miss W^ilma E., the elder daughter of Dr. and Mrs. 
Bates, is at present a student in the Christian Church Hospital at Kansas 
City, Missouri, preparing for medical work, and Miss Gertrude, a stu- 
dent in the Adrian High School, is planning to be a physician and nurse. 
With the accession of the youngest child in the profession, the doctor's 
entire family will have become physicians. Dr. Gerald C. Bates is com- 
missioned as first lieutenant and will soon be called to France. The 
little city of Adrian is still grieving over the loss of Dr. Floyd Bates, 
a son of Dr. and Mrs. Bates, who was commissioned as first lieutenant, 
who was one of the first "to go to the colors" when the call to arms 
came. He w^as a voung man of great abilitv with a bright and most 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 505 

promising career opening before him. Doctor Floyd had graduated 
from the Kansas City Medical College in the class of 1910 and was 
engaged in the practice of medicine at Adrian, associated with his father, 
and he had long since made scores of friends in this city and cotmty. 
He was in camp at Fort Riley, when on the night of August 6, 1917, 
he was killed by lightning. His remains were brought to Adrian for 
interment. 

Doctor Bates is a most public-spirited and patriotic citizen and he 
is always interested in all that concerns the welfare of his city and 
county. He has been honored with several offices of public trust, hav- 
ing served as mayor of Adrian, as a member of the school board, and 
is now serving as city physician of Adrian. Doctor Bates is vice-presi- 
dent and a member of the directorate of the First National Bank of 
Adrian. He has succeeded admirably and has prospered since his com- 
ing to Bates county, Missouri, thirty-one years ago and is now the 
owner of a splendid farm of two hundred forty acres of land in this 
county, which country place he rents, and of his beautiful modern resi- 
dence in Adrian, a two-story structure of ten pleasant and spacious 
rooms. 

In all his relations with his fellowman, professional, business, or 
social, the conduct of Dr. S. L. Bates has been open and straightforward, 
his integrity unassailable, his courtesy that of a gentleman of the old 
school. His professional career has from the beginning been charac- 
terized by close and diligent attention to duty and an unusual skill and 
proficiency in all branches of general practice and he is now justly 
enjoying a most lucrative practice. He and Mrs. Bates are highly 
respected and valued in Adrian. 

E. A. Cherry, the well-known postmaster of Adrian, Missouri, one 
of the leading horsemen of Bates county, the organizer of the Farmers 
Lumber Company of Adrian, a potent factor in the organization of 
the Adrian Cheese Factory, is one of the county's most influential and 
public-spirited citizens. Mr. Cherry is a native of Illinois. He was born 
in 1866 at Carthage in Hancock county, Illinois, a son of John W. and 
Purlina (Pyle) Cherry, the former, a native of Tennessee and the latter, 
of Kentucky. The two families, the Cherrys and Pyles, settled in Illi- 
nois among the first pioneers of that state in 1843. John W. Cherry 
was an early-day freighter, working between Springfield, Illinois, and 
St. Louis, Missouri. He drove three yokes of oxen and it required 
from two to three weeks to make the trip. He would camp nights and 



506 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

in order to keep off the howling wolves would keep fires burning around 
his wagon. In later years, John W. Cherry homesteaded land in Han- 
cock county, Illinois, and became an honored pioneer of that county 
and a prosperous farmer and stockman, the owner of one thousand two 
hundred eighty acres of land located near Carthage, a wealthy grain 
merchant and stock buyer. As there was no bank at Carthage, Illinois, 
in those days, Mr. Cherry frequently went to Warsaw, a distance of 
eighteen miles, on horseback, and drew from the bank at that place as 
much as twenty thousand dollars at one time and in safety return 
home. John W. Cherry always paid cash for stock and grain imme- 
diately upon delivery. He resided at Carthage, Illinois, several years 
and while a resident of that city was one of the leading financiers. 
His friends would deposit with him their money, for which he would 
give a receipt, and thus it may truthfully be said that he was the first 
and most trusted banker of Carthage. Because of his sterling integ- 
rity and unquestioned honesty, John W. Cherry was many times 
appointed administrator of estates in Illinois. He was dissatisfied in 
the city and after a few years returned to his farm, where he spent the 
closing years of his life in happiness and contentment. Mr. Cherry 
was a model gentleman, a truly Christian character, and if he had any 
faults or bad habits no one ever knew of them. He never in his life 
drank intoxicating liquor, never smoked, never chewed tobacco, and 
not one of his twelve children ever heard him swear. He died in 1891 
and twelve years later, in 1903, he was joined in death by his wife. Of 
the twelve children born to John W. and Purlina Cherry, but five are 
now living: E. C, a successful clothier of Milan, Missouri; W. P., 
president of the Cherry-Tilden Live Stock Commission Company of 
Kansas City, Missouri; H. G., president of the Cherry Brothers' Invest- 
ment Company and president of the Mine Creek Oil Company of Kansas 
City, Missouri; E. A., the subject of this review; Dora, the wife of E. C. 
Barber, of the Home Telephone Company of Kansas City, Missouri. 

E. A. Cherry attended the public schools of Carthage, Illinois, and, 
later, business college at Quincy, Illinois. After completing a business 
course at the latter institution, Mr. Cherry returned to his father's 
farm and, as the elder Cherry was disabled for many years prior to 
his death, the son assumed charge of all business affairs and managed 
the father's estate uatil he died in 1891. The following year, 1892, Mr. 
Cherry, the subject of this review, located at Carthage, Illinois, where 
he owned a large stock barn. Closing his business in the autumn of the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



507 



same year, Mr. Cherry came to Kansas City, Missouri, and for several 
months was employed in the real estate department of the Lombard- 
Investment Company of Kansas City. He then returned to Carthage, Illi- 
nois, and again took up his residence on the farm near that city and dur- 
ing the years immediately following became -one of the most prominent 
horsemen of the state of Illinois. Mr. Cherry dealt extensively in 
imported stallions and shipped them to many different parts of the 
country. He brought the first imported draft horse to Bates county, 
Missouri. For eleven years, he was engaged in training race horses. 
When Mr. Cherry came to Adrian in 1898, he had back of him years 
of experience in the stock business and at that time he brought a num- 
ber of fine stallions to Missouri and has ever since been interested in 
the breeding of high-grade horses. Mr. Cherry has made one hundred 
sixty-two different exhibits of his animals in Bates and Cass counties 
and has received one hundred fifty-four first and nine second premiums, 
being defeated but once. In his stables at Adrian, Mr. Cherry has 
capacity for one hundred head of horses. In addition to raising horses, 
he also keeps a number of jacks and, at the time of this writing in 
1918, has seven dairy cows. He sells the milk from his dairy to the 
Adrian Cheese Factory. The Cherry stables and the residence together 
occupy a half block in the city of Adrian. The residence is a handsome, 
modern structure of nine rooms. 

E. A. Cherry and Lula Fair, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. 
Fair, of Adrian, Missouri, were united in marriage February 25, 1892, 
and to this union were born two children, one of whom is now living. 
Wesley, who was his father's assistant in the postoffice. Lula (Fair) 
Cherry died in 1899. Mr. Cherry remarried, his second wife being 
Pearl M. Leffler, a daughter of Alexander and Nancy Leffler, and to 
them have been born four children : Crystal I., Emmett A., Lydia Ann, 
and Dorothy Pearl, all of whom are at home with their parents. 

In civic affairs, no one in this part of the state takes a keener inter- 
est than E. A. Cherry. He has at all times evidenced his willingness 
to sacrifice self-interest for the good of the community and has been 
very active in aiding the development of the business interests of Bates 
county. In 1900, Mr. Cherry assisted in organizing the Farmers Lum- 
ber Company of Adrian, Missouri, and he, himself solicited six thousand 
six hundred seventy-five dollars of the ten thousand dollars capital stock. 
He was the first secretary of the company. Sixteen years later, he 
was instrumental in the organization of the Adrian Cheese Factory, 



508 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

which is situated cii a tract of land formerly owned by Mr. Cherry. 
•He was appointed postmaster of Adrian in 1913, which position he still 
occupies and is efficiently and satisfactorily filling at the time of this 
writing in 1918. On January 24, 1918, he received his reappointment 
for another four-year period. 

Rev. Abram H. Lewis. — Few names figuring in the history of Bates 
county are more favorably or more lovingly remembered than that of 
the late Rev. Abram H. Lewis who for a period extending nearly two 
score years preached the gospel according to the precepts of the Baptist 
faith in this section of Missouri. It was he who practically founded the 
Baptist churches in this section. His lovable and kindly character which 
was tempered by a force which w^on its way to the hearts of the people 
will make him long remembered in hundreds of Bates county homes. 
Through long months and years he would visit his various charges, mak- 
ing long and tiresome trips by horseback to hold services among his 
people. He was the really successful Baptist missionary in this section 
of the state, and his work will endure many years to come. 

Rev. A. H. Lewis was born September 9, 1826, in Culpepper county, 
Virginia, and was a son of John Lewis, born in Culpepper county, Vir- 
ginia, on May 1, 1783, the eldest son of William and Mary Lewis who 
had twelve sons and two daughters, all of whom wxre reared to maturity 
excepting one son who died at the age of two years. John Lewis mar- 
ried Ann Merry Wallis, a daughter of William and Mildred Wallis and 
she was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, January 1, 1793, but was 
left an orphan at a tender age and was reared by her grandmother 
W^alker. Until her nineteenth year she was kept in a boarding school 
and in 1811 was married to John Lewis. They then moved to Madison 
county, Virginia to a place located near the foot of the Blue Ridge 
mountains, where all of their eight children were born, six sons and two 
daughters as follow: William W., Ethelbert W., Alfred B., Mary M., 
Ann E., John M., Abram H., and Robert S. Lewis. In March of 1831. 
John Lewis moved to Culpepper county, Virginia to the farm which had 
been the home of his father-in-law, and they resided there until their 
deaths, the mother dying in August, 1859. 

Reverend Lewis was educated in the schools of his native county 
when not assisting in the work upon his father's farm, closing his school 
days in 1846. For three years following he taught three terms of school 
of ten months each in the neighborhood of his father's home. In June, 
1843 he was baptized in the Baptist faith. In October, 1849 he pur- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 509 

chased the farm owned by his brother-in-law, Robert S. Jeffries, which 
adjoined that of his father and decided to marry and go to housekeeping. 
On January 15, 1850, he was married to Geraldine L. Covington, a 
daughter of John S. and Elizabeth W. Covington, and he then moved 
to his farm. In March of 1850, Mr. Lewis was ordained a deacon of 
the New Salem Baptist church, and it was at this time that he began 
to take an active part in the work of his church. During the seven 
years following his marriage, he resided in Virginia and most of the 
time he was superintendent of the Sunday school of his church and did 
a great amount of good work in converting his Sunday school pupils to 
become Christians. 

In November, 1856, Mr. Lewis made a visit to Missouri in order 
to view out the country with a view to making it his future home. He 
in company with others went by railroad to St. Louis, and then by boat 
to Hannibal on the Mississippi river, and then by hack to the home of his 
uncle, Peyton Botts, with whom he spent a week. He then went to 
Miami, Saline county, where his brothers, Alfred's and Ethelbert's fam- 
ilies lived (Ethelbert Lewis had died of cholera in May, 1855 leaving 
a widow and seven children). Mr. Lewis was much pleased with the 
country and he soon decided upon a place for his new home. One week 
later he went to Ray county and visited with Thomas A. Duvall who 
had married Lucy Covington, a sister of his wife. Both Mr. Duvall and 
Mr. Covington were very anxious that he locate in Ray county, but he 
returned to Miami and left a bid with his brother Alfred for one hun- 
dred sixty acres of land adjoining his farm, for which a deal was 
made with Alfred Stephenson in February, 1857. This land cost him 
twenty-two dollars and fifty cents an acre. After returning home and 
selling out his farm and settling up his affairs in Virginia, Mr. Lewis 
started on the return trip to Missouri on September 14, 1857. For the 
ensuing year he lived in the house on his brother's farm, working his 
farm and Alfred's together by the aid of Alfred's hands until his own 
home was completed and into which he moved in September, 1858. 

When the Civil War broke out he espoused the cause of secession 
and enlisted in the Missouri state troops under Gen. Sterling Price 
in December, 1861. Six hundred fifty volunteers started to go to 
General Price's headquarters at Osceola, with only a few of them in 
possession of arms. All of the volunteers were on foot and accompanied 
by a number of loaded provision wagons. While in camp on Blackwater 
they were attacked by a. large force of Federals and were captured. The 



5IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

prisoners were taken to St. Louis and incarcerated in the Gratiot street 
prison on December 25, 1861. They were kept in this prison for about 
six weeks and were then removed to Alton, Illinois. About the first 
of April, 1862 an offer of their release was made those who were only 
sworn in for state service, provided they would each give bond and 
security to remain quietly at home. A large proportion of the men 
accepted this offer of release and Mr. Lewis was among this number 
who gave their bonds and were permitted to go to their homes. When 
in August an order was issued for all to enroll in the militia in behalf 
of the Federal Government, contrary to their given parole, a large num- 
ber of his comrades enlisted in the Southern army, but ill health pre- 
vented Mr. Lewis from going to the front with them. Li December 
of 1863 he sold his farm and personal property in order to protect his 
brother, John M. Lewis, who had loaned him money with which to buy 
his farm. Li March, 1864, Mr. Lewis removed with his family to a 
farm in Ray county, three miles north of Richmond. Ten days later, 
Mr. Duvall died and he located on the Duvall fairm, living there for eight 
years and renting the farm from Mrs. Duvall. During the ensuing years 
of the war he was not much troubled except by soldiers hunting food, 
and whom he always fed. But, in the spring of 1865, times became so 
bad that he determined to leave the country for Nebraska in order to 
save his life. While en route to Omaha in April, 1865 he learned of 
Lee's surrender and the assassination of President Lincoln. He and 
his brother Alfred, who accompanied him on the trip then returned to 
their homes. A brother, John M. Lewis, was killed in the trenches 
before Petersburg. April 2, 1865. His brother-in-law, Robert S. JefYries, 
was captured there and taken to Point Lookout where he remained until 
near the close of the war when his wife got permission from President 
Johnson to take him home. He died in Alexandria on his way home. 

In March, 1871, Mr. Lewis made another trip to Virginia on busi- 
ness and received from his father's estate the sum of one thousand dol- 
lars. In February of 1870, his brother Alfred and he took a prospecting 
trip to Bates county in search of a future home site. Mr. Lewis con- 
tracted for one hundred sixty acres for which he agreed to pay eight 
hundred forty dollars, when the deed was furnished. In May, 1870 
he came to Bates county with a team and plough and broke up forty 
acres, went home, then came back in August and erected a house and 
meat house, expecting to move in that fall, but decided to wait for a 
time. In March, 1872, he moved to Bates county and settled on the farm 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5II 

in West Point township which is known as the old Lewis homestead. 
Reverend Lewis made this farm his home until his death, November 
9, 1913. 

To Abram H. and Geraldine Lewis wxre born the following chil- 
dren: Mrs. Mary Wade Chanler, residing on a farm five miles south- 
east of Butler; John W. Lewis, subject of this review; Mrs. Lucy Kate 
Smith, Wellington, Kansas; Mrs. Elizabeth M. Rosier, Mountain View, 
Howell county, Missouri; Mrs. Geraldine Trice, Oklahoma; Thomas H. 
Lewis, who lives on an adjoining farm in West Point township; William 
E., St. Marys, Idaho; Mrs. Irene Crawford, Liberty, Missouri; Strother 
Covington Lewis, living on the Lewis home place. 

The mother of the foregoing children, Mrs. Geraldine L. (Coving- 
ton) Lewis was born October 24, 1824, in Culpepper county, Virginia, 
and was the fourth of a family of ten children born to John S. and 
Elizabeth W. Covington, as follow: Salina S., Lucy F., Robert G., 
Geraldine L., William Wallis, John L., Thomas H., Margaret I., Mary 
W., and Susan O. Mary Wade was burned to death when a little girl. 
William W. died in November, 1850. Mrs. Geraldine Lewis died April 
12, 1883. 

Although Reverend Lewis had been importuned many times to enter 
the ministry and preach the gospel according to the Baptist faith, he 
had refrained until such a time as he felt that he was able and could 
conscientiously give his services with a whole heart and soul to his 
Creator. It was not until he had settled in Bates county that his noted 
ministerial career began and met with such signal success. For over 
a period of forty years he preached in this county and made hundreds 
of converts to the cause of Christianity. His name became a byword in 
the county for earnest endeavor and right living. He assisted materially 
in the building of many Baptist churches and in the organization of 
many congregations of that faith in the county. His work also extended 
into Cass county where he was equally well known as a devout and 
conscientious man in whom the people reposed the highest confidence. 
Frequently, this reverend gentleman would travel a distance of twenty- 
five miles twice at the week end to his ministerial charge and make 
the return trip in order to be at home by nightfall so that he could care 
for his invalid wife. There are many Bates county citizens who will 
remember for long years the great work done by this Christian gentle- 
man who left an indelible imprint upon the religious life of this section 
which will endure forever. 



512 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Hon. John W, Lewis, farmer and stockman of West Point town- 
ship and former member of the Missouri State Legislature, has a splen- 
did farm of two hundred fifty acres located northeast of the town 
of Amsterdam in Bates county. Air. Lewis has resided upon his farm 
for the past thirty-seven years and first burned off the prairie grass 
from the virgin soil preparatory to beginning its cultivation in 1880. He 
has an attractive appearing farm residence of thirteen rooms which stands 
on an eminence north of the highway and is reached by a driveway. 
This home was begun in 1880 when Mr. Lewis erected a small habita- 
tion and it was finally remodeled and enlarged in 1894, making one of 
the most imposing and comfortable homes in this section of Bates county. 
The barn on this farm is forty by fifty-four feet in size, and the cow barn 
is seventy feet in length. Other ecjuipment is the tool shed, and a 
shedded crib twenty-six by thirty-two feet. Formerly the Lewis tract 
had considerable timber but Mr. Lewis during past years has cleared 
away about one hundred acres and now has fifteen acres covered with 
woods. The Miami river runs through the land and always furnishes" 
plenty of water for all purposes. During 1917, ninety-two acres of the 
place were planted to corn which yielded a total of four thousand bushels. 
The farm is partly operated on shares by Mr. Lewis' son-in-law, and 
produces hogs, cattle and horses. Over one hundred head of hogs are 
annually sold. The Shorthorn breed of registered cattle are kept on 
the farm and from twelve to twenty cows are milked. 

John W. Lewis w^as born in Culpepper county, Virginia, March 14, 
1853, a son of Rev. A. H. and Geraldine L. (Covington) Lewis, con- 
cerning whom an extended review is given elsewhere in this volume. 
The history of the Lewis family goes back three hundred years in 
America and members of the family have fought in every war in which 
the Nation has been engaged. Rev. A. H. Lewis came to Missouri in 
1857 and settled near Marshall, Saline county. In the spring of 1864 
he removed to Ray county where the family resided until they came to 
Bates county in 1872. John W. Lewis assisted his father in developing 
the parental farm and when married he purchased a part of the home 
place of two hundred forty acres. Mr. Lewis was educated in Rich- 
mond College, Ray county where he studied for four years after the 
Civil War and was taught by Professor Gibson, a graduate of Wash- 
ington University, Virginia, and by Prof. Fayette W. Graves, a graduate 
of Yale and who taught languages and science at Richmond College. 
S. J. HufTaker was president of the college during Mr. Lewis' student 
days. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 513 

Mr. Lewis was married October 13, 1878 to Miss Dora C. Berry, 
who was born April 21, 1857 in West Boone township, Bates county, a 
daughter of Franklin R. and Armilda O. Berry, natives of Mason county, 
Kentucky, and who came to Westport, Missouri as early as 1849. Mr. 
Berry was a wagon maker and blacksmith by trade and did work for the 
freighting outfits which passed through old Westport. He made a per- 
manent location in Bates county in 1854. Franklin R. Berry died in 1897. 
Mrs. Berry was born in January, 1834 and died in March, 1917. They 
were parents of the following children : Mrs. Belle Taylor, who died 
in 1887, leaving a son, Frank Taylor, living at Merwin; Mrs. Dora C. 
Lewis, deceased; Benjamin F. died at Topeka, Kansas in 1911; Anna, 
Topeka, Kansas; George, living in Oregon; J. B. lives in Stafford 
county, Kansas; Mrs. Susie Berry, Burlingame, Kansas; W. C. Berry, 
Mt. Pleasant township. 

Eight children have been born to John W. and Dora C. Lewis, 
seven of whom are living: Leila, at home as her father's housekeeper; 
Claude W., a farmer, West Point township, served as a private in the 
Spanish-American War in the Philippines, and is father of three chil- 
dren, Nina, Marvel, and Leona; Mrs. Eula White, Stafford county, Kan- 
sas, has two children, Harold, and Louise ; Mrs. Kate Wright, Reno 
county, Kansas, has four children, Bernardine, Dorothy, Walter, Mar- 
jorie; Mrs. Pearl Dye, Amsterdam, Missouri, has two children, Harry 
and Madge; Mrs. Opal Megnin, Kiowa county, Oklahoma; Mrs. Elpha 
Kauffman, living on the home place, has a son, Raymond, born October 
6, 1915. The mother of the foregoing children departed this life on 
January 22, 1901. She was a good and faithful wife, and a kind and 
wise mother to her children. 

The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Lewis 
and he has generally taken an active and influential part in matters 
political in Bates county. He was elected as representative from Bates 
county in 1910 and served as a member of the Missouri State Legisla- 
ture during the ensuing session. He served in the sessions of 1910 and 
1911. Prior to holding this office he served as township clerk, assessor 
and tax collector for over sixteen years. 

While a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Lewis served 
.on the committees having charge of legislation affecting' the railroads, 
agriculture, mines, mining and militia and made a splendid and com- 
mendable record as a legislator. He introduced and had passed the bill 
providing for "free transportation of rural district school children." 
This bill which was considered a radical and far reaching innovation in 

(33) 



514 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Missouri aroused ^vide comment and its author received hundreds of 
commendatory letters from prominent educators and people who are 
interested in the cause of higher education and better school facilities 
for the children of the rural districts. This bill was the forerunner 
of later legislation which provided for the establishment of consolidated 
and central township high schools and had a far reaching influence in 
advancing the cause of education in Missouri. 

He became a member of the Baptist church in Richmond, Ray county 
in 1867 and in 1872 united with the old ^^'est Point Baptist church and 
has remained a member for forty-six years. The old A\'est Point church 
is now the Amsterdam Baptist church. Mr. Lewis was ordained a dea- 
con of the Amsterdam Baptist church when twenty-three years of age. 
He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, being a 
member of the Amsterdam Blue Lodge and the chapter and council 
at Butler. 

W. W. Parish, ex-postmaster of Adrian. Missouri, a prominent real 
estate agent of Bates county, is one of the county's most successful and 
substantial citizens and a worthy representative of a good. old. pio- 
neer family of Missouri. Mr. Parish was born in ]^liami county, Kan- 
sas in 1867, a son of A\'. D. and Salina Parish. ^^^ D. Parish came to 
Cass county, Missouri in 1857 from Morgan county. Indiana and for 
four years was engaged in farming and stock raising in this part of the 
state. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. ^Ir. Parish enlisted 
with the Union forces and served throughout the war with the Four- 
teenth Kansas Infantry, receiving the commission of lieutenant. When 
the war had ended, he purchased a farm in Kansas, a tract of land com- 
prising one hundred sixty acres located in Miami county, which he sold 
in 1867 to the authorities of Miami county to be used for the county 
infirmary. In 1868. ^Mr. Parish purchased a farm in Cass county, Mis- 
souri, as the boundaries were at that time, land now a part of Bates 
coimty in East Boone township. He engaged extensively in stock rais- 
ing, keeping both graded and pure bred stock, and succeeded well, being 
the owner at one time of three hundred twenty acres of choice land in 
Bates cotmty. W. D. Parish was considered a wealthy man in his day 
and he was highlv respected and esteemed in his community as an hon- 
est, upright, honorable citizen. He died August 26. 1907 and the 
widowed mother is now making her home at Galena in Chariton county, 
Kansas. W. D. and Salina Parish were the parents of the following 
children: Mrs. Laura Bower. Colorado Springs. Colorado; Mrs. Dora 
Cook, deceased; and W. \\'.. the subject of this review. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 515 

In Kansas, W. W. Parish acquired his elementary education and 
at SedaHa, Missouri, he finished his school work with a most thorough 
business course. After completing his education, Mr. Parish accepted 
a position with the Altman-Miller Manufacturing Company as travel- 
ing salesman, which position he ably filled for five years. In 1892, he 
moved on a farm, which he had purchased, in Bates county and for eight 
years was engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Parish sold his 
country place in 1900 and moved to Adrian, where he entered the real 
estate business, in which he was employed at the time of his appoint- 
ment as postmaster of Adrian, on January 15, 1905. He served faithfully 
and well nearly nine years as postmaster until August, 1913, at the time 
the rural routes were being adjusted, examinations were being held for 
carriers, and the Postal Savings System was being installed, all of which 
meant an enormous amount of careful, detailed, tedious work. After 
his term of office had expired, Mr. Parish again turned his attention to 
the real estate business and in his line of work has been remarkably 
successful. His business methods, which are very efficient, require that 
he should do a large amount of traveling, as he handles vast tracts of 
land and his transactions extend far beyond the confines of Bates county 
into many dififerent states. 

W. W. Parish and Mary A. Hopwood were united in marriage on 
February 28, 1893. Mrs. Parish is a daughter of Charles and Ruth Hop- 
wood, early settlers of Cass county, Missouri. Charles Hopwood was 
a native of England. He was educated in the schools of London and 
was a master mechanic and skilled architect. To Mr. and Mrs. Hopwood 
were born five children: Mrs. Emma Bouse, Westphalia, Kansas; Mrs. 
W. W. Parish, the wife of the subject of this review; John P., of Lane, 
Kansas; Charles W., Harrisonville, Missouri; and Mrs. Sadie Stephens, 
Harrisonville, Missouri. Mrs. Parish possesses a remarkably tenacious 
memory and talks most interestingly of the early days in Bates county. 
She remembers well the time, when she was a little child, that the settlers 
would drive across the open prairie when the grass was as high as the 
horses' backs. In those days, no one thought of raising hay, for anyone 
was privileged to cut as much as he desired out on the prairie. Vividly 
she recalls the day the first train on the railroad came into Adrian, as 
the tracks passed through her mother's garden. Mrs. Parish states that 
the two places, Adrian and Archie, were named in honor of two sons of 
the railroad contractor. She obtained her education in the district 
schools of Bates county. To W. W. and Mary A. (Hopwood) Parish 
have been born three children: Lyman T., who has answered the coun- 



5l6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

try's call and is now in service in the United States army ; Mrs. Hazel 
Newton, Kansas City, Missouri; and Mary Frances, deceased. 

Politically, Mr. Parish is a life-long Republican in his belief and he 
has been an active worker in the ranks of his party for many years, 
having many different times been sent as delegate to the congressional 
conventions and taking a keen interest in local politics. Mr. Parish is 
fraternally affiliated with the Royal Arch Masons and derives much 
benefit and pleasure from lodge work. He is a most creditable descend- 
ant of one of the old colonial families of North Carolina, a grandson 
of Larkin Parish, an honored pioneer of Indiana, who died in Bates 
county, Missouri many years ago. Personally, W. W. Parish enjoys 
great popularity in this part of Missouri and his conduct in all relations 
of life has been that of the true gentleman. He discharges the duties 
of a good citizen with commendable fidelity and his influence in the 
community has always been exerted in behalf of all that is best and 
noble in life. The people of Bates county consider Mr. and Mrs. Parish 
one of their best families and Adrian is proud to claim them as its own 
representative citizens. 

Edward Crabb, late esteemed resident of Osage township, was a 
man of pronounced individuality and industry who achieved a splendid 
success in Bates county as a farmer, pioneer breeder of thoroughbred 
livestock, and citizen. He was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, De- 
cember 24, 1846, and died at his home in Osage township, this county, 
May 18, 1910. He was a son of Daniel and Margaret (Bailey) Crabb, 
natives of Ohio who were pioneers of Tazewell county, Illinois, being 
the third family to settle in that county. Edward Crabb was reared 
and educated in his native county in Illinois, and in December of 1869, 
came to Cass county, Missouri, where he remained until the spring of 
1876. He disposed of his farm in Cass county in that year and made 
a purchase of land in Osage township which he developed into one of 
the finest and richest tracts in Bates county. He improved his place 
with an imposing farm residence, set out trees and otherwise beautified 
the place. Mr. Crabb accumulated a section of land in this township 
and was accounted one of the well-to-do farmers of his locality. Bates 
county owes much to him as having been one of the pioneers in the 
introduction of purebred livestock into the community. He was a 
great lover of horses and for a number of years was engaged in breed- 
ing standard bred and trotting and pacing animals, as well as Percheron 
draft horses, a vocation in which he achieved a pronounced success and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



517 



which won him a wide and enviable reputation. The Crabb stables 
produced some very fine animals, and the "Redwood Redman" breed 
of racers originated by W. H. Gotten of Osage township, whose progeny 
became famous throughout the country, were bred from a dam raised 
by Mr. Crabb and sold to Mr. Gotten. The history of the track achieve- 
ments of the descendants of this dam and of "Redwood Redman," her 
son, form an epoch in the history of track racing which has rarely been 
surpassed for record breaking and fast time. Mr. Grabb brought to 
his farm the first imported English Shire horses ever seen in Bates county. 
For many years he was an extensive breeder of thoroughbred Short- 
horn cattle and handled several hundred head of cattle yearly. When 
Mr. Grabb came to Bates county, he was comparatively a poor man. He 
bought his first quarter section of land with the assistance of his father 
but it was not many years until he had made good in his own right 
and by his own endeavors. Mr. Grabb was an exhibitor of his fine 
live stock at the county fairs and won many premiums upon the excel- 
lence of his stock at fairs in western Missouri and Kansas. 

Edward Grabb was married January 30, 1870, to Miss Maria Thomas, 
born in Wayne county, Indiana, May 15, 1846, a djiughter of Edward 
S. and Lorena (Kidwell) Thomas, natives, respectively of Ohio and 
Indiana. Edward and Maria Grabb were married at Pleasant Hill, Mis- 
souri, where the future Mrs. Grabb was visiting her sister. The chil- 
dren born of this union are: Mrs. Lillian Riley, Kansas Gity, has four 
children — Lillian, Edward E., Alice, and Edith; J. Rolla, sheriff of Phil- 
lips county, Montana, married Jessie Wilson of Bates county, and has 
one daughter, Rollive; Daniel, owner of the old home place in Osage 
township; and Mrs. Margaret Gibson, Nevada, Missouri, has a son, 
Edward; and Edward, deceased. Mrs. Edward Grabb resides on the old 
home place with her son, Daniel. She is a member of the Ghurch 
of Ghrist, Scientist. The late Edward Grabb was a Democrat in politics 
but his home was first in his heart and mind and he was a devoted hus- 
band and kind father to his family. He was also a member of the Ghurch 
of Ghrist, Scientist, and was possessed of a kindly, generous nature, hos- 
pitable to the core, honorable and upright in all of his dealings, enter- 
prising and ever ready to lend his assistance to worthy projects for the 
good of his adopted county. "Lest we forget," this memoir is intended 
to perpetuate his name among those of his fellows and forever give 
Edward Grabb a foremost place among the builders of Bates county. 

Daniel Grabb, a worthy son of his able father, was born August 3, 



5l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

1876 on the Crabb homestead in Osage township and has lived all of 
his life on the home place. He was educated in the district and Rich 
Hill public schools and is farming a large tract of three hundred 
fourteen acres which he owns. He is an extensive feeder of live stock 
and handles from one hundred to two hundred head of cattle annually 
besides raising about one hundred fifty hogs each year. He was 
associated with his father in his breeding enterprises for a number of 
years and learned to be a thorough livestock man. Mr. Crabb is affiliated 
with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order 
of Eagles, and the Modern Woodmen lodges of Rich Hill and is a genial, 
approachable citizen who is highly popular among his many friends and 
associates. 

R. A. Murray, proprietor of the Adrian Cheese Factory of Adrian, 
Missouri, is one of the most prominent and successful dairy men in 
this section of Missouri. Mr. Murray was born in the province of Ontario, 
Canada, a son of William and Elizabeth Murray. The birthplace of R. A. 
Murray, Oxford, Canada, is the center of the great dairy industry 
in Ontario. His grandfather, Alexander Murray, was a native of Scot- 
land. 

Mr. Murray, whose name introduces this review, attended school 
at Oxford until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the dairy 
business in the employ of the Strathallen Butter & Cheese Company, 
serving as an apprentice for three years. At that time the Strathallen 
Butter & Cheese Company received sixty thousand pounds of milk daily. 
Mr. Murray then entered Guelph Agricultural College and Dairy School, 
from which institution he graduated in the class of 1895. After com- 
pleting college, he assumed charge of a cheese and butter factory owned 
by an English company in Liverpool, England, and at the same time 
attended the Strathroy Dairy School, from which he graduated in 1898. 
In the spring of the same year, he resigned his position as manager of 
the factory owned by the English company and located in Richland 
county, Wisconsin, at Richland City. He well recalls his first experience 
in and impressions of Richland City. He arrived a total stranger in the 
city and was at once sighted and accosted by two tenacious cabmen, who 
represented the two leading hotels of the city — the Park Hotel and the 
Mitchell House — and as he saw no method of escape but to choose one 
of the two cabs he climbed into the one driven by the more respectful 
of the drivers, and he was taken to the Mitchell House. After the clerk 
of the hotel had extracted an outrageous amount of Mr. Murray's hard- 
earned cash, a room was assigned the newcomer in the third story of the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 519 

building, a back room having no ventilation, no sunlight, and no heat. 
Here R. A. Murray uncomfortably and unhappily spent his first night 
in Richland City — the longest night probably he has ever experienced. 
He was up and out with the first beams of the morning light and on 
reaching the city streets the first sight which attracted his attention was 
a team of mules hitched to a wagon heavily loaded with furniture which 
were foundered and were floundering in mud. Mr. Murray's first day in 
Richland City was haunted by his first cheerless impressions and the 
day was "cold and dark and dreary." He is not the type of man to be 
easily daunted, but the rare kind that "sticks," and in spite of a very 
discouraging welcome, Mr. Murray succeeded well at Richland City. 
At the time he located there, there was but one cheese factory in the 
entire county and he opened the second one. At the present time, in 1918, 
there are seventy-two cheese factories, fifty-four creameries, and three 
condenseries in Richland county, Wisconsin, making this county one of 
the foremost in the dairy industry. It is Mr. Murray's firm belief that 
Bates county, Missouri, will in the near future develop like interests. 

In 1901, R. A. Murray graduated from the Madison Dairy School, 
at Madison, Wisconsin. He won, shortly afterward, the gold medal at 
the Cheese Makers' Convention in Wisconsin for the best cheese, scor- 
ing ninety-nine and one-fourth points. Mr. Murray later operated the 
Boaz Cheese Factory at Boaz, Wisconsin. In 1902, he purchased a 
factory at Yuba, Wisconsin, where he remained four and a half years. 
When he assumed control of the establishment, the factory was taking 
in four thousand gallons of milk daily and after he had owned it for 
several months, the factory was handling thirty thousand gallons of 
milk daily. Mr. Murray purchased another plant in 1908, a factory 
located in Michigan, of which he disposed in 1912, when he and his 
wife began an extended trip covering two years. December 28, 1914, 
Mr. Murray assumed charge of the Prairie City plant in Bates county 
and on November 1, 1916 located at xA.drian and has since been engaged 
in the manufacture of cheese in this city. He is now owner of the Adrian 
Cheese Factory at Adrian. 

The marriage of R. A. Murray and Maude Finch was solemnized 
in 1902. Mrs. Murray is a daughter of Andrew and Louise Finch, of 
Dorchester Station, Ontario, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Murray are highly 
respected and very popular in the best social circles of Adrian and of 
Bates county and they have a large number of friends and a wide acquain- 
tanceship throughout the country. 

The Adrian Cheese Factory was established January 1, 1917. The 



520 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri erected the building 
and sold it to R. A. Murray for four thousand dollars. The factory 
has prospered from the beginning and is now receiving the hearty sup- 
port of the dairymen of the community. During the month of August, 
1917, forty-seven cents v^as paid a pound for butterfat to all w^ho delivered 
their milk at the factory, while those farmers who shipped their milk 
elsewhere received but thirty-seven cents. 

Mr. Murray's methods of work are extremely interesting and 
instructive. He places the milk in a huge vat, having a capacity of seven 
hundred gallons, and provided with steam heat, and this milk is kept at 
a temperature of one hundred four degrees for an hour and a half, at 
which time the curd is tested. In testing the curd, Mr. Murray presses 
a handful of it together until it resembles a tile in shape and putty in 
consistency and, after heating an iron rod, touches the hot iron to the 
curd and closely observes how the tiny threads were formed, when the 
curd was pulled away from the hot iron to which it was sticking, and 
also the odor which resulted from the burning. It smells then very 
much like burnt hair, which means that it requires twenty more minutes 
of cooking before it gives forth an odor like that of toasted cheese. The 
building is painted white throughout the interior and all the floors are 
of concrete. Purity and cleanliness reign everywhere within and all 
the openings of the building are well screened. The whey, that which 
remains after the curd has been extracted, which George Eliot describes 
in "Adam Bede" as possessing "a flavor so delicate that one can hardly 
distinguish it from an odor, and with that soft, gliding warmth that fills 
one's imagination with a still, happy dreaminess," valued highly in Eng- 
land as a beverage, has considerable food value and from it large cheese 
factories make what is known as "Premost" cheese. The Adrian Cheese 
Factory pumps the whey into a large tank and it is taken back home 
by the farmer, who feeds it to his hogs. Eighty-five per cent, of the 
weight of the milk, wdiich the farmer brings to the factory, is returned 
to him in whey. At the time of this writing in 1918, the dairy farmer 
is receiving two dollars per hundred pounds for his milk and the whey 
returned to him. There is no doubt that the Adrian Cheese Factory 
is destined in the very near future to be one of the largest and most 
important industries in western Missouri. 

Dr. John R. Hull, a successful dentist of Adrian, Missouri, is one 
of the prominent citizens of Bates county. Dr. Hull was born July 19, 
1878 near Knob Noster, Missouri, a son of Frank and Louisa Hull. His 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 521 

parents died when he was a very small child and he was reared by his 
sister, Mrs. B. F. Summers. 

In 1894, Dr. John R. Hull entered Butler Academy and for four 
years was a student at this institution. After completing the academic 
course. Doctor Hull went to Los Angeles, California, where he entered 
the mercantile business and for eighteen months conducted a grocery 
store. He then returned to Butler, Missouri and in 1900 matriculated 
at Western Dental College, Kansas City, Missouri, from which college 
he graduated with the class of 1903. Dr. John R. Hull began the prac- 
tice of dentistry associated with his brother, Dr. J. T. Hull, of Butler, 
and for one year was engaged in the practice of his profession at Butler. 
In 1904, Dr. John R. Hull opened his office in the First National Bank 
building at Adrian and in this city has since been successfully employed 
in dental work. His office is one of the best and most completely 
equipped dental offices in Bates county and Doctor Hull possesses great 
natural ability, excellent training, and a world of patience. He is a 
member of the Western District Dental Society, of which he has served 
as secretary, of the executive council of the Missouri State Dental Asso- 
ciation, and of the National Dental Association. He does not permit 
himself to fall behind the times in his profession, but by close study 
and careful, thoughtful research keeps well abreast of this most pro- 
gressive age in all matters relating to the dental science, perusing 
thoughtfully the best professional literature of the day. 

The marriage of Dr. John R. Hull and Josephine Walter, a daugh- 
ter of Henry W. and Mary E. Walter, one of the leading pioneer families 
of Bates county, Missouri, was solemnized November 29, 1905. Mr. 
and Mrs. Walter came to Bates county in 1867 among the first settlers 
and experienced all the countless privations and hardships of pioneer 
life. They obtained their supplies, in the early days, from Pleasant Hill. 
Mr. Walter died in 1897 and the widowed mother makes her home at 
Adrian, Missouri. Dr. and Mrs. Hull reside in Adrian, where they have 
a beautiful home, an attractive, modern bungalow. Doctor Hull is also 
owner of a farm, comprising eighty acres of land, located on the Adrian 
and Butler road. He takes much pleasure in overseeing the work of 
his country place and is interested in both general farming and stock 
raising. His farm is one of the splendid stock farms of Mound town- 
ship, conveniently located, abundantly watered, and productive. Dr. 
and Mrs. Hull are worthy and valued members of the Methodist church. 



522 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of which the doctor is steward and in the Sunday school a teacher of the 
boys' class. 

Fraternally, Doctor Hull is affiliated with the Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons, the Knights Templair, the Eastern Star, the Iviiights 
of Pythias, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He takes an active 
part and deep interest in lodge work and is past Master Mason, past 
Patron of the Eastern Star, past Chancellor and Commander of the 
Knights of Pythias, and ex-secretary of the Modern Woodmen of 
America. 

In his relations with his fellowmen, professional, business, or social, 
Doctor Hull's conduct has been open and straightforward, his integ- 
rity unassailable, his actions those of a true gentleman, possessing to a 
marked degree sincerity and purity of motive. The nature of his pro- 
fessional duties and business enterprises affords him little time to devote 
to r-ocial affairs, but he is personally one of the most amiable and genial 
of men. Both the doctor and Mrs. Hull are held in the highest respect 
and esteem in Adrian. 

Edward H. Wyatt, a retired farmer and stockman of Adrian, Mis- 
souri, is one of Bates county's prosperous and most highly respected 
citizens. Mr. Wyatt is a native of Ohio. He was born in 1855, a son 
of Charles and Harriet (Henry) Wyatt, natives and life-long residents 
of Ohio. Charles W^yatt was a son of John Wyatt, of Ohio, and Har- 
riet (Henry) Wyatt was a daughter of Matthew Henry, of Ohio. CharlCv- 
Wyatt was a member of the teaching profession in his native state, being 
employed in teaching in the public schools and also in teaching music. 
He was ruling elder of the Presbyterian church and superintendent of 
the Amesville Presbyterian Sunday School for many years and choir 
leader for at least a score of years. He was the owner of a splendid 
farm, a tract of land comprising five hundred acres, in Athens county, 
Ohio and was engaged extensively in stock raising. Charles Wyatt was 
considered a wealthy man in his day and a very successful citizen. To 
Charles and Harriet (Henry) Wyatt were born ten children, eight of 
whom are now living: Edward H., the subject of this review; C. E., 
Lawton, Oklahoma; W. P., Athens, Ohio; Mrs. Cora M. McCune, on 
a farm near Adrian, Missouri; Charles, Amesville, Ohio; Mrs. Mary 
McDaniel, Amesville, Ohio; Emma, Amesville, Ohio; and Mrs. Lucy 
Stires, Guysville, Ohio. 

The marriage of E H. W^yatt and Hattie Brown was solemnized in 
1877. Hattie (Brown) Wyatt is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John D. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 523 

Brown, of Athens county, Ohio. To this union has been born one child, 
a son, who is now hving: George B., who is general manager of the 
Farmers Elevator Company of Adrian, Missouri, married Lulu Steele of 
Warrensburg and they have two sons: George Steele Wyatt and Dugald 
Edward Wyatt. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt are consistent members and 
workers of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Wyatt has been ruling elder 
of the Fairview Presbyterian church for many years. They reside in 
Adrian, where they have a most pleasant and comfortable home. 

E. H. Wyatt and his brother, A. T. Wyatt, came from Ohio to Mis- 
souri in 1881 and purchased a herd of one thousand sheep and engaged 
in the sheep raising industry in Bates county. Open prairie furnished 
an abundance of grazing territory in those days, for one might drive 
for miles and miles in this section of the state and not encounter a single 
bit of fencing. The WVatt brothers purchased tracts of land at different 
times and constantly added to their holdings until they owned a vast 
tract comprising one thousand acres. After some time, they disposed 
of their herd of sheep and devoted their time and energies to general 
farming and stock raising. They had bought their land in some instances 
for as little as five dollars an acre. A. T. Wyatt finally decided to leave 
Missouri and settle in Kansas and E. H. Wyatt was left to continue the 
work alone. He is now owner of a farm in Bates county, a place embrac- 
ing four hundred eighty acres of land, which he rents. He is a stock- 
holder in the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri, in the Farmers 
Elevator Supply & Manufacturing Company, and in the Farmers Lum- 
ber Company of Adrian, Missouri. 

The life-story of E. H. Wyatt has been the story of a worker, of a 
busy man of afifairs, of a Christian gentleman, whose ideal in life has 
been to worthily discharge his duty toward the Master and his fellowmen 
as he sees and understands it. There are few better types of the enter- 
prising, "self-made" business men in Bates county than Mr. Wyatt. 
From small beginnings, by prudence, industry, and perseverance, and 
the ability of the pioneer to conquer all discouraging obstacles, he has 
succeeded in carving a name that shall endure as long as the history of 
Bates county is written and achieving a success in life that should be 
an inspiration to the young men of the rising generation. And now, 
in the eventide, surrounded by everything calculated to make the 
remainder of his earthly sojourn agreeable and pleasant, E. H. Wyatt 
can enjoy the consciousness that all that he has and all that he is he 
has justly, honestly, honorably earned by his own personal exertions. 



524 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

William C. Hedden. — For over fifty-two years, William C. Hedden 
has resided in the Fairview neighborhood of Osage township. He is one 
of the best known of the Bates county "old timers," and has become 
wealthy as a tiller of the soil in this county. Mr. Hedden is a large 
land-owner, his home place comprising two hundred twenty acres 
of splendid, rich prairie soil which is one of the finest improved places 
in Bates county. The first home of Mr. Hedden in Osage township, was 
a story and a half affair of two rooms, to which various additions and 
improvements have been added until he has an imposing nine-room 
house which sits on a rise of land west of the roadway and which is 
reached by a driveway bordered by magnificent maple trees which have 
grown from seed planted years ago by Mr. Hedden. When Mr. Hedden 
made his first purchase of land in March of 1871, a tract of two hundred 
acres at a cost of five dollars an acre, the country round about was a 
vast prairie with but few trees in sight. Now, his home is situated in 
a beautiful setting of giant trees which he has caused to grow where 
not a tree stood before. Mr. Hedden also owns a farm of one hundred 
forty acres across the line in Vernon county. The view from the 
front door of the Hedden home is a very attractive one, the fertile 
prairie stetching as far as the eye can reach and dotted here and there 
with beautiful farmsteads and the cities of Rich Hill and Nevada can 
be seen in the distance. As advancing age has compelled his relinquish- 
ment of the arduous duties of the farm, Mr. Hedden has turned over its 
management to others younger and more able to till the large acreage 
and he is now living in comfortable retirement in his pleasant home, 
his interesting diversion being the weekly letters which he writes to 
the "Rich Hill Mining Review," a pleasant occupation which has been 
his enjoyment under the pseudonym of "Gabe" for over thirty years. 

W. C. Hedden was born February 22, 1844, in Shelby county, Ken- 
tucky, the son of Lee and Susan (Moreland) Hedden, who were natives 
of Kentucky. When eighteen years of age young Hedden enlisted 
(1862) in Company D, Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, and served with the 
Union forces on provost duty in the Kentucky mountain region for one 
year. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1863. In 1866 
the entire family came to Bates county, and Lee Hedden settled in the 
southwest part of Osage township, dying on his home place in 1878. 
The Moreland family came to this county and settled in Osage town- 
ship in 1867. Mrs. Hedden, mother of the subject of this review, departed 
this life in 1876. There were three children in the family of which 




WILLIAM C. HEDDEN. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 525 

William C. was the eldest, the others being Mary, wife of J. A. 
Borron, former well-known residents of Osage township, both of whom 
are now deceased; Florence, wife of D. E. Jarnette, Sheridan, Wyoming. 
W. C. Hedden was married October 5, 1865 in old Kentucky, to Mary 
E. Yates, who was born May 3, 1847, in Kentucky, a daughter of Enoch 
and Matilda (Watts) Yates, who accompanied the Hedden family to 
Missouri in 1866 and made a settlement just over the southern boundary 
line in Vernon county. For the first five years of his residence in Mis- 
souri, Mr. Hedden and his wife made their home with the Yates family. 
The children born to W. C. and Mary E. Hedden are as follow: W. E. 
Hedden, born December 24, 1866, lives at Moscow, Idaho; J. W. Hedden, 
was born November 7, 1868, lives at Sedalia, Missouri, where he follows 
the business of cement contractor; E. L., a farmer in Vernon county, 
born April 20, 1873; Susan M., born January 21, 1875, died July 16, 1887; 
C. A., now managing the Hedden home place, born September 29, 1879; 
one child died in infancy; C. R. Hedden, Sheridan, Wyoming, born April 
17, 1884. C. A. Hedden married Loma Griggs, and has two children: 
Ruth, and Harold. W. E. Hedden married Jennie Welch and has seven 
children: Lois, Raymond, Susie, Fred, Forrest, George, and Catherine. 
J. W. Hedden married Lillis Estes and has three children : Juanita, 
Lawrence, and Minor. E. L. Hedden married Hattie Hanley, and has 
two children: Carl, and Clyde. The mother of the foregoing children 
of W. C. Hedden died September 11, 1913. She was a good and faith- 
ful wife and kind mother to her children. She and Mr. Hedden became 
•Christians at the same time and Mrs. Hedden was a devout member 
of the Baptist church. Mr. Hedden has been a life-long Democrat and 
has taken considerable interest in the affairs of his party during his 
long residence in Bates county. He is widely known and universally 
respected by all who know him. As the Fairview correspondent of the 
"Rich Hill Mining Review" he has achieved more than a local reputa- 
tion as an able writer who employs the vernacular in presenting the 
doings of the folks of the Fairview neighborhood in a more or less 
philosophic and humorous vein. In fact his fame has spread over Mis- 
souri to a large extent and the familiar title of "Gabe" which is always 
appended to his articles appearing each week in the "Mining Review" 
is known to thousands of interested readers who are always entertained 
by the quaint sayings and productions from the pen of the Fairview 
correspondent. 



526 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

William F. Duvall, president of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- 
pany of Butler, Missouri, president of the Farmers Bank, is one of the 
prominent and influential citizens of Bates county. He was born May 
1, 1868, a son of William Penn and Sarah J. (Whisler) Duvall, both of 
whom were natives of Highland county, Ohio, the former a descendant 
of Marquis Duvall, a native of France, who settled in Maryland in the 
early colonial days. William Penn Duvall came to Missouri in 1868 
with his family and they located on a tract of land two miles south of 
Virginia, a farm which the father purchased and improved and where 
he resided for twenty years. Mr. Duvall, Sr. moved from the farm near 
Virginia to a country place adjoining Butler on the west, where he lived 
until 1895 and then retired from active participation in farm work and 
moved to Butler, in which city he was an honored and highly respected 
resident at the time of his death in 1917 at the age of nearly eighty 
years. Mrs. Duvall, widow of William Penn Duvall, still resides at 
Butler, one of the most esteemed of Bates county's pioneer women. To 
William Penn and Sarah J. (Whisler) Duvall were born the following 
children: Laura B., an instructor of voice culture at Chicago, Illinois; 
the second daughter died in infancy; William F., the subject of this 
review; Mrs. J. A. Nicholas, of Pomona, Los Angeles county, Cali- 
fornia; J. B., vice-president of the Duvall-Percival Trust Company of 
Butler, Missouri ; Arthur, treasurer of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- 
pany of Butler, Missouri; and Homer, cashier of the Farmers Bank of 
Butler. Missouri. 

In the public schools of Bates county, Missouri, William F. Duvall- 
received his elementary education, which was supplemented by a thor- 
ough course at Butler Academy, from which he graduated, after which 
he completed a business course at Butler Commercial College. When 
he left the last named institution. Mr. Duvall accepted a position as 
bookkeeper at Sherman, Texas, which place in the business world he 
resigned after one year and returned to Bates county to enter the teach- 
ing profession and for one year was employed as teacher in the public 
schools of this county. Mr. Duvall then entered the real estate and 
abstract business at Butler and had been thus engaged for two years 
when, in 1891, he associated himself with H. E. Percival, of Burling- 
ton, Vermont, in the organization of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- 
pany, which is now one of the largest, best, and most aggressive finan- 
cial institutions in this part of the state. 

In December, 1890, William F, Duvall and Jessie S. Childs were 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 527 

united in marriage. Mrs. Duvall was a daughter of T. W. and Sarah 
J. Childs, of Butler, Missouri. To William F. and Jessie S. (Childs) 
Duvall were born two sons : Thomas Warren, who is a lieutenant 
in the army of the United States and is located, at the time of this 
writing in 1918, at Camp Funston, Kansas; and William Leslie, a stu- 
dent in the Butler High School. The mother died in June, 1899. The 
marriage of William F. Duvall and Regina Rosser was solemnized in 
December, 1900. Regina (Rosser) Duvall is a daughter of W. F. and 
Marian Rosser, of Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Duvall's mother is now 
deceased and her father is a well-known resident of Butler. Mr. and 
Mrs. Duvall reside at Butler, their home being located on the corner 
of Fort Scott and High streets. 

William F. Duvall has capably served as mayor of the city of But- 
ler. He was elected in 1900 on the Republican ticket, overcoming a 
Democratic majority of one hundred fifty votes by one hundred fifty 
votes. He was elected president of the Bates County Drainage Board 
in 1914 and has been twice reelected and is still a member of the board 
at the time of this writing. Mr. Duvall is the owner of the Duvall 
ranch, a farm comprising sixteen hundred acres of land, an unimproved, 
uncultivated, timber-covered tract at the time of his purchase in 1911. 
The larger part of the ranch has been cleared, leveled, tiled, placed 
under cultivation, and there are now six sets of improvements on the 
place. A lateral ditch of the large main drainage ditch touches the ranch 
on the east. Mr. Duvall has been interested in growing alfalfa on his 
place and, finding the crop a very valuable and profitable one, he has 
been instrumental in getting other men interested in alfalfa growing. He 
is one of the most intelligent and progressive agriculturists in the state 
as well as a successful efficient business man and financier. 

The Duvall-Percival Trust Company of Butler, Missouri, was estab- 
lished December 1, 1891 by the association of William F. Duvall of Butler, 
Missouri and H. E. Percival of Burlington, Vermont under the firm name 
of Duvall & Percival. They paid in as capital one thousand dollars each, 
making the capital two thousand dollars, and their first book, containing 
a record of their business, is a little brown book, still in existence, about 
eight by twelve inches and less than one inch thick. The business w^as 
continued under this management for three years when J. B. Duvall, 
a brother of W. F. Duvall, associated himself with the firm and the 
business was continued under the same name, Duvall & Percival. The 
capital was gradually increased as their business demanded it 



528 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and the business was carried on under the same management 
until the capital had increased to fifty thousand dollars, and on March 
1, 1907, the Duvall-Percival Trust Company was incorporated with a 
capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The ofificers were : Will- 
iam F. Duvall, president; J. B. Duvall. vice-president; Arthur 
Duvall, treasurer; and with Homer Duvall and W. D. Yates as additional 
members of the board of directors. This management continued from 
March 1, 1907, constantly adding to their business and building up their 
surplus, until June 1, 1912, being five years from the time of incorpora- 
tion, when the surplus had increased to fifty thousand dollars, the same 
amount of the capital. During this time, the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- 
pany had paid ten per cent, dividend. The business of the company had 
gradually increased until it was found necessary, on June 1, 1915, to 
increase the capital stock. The reports showed at that time fifty thou- 
sand dollars capital; fifty thousand dollars, surplus; and forty thousand 
dollars, undivided profits. The capital stock was then, on June 1, 1915, 
increased to two hundred thousand dollars, leaving a surplus fund of 
fifty thousand dollars and at the present time, in 1918, the capital stock 
of the Duvall-Percival Trust Company is two hundred thousand dollars; 
surplus, fifty thousand dollars ; and undivided profits, twenty-five thousand 
dollars and the company has continued under the same management 
ever since its incorporation, the present board of directors being, as 
follow: W. F. Duvall, president; J. B. Duvall, vice-president; Arthur 
Duvall, treasurer; and Homer Duvall and W. D. Yates. The trust com- 
pany has now outstanding some ten million dollars in farm loans in Mis- 
souri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The annual business in new 
loans amounts to one and a half million to two million dollars, aside 
from the renewals on one and a half million dollars of maturing loans 
each year. 

In January 1907, Mr. Duvall was elected president of the Farmers 
Bank of Bates county, one of the most important financial institutions 
of western Missouri which has had a wonderful growth since its inception 
in 1889. This bank was first organized in that year by Bates county 
farmers and was promoted by D. N. Thompson who had associated with 
him : J. K. Rosier, Dr. J. Everingham, J. J. McKee. and others. The 
bank was continued under the original management until 1906 when the 
controlling interest iii the bank passed to the Duvall brothers of Butler, 
Missouri. Under their capable and ambitious management it has pros- 
piered as never before and has taken high rank among the banks of Bates 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 529 

county and western Missouri. In January, 1906, W. F. Duvall was 
elected cashier and held this position until the following year when he 
was elected president of the bank. Homer Duvall was then elected to 
the post of cashier. 

The Farmers Bank was started with a capital of twenty thousand 
dollars. In January, 1906 the capital was fifty thousand dollars and sur- 
plus of ten thousand dollars, and the deposits were around two hundred 
thousand dollars. Since that time both capital and deposits have in- 
creased with leaps and bounds until at the present time, the capital is 
fifty thousand dollars, surplus fifty thousand dollars and undivided profits 
ten thousand dollars. Its deposits are over one-half million dollars. 
During eight years time from 1906 to 1914 the bank added forty thou- 
sand dollars to its surplus and on December 1, 1914, was passed as a 
roll of honor bank by reason of its surplus being equal to its capital. 

The present of^cers, January, 1918 are: W. F. Duvall, president; 
O. A. Heinlein, vice-president; Homer Duvall, cashier; H. H. Lesee, 
assistant cashier; the directors being as follow: E. A. Bennett, J". J. 
McKee, O. A. Heinlein, Clark Wix, J. W. Choate, Frank Holland, F. N. 
Drennen, W. F. Duvall, Joseph M. McKibben, T. S. Harper, J.. B. Duvall, 
and Dr. T. W. Foster. 

James E. Williams, postmaster of Butler, ex-city treasurer, ex-coun- 
cilman, and ex-mayor of Butler and the present proprietor of the Will- 
iams' Grocery in this city, is a native of Bates county, Missouri, a mem- 
ber of a well-known and prominent pioneer family of this section of the 
state. Mr. Williams was born in 1866 near Altona, son of James T. 
and Elizabeth (Quisenberry) Williams, the former, a native of Ken- 
tucky and the latter, of Sedalia, Missouri. James T. W^illiams'came to 
Missouri, when he was a boy twelve years of age, with his parents and 
the Williams family settled on a farm in Pettis county. In 1854, the 
son, James T., came to Bates county and located on a tract of land 
near Altona. He went to Sedalia at the time of the outbreak of the 
Civil War and for two years served with the Confederates in the regi- 
ment commanded by Generals Price and Shelby. After the conflict 
had ended, Mr. Williams returned to Bates county in 1865 and resumed 
his interest in agricultural pursuits. He took an active and prominent 
part in public and political affairs and for a long time was one of the 
leading and most influential men in his township, filling with much 
credit to himself and universal satisfaction to his constituents a num- 
ber of offices within the gift of the voters of the township. To James 
(34) 



530 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

T, and Elizabeth (Quisenberry) Williams were born six children: Mrs. 
Mary Wright, of Kansas City, Missouri, the widow of Dr. L. M. Wright, 
a late prominent physician of Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Bettie Harrison, 
Adrian, Missouri; Z. J., who was for many years one of the leading 
businessmen of Butler, whose death occurred in Texas in January, 1916 
and interment was made in the cemetery at Butler; Mrs. Jennie Bow- 
den, Sherman, Texas; James E., the subject of this sketch; and Mrs. 
Ella Ewing, who is deceased and whose remains are interred in the 
cemetery at Butler. The mother died in 1911 and the father in 1914 
and both parents were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler. 

James E. Williams attended school in Altona- and Butler. He is a 
graduate of the Butler Academy and of Weaver & Dever Business 
College at Butler. Since he was twenty years of age, Mr. Williams has 
made his own way in the world. He began his mercantile career in the 
employ of his brother, Z. J., who for several years conducted a grocery 
establishment in Butler. After a few years, the two brothers formed a 
partnership and added hardware and implements to their stock of mer- 
chandise and this firm continued in business fof twenty years, when 
James E. purchased Z. J.'s interest in the store and the latter moved 
to Texas. James E. Williams has continued the business here since that 
time. He is not only prominent in business circles in Bates county but 
he has been a dominant factor in the political life of Butler 
and has filled several important positions in the city government. Mr. 
Williams served eight years as chairman of the Democratic committee, 
one term as city treasurer, ten years as city councilman, and two terms 
as mayor of Butler. During his term in the mayor's office, the first 
paving in this city was laid around the public square and a walk made to 
the cemetery. In April, 1914, James E. Williams was appointed post- 
master of Butler and, at the time of this writing in 1917, he is now serv- 
ing his city in that capacity. 

In 1895, James E. Williams was united in marriage with Susie Steele, 
daughter of John and Martha (Baker) Steele, both of whom are now 
deceased. John Steele died at Butler, Missouri in April, 1917. He was 
a Union veteran of the Civil War and an active participant in the work 
of the Grand Army of the Republic at Butler in late years. Mr. Steele 
was a worthy and consistent member of the Baptist church and he ever 
remained loyal and true to the beautiful faith, the teachings of which 
were so nobly exemplified in his life. To James E. and Susie (Steele) 
Williams have been born three children: James S., who is now a student 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 53 1 

at the State University at Columbia, Missouri; Walter E., a senior in 
the Butler High School and a member of the class which graduates in 
1918; and Martha, who is a pupil in the graded schools of Butler. The 
Williams home is in the city of Butler at 206 Havanna street. 

For many years, Mr. Williams has been closely connected with the 
business interests of Butler and with important municipal enterprises: 
He is a practical man of affairs, possessing superior executive ability, 
and as a citizen he stands far above reproach. 

Charles E. Fortune, the well known county recorder of Bates county, 
is one of the county's most capable officials. Mr. Fortune is a native 
of Illinois. He was born in Cass county in 1875, the oldest of three 
children born to his parents, Michael and Elizabeth (Kirscher) For- 
tune, the former, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and the latter, of Germany. 
Their children are, as follow: Oliver C, Kansas City, Missouri; Julia, 
the wife of Glenn Earl, Kansas City, Missouri ; and Charles E., the sub- 
ject of this review. Michael Fortune was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 
1838. He came to Missouri from Illinois in 1880 and located at Free- 
man in Cass county, where he entered the mercantile business. One 
year later, Mr. Fortune moved to Rich Hill and engaged in the grain 
business in addition to following his trade as barber. For the past 
twenty-two years, he has been employed by the government as tax col- 
lector in Rich Hill. Michael Fortune is now seventy-nine years of age, 
but he is still as alert and active physically and mentally as many men 
twenty years his junior. 

In the public schools of Rich Hill, Missouri, Charles E. Fortune 
received his education. He assisted his father in the feed and grain busi- 
ness and did a man's work when still a mere lad. Mr. Fortune studied 
and mastered telegraphy and became an expert operator and for eight 
years was employed in this capacity by the Missouri Pacific Railway 
Company, being located for a few months at Panama, Missouri and then 
at Rich Hill. In the election of November, 1914, Charles E. Fortune was 
elected county recorder of Bates county and he is the present incumbent 
in this office, at the time of this writing in 1917. Mr. Fortune has fully 
justified the choice of the people of the county, proving himself to be a 
thoroughly trustworthy and efficient official. 

July 22, 1909, Charles E. Fortune and Elmira Fry, daughter of Cor- 
bin Fry, a late prominent citizen of Rich Hill, were united in marriage 
and to this union has been born one child; a daughter, Carolyn E., who 
is now seven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Fortune reside in Butler at 210 



532 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

North Havanna street. They are socially very popular and number their 
friends by the score both in the city and in the county. 

As a citizen and public official, Charles E. Fortune stands high in his 
community. As a business man, he maintains an honorable record and 
he deserves much credit for the rapid strides he has made from an humble 
position in his father's feed and grain store to one of influence and 
affluence in the community. His career has been marked by fidelity 
to duty and upright, straightforward business methods. 

Daniel Cresap. — The career of Daniel Cresap and his devoted wiie, 
residing on their large estate in Osage township in the evening of their 
long and eventful lives, is an interesting one and involves an account 
of hardships undergone and difficulties overcome, the mere confronting 
of which would have daunted souls less brave than Mr. and Mrs. Cresap. 
Through all of his career Mr. Cresap has been handicapped by the early 
loss of a limb, but his indomitable courage and will, and restless energy 
combined with the assistance of his noble wife have carried him onward 
and upward until he is now one of the largest land-owners in Bates 
county. The Cresap estate comprises seven hundred sixty acres 
in a single body in Osage township, all of which is in cultivation but 
two hundred forty acres which are used for pasture land. A resume 
of the output of crops from this large tract in 1917 gives the reader 
an idea of the magnitude of the farming operations carried on from 
year to year on the Cresap place. In that year there were one hundred 
forty acres of corn harvested which produced an average of forty 
bushels to the acre; thirty-five acres of wheat were sown which pro- 
duced fifteen bushels to the acre; one hundred acres of oats yielded 
thirty-live bushels per acre ; one hundred twenty acres of hay were 
cut which yielded over a ton to the acre. Mr. Cresap now rents out 
the greater part of his land. He formerly handled hundreds of cattle 
yearly. He is a real pioneer of Bates county and has lived here since 
July, 1866, and has resided on his home place since March, 1878. Mr. 
Cresap bought his home place of one hundred sixty acres in 1878, at 
a cost of five dollars per acre and has been continually investing in land 
since that time, paying all the way to twelve dollars and fifty cents an 
acre. 

Daniel Cresap is descended from one of the oldest and most promi- 
nent of the American families. He was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, 
February 20, 1835. He is the son of Daniel (IV) and Margaret (Humes) 
Cresap, the former of whom was a native of .Virginia and the latter of 




DANIEL CRESAP, SR. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 533 

Pennsylvania. Daniel, Sr., was a son of Robert Cresap, a native of Vir- 
ginia. The genealogical record of the Cresap family compiled some 
years ago states that the founder of the family in America was Thomas 
Cresap (I), who was born at Shipton, Yorkshire, England, in 1702 and 
died at Oldtown, Maryland, in 1789. He was a colonel of American 
soldiers in the Indian wars and probably served in the French and Indian 
War. His son, Daniel (II) was born in 1727 and died in 1798. Robert 
(III) was the son of Daniel (II) and was born in 1765. Members of 
this family have occupied prominent places in American history. Michael 
Cresap, a son of the original ancestor, Thomas Cresap, was an associate 
of George Washington in his surveying expeditions and was accused by 
Logan the Indian chief, with having brought about the killing of Chief 
Logan's family. In 1854, the parents of Daniel Cresap moved to Piatt 
county, Illinois, and lived on rented land. At this period the elder 
Cresap was an old man and his sons tilled his farm. The children of 
the family were: Hamilton, deceased; Benjamin Franklin, a captain 
of a company in the One Hundred Seventh Regiment of Illinois 
Infantry during the Civil War, now deceased; Mary, deceased; Daniel, 
subject of this review; and Wesley, deceased. 

At the early age of thirteen years, Daniel Cresap met with an acci- 
dent which caused the loss of his right limb, and thus seriously handi- 
capped through life he has managed to achieve success. He was a 
young man when the family located in Illinois in 1854. Two years 
later, in 1856, he made the trip to Texas, and was engaged in the cattle 
business in that state when the Civil War broke out. He lost all of his 
possessions and narrowly escaped with his life in making his way out 
of the South back to the old home in Illinois. He boarded a steamboat 
at Jefferson, on the bayou on Red river and made his way up the Mis- 
sissippi as far as Memphis when the boat was stopped by the Confederate 
authorities and not allowed to proceed further. He made his way by 
train through Tennessee and Kentucky to Cairo, Illinois. The train 
was loaded with northern refugees like himself and he landed at Cairo 
practically penniless, and was forced to borrow a dollar to pay his fare 
home. During the war he managed his brother's farm near Cham- 
paign, Illinois and saved money to the extent of two thousand dollars. 
This fund, he brought with him to Bates county, Missouri, in 1866, 
placed one thousand five hundred dollars in the bank at Butler and lost 
it all in five days by the failure of the bank. He first settled in New 
Home township at the head of the island on the shores of the Marais 



534 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

des Cygnes where he paid thirteen doUars an acre for land. He built 
a home on the hill overlooking his land and lived there for fifteen years, 
and then sold the farm which he had improved at thirteen dollars an 
acre. All of his fifteen years of hard work had gone for naught. Floods 
washed away his crops so often that he gave up the hopeless task of 
trying to even make a living in the flood lands of the river. He came 
to his present location in 1878, "dead broke." He broke up his first 
ground with a yoke of oxen and a horse abreast, and he and his faithful 
wife were hard put to it in order to make ends meet during the first 
few years in Osage township. Mrs. Cresap worked like a hired hand, 
sold butter at seven cents a pound, and she and one hired man milked 
thirteen cows daily. She eked out their slender resources by taking in 
sewing, doing washing for the neighbors and keeping boarders. Soon 
the clouds began to lift and prosperity smiled upon them ; the memory 
of their hard struggles became dimmer and the Cresap farm grew larger 
and larger and the days of plenty were at hand for this deserving couple 
who were so ambitious that a little would not content them. Their 
ambitions have been realized and the splendid farm stretching away 
from the home which they built on the first quarter section is actual 
testimony of their achievements. 

Mr. Cresap was married on February 25, 1873 to Mary Elizabeth 
Frazee, who was born September 23, 1843, in Cumberland county, Mary- 
land, a daughter of William and Susan (Kirkpatrick) Frazee, both of 
whom were members of old American families. In 1847, William Frazee 
moved to Champaign county, Ohio, where he resided until 1868, and 
then came to Bates county, Missouri, settling in New Home township. 
A former ancestor of the Frazees owned a tract of land on Manhattan 
Island, New York which was leased for a period of ninety-nine years 
and is still claimed by the descendants of the lessee. William Frazee died 
in this county, October 3, 1870, aged forty-seven years, eleven months, 
and fourteen days. Susan Frazee died June 25, 1880. aged fifty-nine years. 
The Frazee children were: Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Cresap of this review; 
Mrs. Barbara Ellen Black, died in Osage township ; Mrs. Frances Ann 
De Armond, a widow, residing with her daughter in Pleasanton, Kan- 
sas; William Harrison, New Home township, and Mrs. Eliza Jane John- 
son, Butler, twins ; Edmond Austin, Bristow, Oklahoma. The children 
born to Daniel and Mary Elizabeth Cresap are as follow: Susan, wife 
of V. A. Brundage, Sheridan, Wyoming; Uda, proving up on a home- 
stead near Sheridan, AVyoming; Sara, on a homestead near Arvada, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 535 

Wyoming; Daniel, also a homesteader near Arvada, Wyoming; and Mrs. 
Mary Elizabeth Schultz, Champaign, Illinois. 

The nearest trading post for the Cresaps forty years ago was at 
Fort Scott, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Cresap hauled their wheat and pro- 
duce to this point. Mrs. Cresap marketed her turkeys, chickens and 
sweet potatoes at Fort Scott, also. In politics, Mr. Cresap has been 
a life-long Republican but was identified with the Populist movement 
when it was at the height of its strength in this section. Mrs. Cresap 
is a Presbyterian and Mr. Cresap has endeavored all of his long life to 
live according to the Golden Rule. His creed of living is best expressed 
by the words, "Do what you know to be right, and don't do what you 
know to be wrong." 

Joseph A. Flammang, the efficient highway engineer and county 
surveyor of Bates county, Missouri, is one of the widely and favorably 
known, young citizens of Butler. Mr. Flammang is a native of Henry 
county. He was born in 1887 at Montrose, a son of N. and Margaret 
Flammang, who were the parents of six children, as follow: Mrs. 
Charles Ingram, Franklin, Kansas; N. Flammang, Jr., deceased; Nora, 
Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. M. J. Sturdevant, Herington, Kansas; Joseph 
A., the subject of this review; and Mary, who died in childhood at the 
age of four years. N. Flammang, Sr. is a native of Luxemburg and 
in the old country had mastered the stonemason's trade. He emigrated 
from his native land about 1873 and came to America, locating first in 
Minnesota, from which state he moved to Texas, whence he came to 
Missouri and located at Montrose in 1887. In 1889, the senior Flam- 
mang settled in Rich Hill, where he is now residing. During the active 
years of his long life, which has spanned three score and sixteen years, 
N. Flammang, Sr. followed his trade as stonemason in connection with 
farming in his early manhood, but for many years prior to his retire- 
ment he was engaged in coal mining. He has never sought or desired 
official distinction, but has been content to pursue the even tenor of his 
way in life as a stonemason, farmer, or coal miner, doing good in a quiet, 
unostentatious manner whenever opportunity presented itself and meas- 
uring up to the highest ideals of American citizenship. 

Joseph A. Flammang obtained his elementary education in the public 
schools of Rich Hill, Missouri. He is a graduate of Missouri University in 
the class of 1910, completing the four years' course in civil engineering 
and graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Upon leaving 
the university, Mr. Flammang accepted a position with the Great North- 



536 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ern Railway Company at Wellington, Washington, which place he held 
one year, when he was appointed highway engineer of Bates county, 
Missouri in February, 1911 and was thus obliged to resign his former 
position. In the election of 1912, Joseph. A. Flammang was elected 
county surveyor of Bates county and in the election of 1916 was re- 
elected, continuing to satisfactorily fill both positions, that of highway 
engineer and county surveyor, and, in addition to his ofificial duties, he 
was employed as chief engineer of the Marais des Cygnes River Drain- 
age project, a ditch which was completed in 1914. The main ditch is 
twenty-three miles in length and there are seven or eight miles of laterals. 
Mr. Flammang himself planned the Athol and Lone Oak systems. 

Mr. Flammang is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks of Butler. The true w^estern spirit of progress and enterprise is 
strikingly exemplified in the busy life of Joseph A. Flammang, a young 
citizen whose energetic nature and laudable ambition have enabled him 
to conquer and subdue countless adverse conditions and to advance 
steadily and rapidly until at the early age of thirty years he has won and 
still retains one of the most important positions within the gift of the 
people of Bates county. 

Charles R. Bowman, a member of the Bowman & Company Real 
Estate firm of Butler, Missouri, is one of Bates county's most enterpris- 
ing citizen. Mr. Bowman is a native of Ohio. He was born January 
22, 1873 in Pickaway county, the youngest of ten children born to his 
parents, Conrad and Ruth (Ritter) Bowman. The father, Conrad Bow- 
man, was born in Germany and at the age of nine years emigrated from 
the fatherland with his parents and came to America. The Bowmans 
first located in Virginia and thence Conrad Bowman later went to Pick- 
away county, Ohio. Ruth (Ritter) Bowman was a native of Winchester, 
Virginia. The children born to Conrad and Ruth Bowman were, as 
follow: James, Williamsport, Ohio; John, Mount Sterling, Ohio; 
David, Pendleton, Oregon; Rachel, the wife of William Hulett, New Hol- 
land, Ohio; George, Mount Sterling, Ohio; Frank, Hillsboro, Ohio; 
Elizabeth, the wife of Caleb Taylor, Mount Sterling, Ohio; Matthias, 
Mount Sterling, Ohio; Thomas, Cathlamet, Washington; and Charles 
R., the subject of this review. The mother died in Ohio in 1884 and 
interment was made in the cemetery at Hebron church. Eleven years 
after the death of his wife, Conrad Bowman left Ohio and came West, 
locating on a farm two miles east of Amoret in Bates county, Missouri 
in 1895. He resided on his Missouri farm for five or six years and then 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 537 

returned to the old home in Ohio, where he died in April, 1916. His 
remains were laid beside his wife's in the cemetery at Hebron church. 

Charles R. Bowman obtained his education in the public schools of 
Ohio. When a young man, twenty-four years of age, Mr. Bowman came 
to Missouri from Ohio and settled in Bates county. He first engaged 
in farming, in 1897, and for fourteen years followed agricultural pur- 
suits near Amoret. In recent years, he has been interested in the 
real estate business, in which he was engaged for five years at Amoret. 
In April, 1914, Mr. Bowman moved to Butler and opened his present 
office in the American building on the north side of the public square. 
Charles R. Bowman is a gentleman, a man of pleasing personality and 
courteous manners, and a "hustler." During the dull season of 1916, 
he sold forty-three Bates county farms and at the time of this writing, 
in 1917, he has this year sold thirty-three country places. Mr. Bowman 
is intensely interested in his work and firmly believes that Bates county 
farms, at the present prices, comprise the cheapest yet most valuable 
body of land on this earth today. He handles only Bates county real 
estate, both farm and city property, but puts his trust and hopes in farm 
land. 

In 1899, Charles R. Bowman w^as united in marriage with Anna 
Payne, daughter of William and Harriet Payne, at Butler, Missouri. 
William Payne is now deceased and his widow resides on a farm near 
Amoret. To Mr. and Mrs. Bowman have been born four children: Mona, 
w^ho is at present a student in the Butler High School; Pearl, who is a 
student in the Butler High School; Clyde and Pierce, who are pupils in 
the graded schools of Butler. The Bowman home is in Butler on North 
Fulton street. Though Mr. and Mrs. Bowman have been residents of 
Butler but a very short time, they have made a vast number of friends in 
this city and have an enviable standing in the city's best social circles. 

Mr. Bowman is well known in Bates county as a substantial citizen. 
He is a man of liberal views and a worker, a member of the large and valu- 
able class who, by deeds rather than words, do so much to build up the 
country and promote its material and moral interest. 

W. H. Holloway, Union veteran, an honored and highly respected 
pioneer citizen of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Tennessee. Mr. Hol- 
loway was born in Monroe county, October 31, 1840, a son of William 
and Mary H. A. (Peck) Holloway, who were the parents of four chil- 
dren, three of w^hom are now living: Mrs. Sarah M. Clemments, Har- 
risonville,. Missouri ; Mrs. Cordelia A. Warren, Harrisonville, Missouri; 



538 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mrs. Martha M. Olds, deceased; and W. H., the subject of this review. 
The mother, Mary H. A. Hohoway, was a daughter of Col. Nicholas 
S. Peck, of Monroe county, Tennessee. He was a veteran of the War 
of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. William Holloway came to Missouri from Ten- 
nessee among the first settlers and on May 3, 1843 settled near Har- 
risonville, Cass county. Nine years later, the former died October 2, 
1852 and interment was made in the cemetery near Lonetree. Mrs. 
Holloway departed this life in 1887 and her remains were laid to rest 
in the cemetery at Harrisonville. 

W. H. Holloway attended school in Harrisonville, Missouri and 
for two terms, 1850 and 1851, was a pupil of William Jones. Mr. Hol- 
loway was a young man, twenty-one years of age, at the time of the 
outbreak of the Civil War and he served as a member of the state 
militia at Harrisonville during the conflict from September, 1863 to 
July, 1865. He and his widowed mother were residing at Harrison- 
ville when General Ewing's famous Order Number 11 was put into 
effect in 1863. After the war had ended, Mr. Holloway engaged in 
farming in Cass county until 1868, when he moved to Bates county 
and entered the nursery business, selling trees and shrubbery for Blair 
Brothers of Lees Summit for several years and then opened a nursery, 
about 1873, and until 1895 was engaged in conducting this business. 
Since that time, he has been employed in buying and selling fruit and 
in gardening. Mr. Holloway is the owner of two acres of land located 
within the city limits of Butler at 213 South Broadway street, where 
he has a pleasant and comfortable home. He purchased this place in 
1869. It soon will be a half century since W. H. Holloway came to 
Butler, Missouri and he has moved his place of residence but twice 
during all those years. He states that there were not to exceed two 
dozen people living in Butler, at the time of this writing in 1917, who 
were residents of this city when he came here, and that estimate in- 
cludes infants and children as well as adults. Mr. and Mrs. Holloway 
are the only married couple surviving of those living in Butler in 1868. 

March 18, 1868, W. H. Holloway and Nannie A. Woolery were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Holloway was born in Cooper county, Mis- 
souri in 1845, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Wadley) Woolery, 
both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Woolery came 
to Missouri from Kentucky immediately after their marriage and located 
in Cooper county. Both parents are now deceased and their remains 
are interred in the cemetery at Dayton in Cass county, Missouri. Mrs. 



JllSTORY OF BATES COUNTY 539 

Holloway has two sisters now living: Mrs. Martha Eddy, Hickory, Mis- 
souri; and Mrs. CorneHa Randall, Paonia, Colorado. To W. H. and 
Nannie A. Holloway have been born three children: Jessie C, the 
wife of Elmer D. Fuller, Spokane, Washington; Edgar O., who died at 
the age of fourteen years ; and Harry H., who is a well-known and 
prominent merchant of Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Holloway 
celebrated their Golden Wedding A.nniversary, March 18, 1918. Mrs. Hol- 
loway has been a noble and worthy helpmeet and deserves much praise 
and credit for her constant faithfulness and sympathy as a wife and 
mother and for her prudent and careful management of the manifold 
duties and responsibilities of the Holloway household. 

Still in the prime of his mental powers, W. H. Holloway has before 
him the prospect of many future years of usefulness. He has been a 
potent and prominent factor in the industrial and general business 
activity of Butler and of Bates county. Mr. HoUoway's career has been 
one of continued advancement and unabating industry. Strict integrity, 
sound judgment, and honorable business methods have won for him 
permanent success and the unfailing regard and esteem of his fellow- 
men. No family in Bates county stands higher in the respect of the 
community than the Holloways. Mr. Holloway has always been an 
inveterate enemy of the whiskey traffic and has fought on the side of 
temperance and prohibition during his entire life. 

Dr. J. T. Shadburne, a well-known and successful dentist of Butler, 
is one of the capable young professional men in Bates county. Dr. Shad- 
burne is a native of Missouri, born at Windsor in 1889, a son of Dr. R. 
L. and Mary Garnet' (Fowler) Shadburne, the former, a native of Henry 
county and the latter, of Benton county, Missouri. Dr. R. L. Shadburne 
is a son of Dr. T. P. Shadburne, a prominent pioneer physician of Troy, 
Missouri, who located at that place prior to the time of the Civil War 
and later moved to Windsor. The senior Dr. Shadburne is now deceased 
and his son. Dr. R. L., is still one of the leading men of his profession 
at Windsor. To Dr. R. L. and Mary Garnet Shadburne have been born 
three children, all of whom are now living: Mrs. R. E. Ball, Windsor, 
Missouri; Lieutenant L. W., National Army, who was one of the first 
boys in attendance at Fort Riley Of^cers' Training School; and Dr. J. 
T., the subject of this review. 

Dr. J. T. Shadburne is a graduate of Windsor High School and of 
Kansas City Dental College. He completed the dental course at the 
latter institution, graduating with the class of 1916. After leaving col- 



540 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

lege, Dr. Shaclburne located at Dexter, ^Missouri for a short time, coming 
to Butler in March, 1917 and opening his present office. 

July 28, 191 7, Dr. J. T. Shadburne and Marjorie Scott, daughter of 
L. H. Scott, of Steelville, Missouri, were united in marriage. ^Irs. Shad- 
burne was left motherless when she was a child, live years of age. Dr. 
and Mrs. Shadburne reside in Butler at 404 Delaware street. 

Frank Holland, the well-known and efficient county clerk of Bates 
county and an ex-trustee of Summit township, proprietor of the "Hol- 
land Farm" in Summit township, is one of the county's most prominent 
and successful citizens. ]Mr. Holland was born January 27, 1868 on his 
father's farm in McLean county, Illinois, a son of G. W. and Edmonia 
(Johnson) Holland, who were the parents of three children, all of whom 
are now living: Frank, the subject of this review; Mrs. Gertrude ^^'il- 
liams, Appleton City, Missouri ; and IMiles, Appleton City, Missouri. G. 
W. Holland was born in Logan County, Kentucky in 1840, one of 
seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Joel Holland, their children being 
as follow: John, who resides in Logan county, Kentucky; \A'. A., who 
was born in Kentucky and died in May, 1914 near Appleton City, 
Missouri; G. W., the father of Frank Holland, the subject of this re- 
view; J. ]M., of Logan county, Kentucky; Mrs. Mary McKenzie, of 
Logan county, Kentucky; Mrs. Angelina Lawler, of Logan county, 
Kentucky ; and Mrs. Jane Browning, deceased. Joel Holland was a na- 
tive of Maryland. He came to Missouri among the earliest pioneers and 
located in Henry county, where he entered a section of land in 1856. 
In the latter part of his life, he divided his vast holdings among his chil- 
dren, giving to each son one hundred sixty acres of choice land in Henry 
county and he then returned to the old home in Kentucky, where he 
died. G. W. Holland came to Henry county, Misouri in October, 1871 
and located on the farm which was given him by his father and upon 
which he resided for forty-one years, devoting the best years of his life 
to farming and stock raising and improving his land. In 1912, Mr. Hol- 
land retired from the active pursuits of agriculture and moved to Apple- 
ton City in St. Clair county, where he died July 31, 1914. Interment 
was made in the cemetery at Appleton City. The widowed mother, 
who is a native of Virginia, still resides at Appleton City. 

Frank Holland obtained his education at Appleton City Academy 
and Missouri University at Columbia. Until he was twenty-four years 
of age, he remained at home with his parents. At that time, he pur- 
chased a farm adjoining his, father's place in Henry County, a tract of 
land he afterward sold to his brother. Miles, and then moved to Bates 




FRANK HOLLAND. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 54I 

county, purchasing two hundred forty acres of vahiable land in Summit 
township, to which tract he later added eighty acres. This farm, now 
comprising three hundred twenty acres, is one of the best in the county 
and is widely known as the "Holland Farm." Mr. Holland has built 
two barns and remodeled the residence since he acquired the ownership 
of the farm. The Holland home is a handsome, modern, country place. 
The residence and barns are lighted by electricity from a plant in- 
stalled by Mr. Holland. 

For eight years, Frank Holland was trustee of Summit township 
and for six years was chairman of the Democratic township committee. 
Mr. Holland is primarily a man of the people and his genial manners and 
pleasing- social qualities win and retain for him countless friends. The 
capable manner in which he administered the multitudinous affairs com- 
ing within the sphere of his duty as trustee and as township committee- 
man inspired in his behalf the utmost confidence and trust of the voters 
of Bates county and in the autumn of 1914 Frank Holland was elected 
county clerk of Bates County and at the time of this writing he is the 
present incumbent in that office. Careful and methodical in the man- 
agement of the office, Mr. Holland has won the respect and good will 
of the people in Bates county, regardless of party affiliations. The 
draft law has recently added an immense amount of extra labor as a 
part of the county clerk's duties, hard work for which no additional pay 
is allowed, but Mr. Holland is only glad that in this way he can "do his 
bit." 

January 27, 1892, Frank Holland and Alma E. Adamson were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Holland is a daughter of W. W. Adamson, 
of Montrose, Henry county, Missouri. To this union has been born 
one child, a son, Roy D., who is employed as deputy clerk of Bates 
county. The marriage of Roy D. Holland and Fay Harper, of Butler, 
Missouri, was recently solemnized. The Hollands have a wide circle 
of close personal friends and no family in this section of the state stands 
higher in the respect and esteem of the community than the Holland 
family. 

In Frank Holland are combined the two most marked characteris- 
tics of the South and the West, the careful, conservative caution of the 
Southern planter and the enthusiastic enterprise, that overleaps all ob- 
stacles and makes possible almost any undertaking, of the Western 
pioneer. Mr. Holland is still a young man and the future awaits him 
with much that is full of promise. He is a man of unquestioned integ- 
rity and high moral principles. 



542 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Thomas L. Pettys, merchant and the treasurer of the Old Settlers' 
Annual Reunion Association of Bates county, Missouri, is one of the 
leading citizens of Butler and at the age of sixty-nine years an active 
and prominent business man of this city. Mr. Pettys is a native of Ohio. 
He v^as born in 1848 at Republic in Seneca county, son of Jobe and 
Augusta (Bishop) Pettys. The mother died w^hen her son, Thomas L., 
was an infant and the father died in northern Michigan a few years 
later. Thomas L. Pettys has one sister living, Mrs. Susanna Augusta 
Cowan, of Bend, Crook county, Oregon. The mother is interred in the 
cemetery at Republic in Seneca county, Ohio. 

Thomas L, Pettys acquired a good common school education in the 
public schools of Republic in Seneca county, Ohio and completed the pre- 
scribed course of study in the Republic High School. He came to Mis- 
souri with his uncle, Dr. Lyman E. Hall, who at one time was county 
judge of Bates county. Judge Hall died on his farm in Homer township 
and his remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Mulberry. Mr. 
Pettys made his home with his uncle. Dr. Hall, until the death of the 
doctor. He then left the farm and accepted a position with William 
Robinson, a general merchant and honored pioneer of Mulberry, and 
for two years young Pettys worked as clerk in Mr. Robinson's mercan- 
tile establishment. Mr. Pettys thought that Colorado offered superior 
advantages to the ambitious, young man and he resigned his position 
as clerk and went to that state, where he remained four months and 
returned to Missouri to enter the employ of Mr. Levy at Butler and 
for six years was thus engaged in the same building in which the Levy 
Mercantile Company now is located. At the close of that period of time, 
Mr. Pettys again left Missouri and took a claim of land in western Kan- 
sas in Gray county and, after having proven it, he sold this tract and 
came back to Butler, investing his money in a grocery store owned for- 
merly by Charles Denny, Butler's pioneer groceryman, and taking into 
partnership with him his son-in-law, Dell Welton. This firm continued 
in business two years and then Thomas L. Pettys disposed of his interest 
in the store, selling the same to Mr. Welton. The former purchased the 
grocery store located on the southeast corner of the public square. After 
conducting business for two years at the old stand Mr. Pettys moved 
his establishment to the John Steele building, and at this place has con- 
tinuously been in business ever since. For thirty-three years, Mr. Pettys 
has been prominent in the business and financial circles of Butler. He 
states that when he first came to this city there was a little frame building 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 543 

on the northeast corner of the square, which structure was dignified by 
the name of the Bates county court house. 

December 25, 1889, Thomas L. Pettys and Mrs. Mary E. (Porch) 
Glass were united in marriage. Mrs. Pettys is a native of Cole county, 
Missouri, a daughter of Henry H. and Lucinda (McLean) Porch, the 
former, a native of North Carolina and the latter, of Tennessee. Mr. 
and Mrs. Porch were honored and widely known pioneers of Cole 
county. They were the parents of the following children: Andrew J., 
deceased; William N., Berlin, Oklahoma; J. W., who has been a resi- 
dent of Butler, Missouri since 1865; and Mrs. Thomas L. Pettys, the 
wife of the subject of this review. 

Of the early days in Bates county, Mr. Pettys can tell much and 
in his own delightful, inimitable rrianner relates stories of pioneer times 
in this section of the state. He has done much toward making the Old 
Settlers' Reunion an annual success. The association was organized 
in 1896 and the reunion is one of the biggest and most important events 
of the year in Bates county. The last meeting was held October 10, 
1917 on the public square in Butler. Mr. Pettys was personally 
acquainted with many of the leading and influential men of the days 
gone by and he recalls that William Robinson was the first merchant 
at Mulberry. Mr. Robinson opened a store at that place about 1870. 
Dr. Lyman E. Hall was one of the most prominent citizens of western 
Bates county, a highly respected and intellectual pioneer physician whose 
practice was very extensive in the early days. He frequently made calls 
far beyond the confines of this county and at that time there were no 
fences to obstruct travel over the prairie and no roads to guide the 
traveler. Dr. Hall and William Robinson were the benefactors of the 
orphan boy, Thomas Pettys, friends whom he has always held in grate- 
ful remembrance and the highest esteem. 

Like the majority of young men, Thomas L. Pettys had to win 
recognition by merit alone. A multitude of obstacles in the pathway to 
success had to be overcome before the future looked very bright or 
promising. Left an orphan when but a small child, he w^as dependent 
for many years upon the mercies of an unmerciful world. A close 
observer, keen thinker, and diligent worker, Mr. Pettys seized every 
opportunity to profit by the knowledge of those older than he in years 
and experience and exceptional success has crowned his efforts. W^hile 
attenditig primarily to his own business affairs, Mr. Pettys is not unmind- 
ful of the claims every community has upon its citizens and public-spir- 



544 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ited in an unobtrusive way he takes a deep interest in all movements 
which have for their object the betterment and uplift of the community. 

Thomas Franklin Lockwood, M. D., a prominent physician of Butler, 
Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Dr. Lockwood was born January 11, 
1865 in Sangamon county, a son of Isaac S. and Sarah (Dunbar) Lock- 
wood, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, of Virginia. Mr. and 
Mrs. Isaac S. Lockwood were the parents of the following children: 
Mrs. Mary Jane Bartley, Denver, Colorado; Francis Marion, a success- 
ful farmer of Kay county, Oklahoma ; George Harrison, of LaClede 
county, Missouri; Dr. Thomas Franklin, the subject of this sketch; Dr. 
William Albert, Ponca City, Oklahoma; Isaac Otis and Ira Elmer, twins, 
the former of whom was drowned at the age of twenty-one years in a 
vain attempt to save the life of a friend who also drowned in Osage 
Fork in LaClede county and the latter is now residing on a farm in 
LaClede county; and two children died in infancy. Isaac S. Lockwood 
was of Scotch descent. He was a widely known and highly respected 
pioneer of Barton county and was a resident of that part of the state of 
Missouri when the Civil War broke out and at that time he returned to 
Illinois. The Lockwoods had come to Missouri in the early fifties. Mr. 
Lockwood was a carpenter and millwright and built and operated several 
mills in the Ozark region and rebuilt many more. In the later years of his 
life, he devoted his time and energies to agricultural pursuits in LaClede 
county, to which he came after the Civil War had ended. Isaac S. Lock- 
wood died in 1903 at the age of sixty-six years and Mrs. Lockwood 
joined him in death in 1913. Both father and mother w^ere interred 
in the cemetery at New Hope. 

Dr. Lockwood's childhood and youth were spent in Illinois and Mis- 
souri and the public schools of both states afforded him the means of a 
good elementary education. He early determined to devote himself to 
medical work and entered Northwestern Medical College, from which 
institution he graduated in 1887. Dr. Lockwood completed his work at 
Northwestern Medical College, St. Joseph, Missouri, with a highly 
creditable record and then entered the Medical College of Nashville, 
Tennessee, from which he obtained his degree in 1895. Dr. Lock- 
wood began the practice of his profession at Conway, Missouri, in LaClede 
county and was there located for six years, coming to Butler in the 
autumn of 1895. He moved to his present office, on the north side of 
the public square in this city, about 1900. 

June 20, 1886, Dr. Thomas Franklin Lockwood and Ellen J. Barr 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 545 

were united in marriage. Mrs. Lockwood is a daughter of Dr. S. B. F. C. 
Barr, who before his coming to Missouri, was a leader of the medical 
profession in Lebanon, Tennessee. Dr. Barr was a native of Tennessee 
as is also his daughter, Mrs. Lockwood. Dr. Barr was a graduate of 
the old Vanderbilt Medical College, of Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Barr 
died about the year 1881 in LaClede county, Missouri, where he had 
retired on a farm. 

To Dr. and Mrs. Lockwood have been born two children: Eda 
Ethel, the wife of Talmage D. Crawford, of Nevada, Missouri, and the 
mother of two children, Mary Carmen and Franklin DeWitt ; and Oscar 
Harris Lockwood, who is at home with his parents. Dr. Lockwood is a 
valued and worthy member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the 
Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World and the Yoe- 
men. He is also affiliated with both the Bates County and Missouri State 
Medical Associations. He has served as secretarv of the Bates County 
Medical Society and was vice-president of the State Medical Association 
in 1913. At the 1914 session of the latter association, Dr. Lockwood 
was the orator on medicine and he delivered an address on professional 
reminiscences, a plea for unity in the medical profession, a scholarly talk 
which displayed profound erudition and elicited much praise from the 
different members of the society. Dr. Lockwood is the local surgeon 
for the Missouri Pacofic Railway Company and secretary of the Board 
of United States Examining Surgeons. 

Dr. Lockwood does not belong to the class of professional men 
who are content with past achievements, but he is a constant student, 
keeping in touch with the latest discoveries and researches of medical 
science. In various ways, the doctor has been and is identified with the 
material prosperity of his city and his name is almost invariably found 
in connection with all enterprises for the public welfare. 

J. B. Lotspeich, an honored pioneer citizen. Confederate veteran, 
and prosperous agriculturist, is a native of this state. Mr. Lotspeich 
was born October 16, 1841, at Springfield, Missouri, son of Ralph and 
Nancy (Gilliland) Lotspeich. Ralph Lotspeich was a native of Georgia. 
He came to Missouri among the earliest settlers, about 1841, and located 
near Springfield, later settling on a farm in Cooper county, where he 
died in 1895. Nancy (Gilliland) Lotspeich was a native of Tennessee. 
She died in 1899 and her remains were laid to rest in Pilot Grove ceme- 
tery in Cooper county, beside those of her husband. Ralph and Nancy 
(35) 



546 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Lotspeich were the parents of the following children : J. B., the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Robert, a Confederate soldier of the Civil War, 
who served under General Price and was killed in the battle of Pearidge, 
Arkansas; James, a veteran of the Confederacy, who served under Gen- 
erals Price and Shelby and was shot through the hips in a skirmish in 
Arkansas, whose death occurred in 1898; Sarah, the widow of Marion 
Burney, who was killed while serving in the Confederate army in a skir- 
mish in Arkansas; Ossin, Yelton, Oklahoma; William, Pettis county, 
Missouri; Ollie, the wife of R. S. Nelson, Springfield, Missouri; and 
Charles, who died in Cooper county, Missouri about 1907. 

When J. B. Lotspeich was a youth, there were no public schools 
in Missouri and he was instructed at home and in private schools in 
Cooper county. He was a young man, twenty years of age, when the 
Civil War broke out and he enlisted with the Confederates and served 
until the close of the long struggle of four years. Mr. Lotspeich actively 
participated in battles fought in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, 
Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee and at the time of General Lee's 
surrender was in Mississippi. About 1870, he located on a farm in Saline 
county and there remained ten years, coming to Bates county in 1880 
to reside on a rented farm, which was situated where the townsite of 
Adrian now is, for one year. He then purchased eighty acres of land, 
lying near the present site of Amsterdam, and four years later traded 
it for a tract of one hundred sixty acres of land five miles north of 
Butler, paying the difference in the value of the two farms, and the 
latter country place is still in Mr. Lotspeich's possession and it has 
been his home for the past twenty years. He has been very success- 
ful in farming, stockraising, and feeding and in addition to his home 
farm has bought and now owns one hundred ten acres of land in sec- 
tion 21 and one hundred forty-five acres of land in section 33 in Mound 
township, a portion of which is the townsite of Passaic in Bates county. 
Mr. Lotspeich was residing on the rented farm, the townsite of Adrian, 
when the railroad was built through in 1880. He recalls how the town 
"boomed" from the very beginning, and, contrary to the general rule 
of places of mushroom growth, Adrian is today still one of the best 
towns in the county. Prior to the building of Adrian, the principal 
trading point for the people of that vicinity was Crescent Hill, where 
Henry Fair and Nelson and Henry Moudy were the leading merch- 
ants. Mr. Lotspeich well remembers how the whole town of Crescent 
Hill literally moved to Adrian, when the railroad came. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 547 

In 1874. J. B. Lotspeich and Nannie Jester, daughter of Stephen 
and Bettie (Saunders) Jester, of Marshall, Saline county, Missouri, 
were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Jester were natives of Ken- 
tucky. To J. B. and Nannie Lotspeich have been born eight children, 
seven of whom are now living: Luolla, the wife of C. A. Campbell, 
Butler, Missouri; Jester, who died in 1885 at the age of seven years; 
Hugh, who resides in Wyoming but receives mail from the postofihce 
at Decker, Montana; Ernest, who resides in Wyoming; Percy, Mecaha, 
Montana; Johnny, the wife of Orval Ray, Butler, Missouri; Ralph, 
Decker, Montana; and Frank, who was, at the time of this writing in 
1917, with the United States Navy Training Camp at Mare Island, Cali- 
fornia studying wireless telegraphy, having enlisted at Denver, Colorado 
on June 18, 1917 and is now aboard the battleship "Connecticut." Mrs. 
Lotspeich was a member of the Christian church for several years prior 
to her marriage and in Saline county in 1876 Mr. Lotspeich joined the 
same church. 

Distinctively one of the leading farmers and stockmen of Bates 
county, J. B. Lotspeich is exceptionally worthy of mention in a work of 
this character, pre-eminently entitled to be classed with the enterprising, 
representative, "self-made" men of Missouri. The firstborn of a large 
family of eight children, Mr. Lotspeich enjoyed but few advantages in 
his youth and experienced all the privations and straits of pioneer life 
and war. Early in life he mastered the lessons of industry, thrift, and 
self-reliance, lessons few college graduates grasp, and beginning life with 
but limited financial resources, with innumerable difficulties to overcome, 
he has acquired a sufficiency of this world's goods to make the remainder 
of his long life of usefulness comfortable and free from care. 

J. R. Jenkins, president of the Peoples Bank of Butler, Missouri, 
is one of the conspicuous figures in the history of Bates county. Mr. 
Jenkins had twenty-one years of experience in the banking business before 
he became connected with the Peoples Bank of Butler. Mr. Jenkins 
was born in Virginia and came to Missouri, in 1858, locating first in 
Henry county, and for the past forty years has been a resident of Bates 
county. 

For two terms, each of four years, Mr. Jenkins served as circuit 
clerk of Bates county. Since the organization of the Peoples Bank of 
Butler in 1908, he has been at his desk regularly every day, attending 
business with the same careful exactness and keen interest which charac- 
terized his habits when he first started in business. Mr. Jenkins is a 



548 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

member of the Mother Church of Christian Science and he was one of 
the organizers of this church in Butler. He has taken the lead in many 
public enterprises, encouraging the moral as well as the material advance- 
ment of the community. 

Arthur C. Moreland, county superintendent of public instruction of 
Bates county, Missouri, is one of the most prominent and influential citi- 
zens of this county. Mr. Moreland is a native of Bates county. He was 
born December 1, 1883, in Osage townsrip, a son of James H. and 
Lucinda J. (Dejarnette) Moreland, who were the parents of five chil- 
dren, all of whom are now living: Arthur C, the subject of this review; 
Dr. George H., a prominent physician now serving as a first lieutenant 
in the National army; Fannie, the wife of AVilliam Papalisky, of Buffalo, 
New York; Grace M., the wife of Archie Thomas, of Butler, Missouri; 
and Miss Jessie, a well-known and popular teacher in the rural schools 
of Bates county, Missouri. All the children of Mr. and Mrs. James H. 
Moreland have been engaged in the teaching profession and each has at 
some time during his or her career been employed as an instructor in 
the schools of Bates county. James H. Moreland was born in 1853 in 
Shelby county, Kentucky, a son of Porter Moreland, a native of Shelby 
county. Porter Moreland was one of the honored pioneers of Bates 
county, to which he came in 1868. He settled on a small tract of land, 
located in Osage township, a farm originally comprising sixty-three 
acres, to which he later added thirty-seven adjoining acres of land. On 
this farm in Bates county, Missouri, Porter Moreland died in 1884 and 
since his death the Moreland homestead has been sold. W. L. Rider 
now owns the original farm of sixty-three acres and J. H. Brown owns 
the tract of thirty-seven acres. James H. Moreland was a youth fifteen 
years of age, when he came to Missouri with his parents and his mature 
life was all spent on the Moreland farm in Bates county, where he was 
engaged in farming and stock raising. Lucinda J. (Dejarnette) More- 
land was born in Kansas, January 31, 1860, a daughter of Joseph Dejar- 
nette, of French Huguenot descent. The Dejarnettes settled in Bates 
county as early as 1869. Mrs. Moreland died at the Moreland homestead 
on June 4, 1895. Eleven years later, in 1906, she was joined in death by 
her husband. Interment was made in Rider cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. 
Moreland were highly respected in this county. In the early history of 
Bates county, the Moreland name was as it is today, the synonym of 
honorable and noble manhood and womanhood and no family has been 
more closely' identified with the growth and development of this part of 
Missouri than the Moreland family. 




ARTHUR C. MORELAND. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 549 

Arthur C. Moreland is a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal 
School in the class of 1917. He was a student at this institution for 
six years and prior to entering the Normal School, he taught school in 
Bates county for twelve years. In April, 1915, Mr. Moreland was elected 
superintendent of the Bates county public schools, which position he still 
occupies at the time of this writing in 1917. At the present time, there 
are one hundred thirty-two district schools in Bates county and one hun- 
dred thirty of these are under the supervision of Mr. Moreland, the 
exceptions being the Butler and Rich Hill public schools. In his official 
station, Mr. Moreland has given new impetus to the cause of educa- 
tion in Bates county by inaugurating a number of splendid reforms and 
advancing the standards of proficiency for both pupils and instructors. 
As an educator, Arthur C. Moreland is well and .favorably known through- 
out the state and he takes an active interest in the various educational 
associations. He is himself a scholar, a man of open mind, and he has 
made his influence felt as a potential factor in the noble work to which 
he is devoting his life and energies. 

August 12, 1914, Arthur C. Moreland and Loe Reese were united in 
marriage. Mrs. Moreland takes a keen interest in school work. She 
was a teacher in the Butler schools at the time of her marriage. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Moreland has been born one child, a daughter, Doris. They 
reside in Butler at 408 West Pine street. 

John W, Coleman, secretary and manager of the Denton-Coleman 
Loan & Title Company of Butler, Missouri, is one of Bates county's 
most progressive "hustlers." Mr. Coleman was born October 24, 1889 
near Johnstown in Bates county, Missouri, the only son of Samuel L., 
Jr. and Martha A. (Eads) Coleman. Samuel L. Coleman, Jr. was born 
in Bates county, Missouri and has lived all his life in this county. He 
is a son of Samuel L., Sr. and Nancy (Witt) Coleman, both of whom 
were natives of Kentucky. The former was born in Todd county and 
in early manhood came to Missouri, locating in Bates county at Johns- 
town in 1854 and one year later Samuel L. Coleman, Jr., the father 
of John W., was born in the new western home. At the time of the 
outbreak of the Civil War, the Colemans moved from Bates county 
to Lincoln, Missouri and there the father, Samuel L. Coleman, Sr., 
died in 1864. The widowed mother survived her husband many years 
and departed this life at Butler in 1912. Samuel L. Coleman, Jr. was 
born at Johnstown in 1855 and he has been a resident of that place 
ever since. He is wel) known and highly respected in this county and 



550 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

has been prominent politically, serving the county four years .as treas- 
urer. Martha A. (Eads) Coleman was a native of Sangamon county, 
Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Samuel L. Coleman, Jr. were born two chil- 
dren: Nannie A., the wife of J. M. Kash, a prosperous agriculturist 
of Bates county, Butler, Missouri; and John W., the subject of this 
sketch. The mother died in 1916 at Butler and her remains were laid 
to rest in the cemetery at Johnstown, Missouri. 

John W. Coleman attended Butler High School and Central Busi- 
ness College, the latter institution at Sedalia, Missouri. Mr. Coleman 
left school in 1908 and for four years served as deputy county treasurer 
of Bates county, under his father. When his term of office had expired, 
John W. Coleman entered the employ of Holloway & Choate and for 
one and a half years was engaged in insurance work with their agency. 
In 1915, Mr. Coleman organized the Denton-Coleman Loan & Title 
Company of Butler, Missouri and is the present efficient and enter- 
prising secretary and manager of this company. 

October 12, 1911, John W. Coleman and Bessie Cussins, daughter 
of Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Cussins, of Decatur, Illinois, were united in mar- 
riage and to this union has been born one child, a son, Samuel T., who 
was born October 24, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Coleman reside in Butler 
on North High street. 

The Denton-Coleman Loan & Title Company of Butler, Missouri 
was organized in March, 1915, with a capital stock amounting to twenty 
thousand dollars and with the following officers: C. A. Denton, presi- 
dent; Wesley Denton, second vice-president; Samuel L. Coleman, first 
vice-president; John W. Coleman, secretary and manager; and J. E. 
Thompson, treasurer. At the time of this writing in 1917, the officers 
are still the same. This company paid their stockholders eight per cent, 
per annum until May 31, 1917, at which time they had an accumulated 
fund of four thousand dollars, undivided profits, that they returned to 
the stockholders and increased the capital stock to sixty thousand dol- 
lars, the officers remaining the same. The Denton-Coleman Loan & 
Title Company has at the present time loans in force amounting to 
nearly one million dollars. They have two branch offices, one at Ben- 
tonville, Arkansas and the other at Harrisonville, Missouri. Their loans 
are chiefly confined to farm land in southwestern Missouri and north- 
western Arkansas. The company has a complete set of abstract books- 
for Bates county, Missouri. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 55I 

Mr. Coleman is essentially a business man and a firm believer in 
the efficacy of honesty. He possesses keen, deliberate judgment and 
is seldom mistaken in his estimate of men and affairs. He is the type 
of man, now so rarely found, who will allow no difficulty deter him 
from a* purpose to which he has once addressed himself. With the busi- 
ness men of Butler and with the public generally, Mr. Coleman has 
always maintained an enviable reputation, 

George P. Wyatt, a lumberman of Butler, Missouri, is a native of 
Ohio. He was born in Athens county in 1869, one of three children 
born to his parents, H. C. and Mary F, (Pratt) Wyatt, both of whom 
were natives of Ohio. The children of H. C. and Mary F. Wyatt were, 
as follow: Mrs. Anna Jewett, deceased; George P., the subject of this 
sketch ; and Edward, who died in infancy. H. C. Wyatt was born in 
Athens county, Ohio in 1830 and in that state was reared to maturity. 
At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, he was a young man, 
thirty-one years of age. He enlisted with the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infan- 
try and served until dangerously wounded at the battle of Missionary 
Ridge on November 25, 1863, when the Federal list of casualties totally 
amounted to fifty-five hundred men, after which time Mr. Wyatt was 
stationed as guard near Washington, D. C. until the close of the conflict. 
In 1871, H. C. Wyatt came to Butler, Missouri and engaged in farming 
for several years, when he abandoned agricultural pursuits and estab- 
lished the lumber business on Ohio street, now known as the H. S. 
Wyatt Lumber Company. Mr. Wyatt purchased the Warner Lumber 
Company at that time and he and his son, George P., continued the busi- 
ness until November 19, 1915, when they were succeeded by H. S. Wyatt, 
son of George P., of whom further mention will be made in this review. 
Mary F. (Pratt) Wyatt, mother of George P., died in 1907 and H. C. 
Wyatt has been making his home with his son since her death. 

George P. Wyatt came to Butler, Missouri, with his parents when 
he was not yet three years of age. He attended Butler Academy and 
when sixteen years of age, succeeded H. C. Wyatt in the lumber busi- 
ness and continued in this business until 1915, when his son. H. S. Wyatt, 
succeeded him. 

In 1891, George P. Wyatt and Nettie Steele were united in marriage. 
Mrs. Wyatt is a daughter of John Steele, of Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Wyatt have been born five children, four of whom are now living: H. S., 
owner of the H. S. Wyatt Lumber Company, a progressive, ambitious, 



552 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



young man and unmarried; Doris, a student at Monticello Seminary, 
Godfrey, Illinois; Ruth, who is attending Butler High School; Esther, 
who is a pupil in the graded schools of Butler; and Mary, deceased. 

When local option was voted in at Butler, Missouri, George P. 
Wyatt served the city as street commissioner and marshall for four years 
for one dollar annually. He was afterwards elected city alderman. At 
the close of this term he was nominated for the office of mayor without 
opposition, but his health prevented his acceptance. Mr. Wyatt is now 
one of the directors of the Butler School Board. 

Wesley Denton, the capable and obliging president of the Peoples 
Bank of Butler, Missouri, is one of Bates county's most enterprising 
citizens. Mr. Denton is a native of Illinois. He was born August 21, 
1879, in Hamilton, son of Judge C. A. and Emma (Baldwin) Denton, a 
sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. The Dentons came 
from Illinois to Bates county, Missouri, in 1880, locating at Rich Hill, 
and eight years later in October, 1888, moved to Butler. 

Mr. Denton, whose name introduces this review, obtained his ele- 
mentary education in the public schools of Butler, Missouri. He is a 
graduate of the Butler High School in the class of 1898. After complet- 
ing his high school course, Mr. Denton was employed as clerk in the 
postoffice at Butler, working under Postmaster A. O. Welton for seven 
months. On account of ill health, he was obliged to resign his position 
as clerk and later accepted a position, in the law office of Francesco & 
Clark, as stenographer, which he filled for six months and then left 
Butler to accept a position in Kansas City, Missouri, with the A. J. 
Gillispie Live Stock Commission Company in 1900. Returning to Butler, 
three years afterward, Mr. Denton entered the Farmers Bank of Bates 
County as bookkeeper. In August of the same year, 1903, he resigned 
his position with the Farmers Bank and entered the employ of the 
Missouri State Bank, as bookkeeper, and in a short time was promoted 
to the assistant cashiership of the bank. In 1908, J. R. Jenkins and 
he organized the Peoples Bank of Butler, Missouri, and Mr. Denton 
was elected cashier of the institution, serving in that capacity until Jan- 
uary, 1918, when he was elected president. A sketch of the Peoples 
Bank of Butler, Missouri, is given in connection with the review of 
J. R. Jenkins, which will be found elsewhere in this volume. This finan- 
cial institution, with which Mr. Denton is connected, has proven to be 
one of the solid enterprises of the community and has been an important 
, factor in maintaining the financial credit and stability of Bates county. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 553 

No small amount of the success of the enterprise is due to the indefat- 
igable efforts and wise discrimination of Mr. Denton, whose capabilities 
have been demonstrated to a marked degree. His energy and tact have 
done much toward pushing the bank to the front in the banking circles 
of this section of the state. 

November 25, 1911, Wesley Denton and Edith Lindsay were united 
in marriage. Mrs. Denton is a daughter of A. Lindsay and Alice (Wyatt) 
Lindsay, prominent residents of Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. Denton have 
been born two children: Alice and Ruth. Both Mr. and Mrs. Denton 
are members of the Presbyterian church of Butler and Mr. Denton is 
affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Butler Lodge 
No. 254. He has also served as director of the Butler Commercial Club 
for several years.. 

The greater part of Mr. Denton's life has been spent in Bates county, 
and he has the interests of his community as well as his own in mind. 
His career has been one of great activity and has been crowned with a 
degree of success attained by those only who devote themselves tire- 
lessly to their work. Mr. Denton is a man of earnest purpose and high 
ideals. 

A. W. WeMott, the senior member of the widely and favorably 
known firm of WeMott & Major, harness dealers and manufacturers, 
is a native of Texas. Mr. WeMott was born at Bryan, Texas, in 1861. 
He is of French descent, a son of T. T. and Ellen S. WeMott. His 
father was a native of New York and his mother of Massachusetts. T. 
T. WeMott was a carpenter by trade, but he also engaged in farming 
extensively and successfully. He came to Missouri with his fafnily in 
May, 1868, and settled at Butler in Bates county. The elder WeMott 
was well known in this city as a gentleman of exceptionally fine character, 
loyal to his home and friends. Wlien he was nearing the "Valley of the 
Shadow," at Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. WeMott requested on his death 
bed that he be taken back to Butler for burial, back to the old home 
where his friends, who had known and esteemed him for so many years, 
still lived. His remains rest in Butler cemetery. T. T. and Ellen S. 
WeMott were the parents of the following children: Herbert, deceased; 
Mrs. Ada Powell, Kansas City, Missouri; Alice, Kansas Citv, Missouri; 
Mrs. Stella Corder. Kansas City, Missouri ; Claudia and Maude, both 
of Denver, Colorado: and A. W., the subject of this sketch. 

In the city schools of Butler, Missouri, A. W. WeMott received his 
education. He has been employed in the harness shop, now owned by 



554 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

himself and Claude Major, since 1882, working first for McFarland & 
Son, former owners of the establishment. Mr. WeMott had charge of 
the manufacturing department for twenty-five years. In April, 1916, 
Claude Major, who had been with the firm for eighteen years, and A. 
W. WeMott purchased the stock and have continued the business. This 
is the pioneer harness shop of Butler and is still today one of the flour- 
ishing business establishments in Bates county. WeMott & Major usually 
employ three or four assistants and they are enjoying an extensive patron- 
age. Both owners are skilled workmen and possess excellent business 
judgment. 

In 1889, A. W. WeMott and Flora Denny, daughter of Charles 
Denny, a well-remembered grocer of Butler, Missouri, were united in 
marriage. The Dennys came to Bates county among the earliest set- 
tlers, many years prior to the time of th-e Civil War. They were resi- 
dents of Butler during the troublous times of the civil conflict and 
did much to assist the needy, dependent people, who were reduced to 
penury by the long struggle. To A. W. and Flora (Denny) W^eMott 
have been born four sons: Theodore Charles, who is now at Fort Riley, 
Kansas; Herbert H., who is in the employ of the Levy Mercantile Com- 
pany of Butler, Missouri ; \\'alter, a stenographer, who is now at Fort 
Riley, Kansas; and Samuel, who is at home with his parents. The 
WelMott home is in Butler on East Dakota street. 

For nine years, during which period the paving of the city streets 
of Butler was laid, Mr. WeMott was a member of the city council. 
He is affiliated with the Modern W^oodmen of America at Butler. A. W. 
WeMott is a gentleman, whose fidelity to the duties of good citizenship, 
whose honor in business and industry have attracted the attention of his 
fellowmen and made his example worthy of emulation. 

John A. Silvers, attorney-at-law of Butler, Missouri is a native of 
Iowa and a worthy representative of an old and honored, pioneer family 
of Decatur county. The Silvers family were originally from Kentucky, 
but in the early days before Iowa was admitted as a state to the Union 
they moved to the territory of Iowa in 1840, having first located in 
Missouri about 1836. From Iowa, in 1873, "they came to Bates county, 
Missouri, and settled on a farm one and a half miles west of Butler, 
where the father died in 1889. Thomas Silvers was a successful farmer 
and stockman, a citizen who throughout life maintained an unimpeach- 
able record and in Bates county no one has ever been more highly 
regarded than was he. Elizabeth (King) Silvers was a native of Ten- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 555 

nessee. She died recently at Parsons, Kansas and interment was made 
in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri, John A. Silvers was born in Decatur, 
Iowa, in 1864, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (King) Silvers. 

When John A. Silvers was a child, nine years of age, he came with 
his parents to Bates county, Missouri, and was here reared and edu- 
cated. He attended the public schools of Bates county and Butler 
Academy and later studied law, reading with his brother, T. W. Silvers, 
and in December, 1889, was admitted to the bar. Mr. Silvers has been 
engaged in the practice of his profession in Bates county ever since that 
date. He first opened a law of^ce with W. O. Atkeson, on January 1, 
1890, at Butler and afterward dissolved partnership and opened an office 
where he labored at law independently for many years. In 1907, Sil- 
vers & Dawson formed a law firm, which partnership still continues. 
Mr. Dawson is the present county attorney of Bates county, Missouri. 
Mr. Silvers resided at Rich Hill, Missouri, for six years and was living 
in that city at the time he was elected probate judge of Bates county, 
taking office January 1, 1903, and serving two terms, until January 1, 
1911. He was associated with Judge C. A. Denton in 1895 and 1896. Mr. 
Silvers well recalls the "boom days" of Rich Hill, when the streets were 
crowded with miners and men from the smelteries and when "booze" 
was plentiful and easily obtained, eight saloons doing a flourishing and 
prosperous business. While in Rich Hill, Mr. Silvers was appointed 
city attorney during the administration of William W. Ferguson, the 
mayor of the city, and in one year cleaned out the houses of prostitu- 
tion and gamblers that had infested the city, but refused a second 
appointment as city attorney. 

In 1888, John A. Silvers and Emma Hixon, daughter of Amos Hixon 
and Barbara (Weaver) Hixon, of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, were united 
in marriage. Mr. Hixon died in Pennsylvania in the late sixties and Mrs. 
Hixon joined him in death in 1907. Mrs. Hixon died at Butler, Missouri, 
To Mr. and Mrs. Silvers have been born six children: Guy E., a graduate 
of Butler High School and of Columbia University, who was admitted 
to the bar in 1916 and is now deputy clerk in the Supreme Court of 
Missouri; Ada, who died in the sixteenth year of her life; Elsie B., a 
graduate of the Wafrensburg State Normal School and a teacher of 
the fifth and sixth grades of the W^ebster school in Butler, Missouri; 
Bertie J., who has taught two terms of school in the Franklin school 
of Butler, Missouri, and is now in his senior year at the Warrensburg 
State Normal School; Anna L., an undergraduate of the Warrensburg 



556 HISTORY OF BATES COUXTY 

State Normal School, who is now employed as teacher of the fifth and 
sixth grades at the ^^'ashington school in Butler, Missouri; and Mildred, 
who is a sophomore in the Butler High School. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Silvers 
reside in Butler on South Mechanic street. Both have always mani- 
fested a deep interest in education and Mr. Silvers has been a member 
of the Butler school board for twelve years. They are justly proud of 
their fine family of boys and girls, upon whom they have lavished all 
the advantages obtainable. 

Missouri has long been noted for the high rank of her bench and 
bar. Probably not one of the newer states can boast of abler jurists 
or attorneys. Some of them have been men of national fame, many 
who were distinguished in the days gone by have long since laid down 
their briefs, still there is scarcely a city in the state but that can produce 
a lawyer capable of crossing swords in forensic combat with the best 
and most noted legal lights in the country. In John A. Silvers we find 
many of the rare qualities which make the successful lawyer and jurist. 
Perhaps he possesses few of those dazzling, brilliant, meteoric qualities, 
w^hich have at times flashed along the legal horizon, riveting the gaze 
of the multitudes and blinding the vision for a moment, then disap- 
pearing, but rather the more substantial qualities which shine with a 
constant luster. In all that goes to make up sturdy and upright man- 
hood, John A. Sihers has stood pre-eminent and he has always com- 
manded public confidence and universal esteem. 

John H. Stone, the widely and favorably known treasurer of Bates 
county, ^Missouri, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Stone was born Decem- 
ber 17 , 1861, a son of \\'illiam and Agnes (Raney) Stone, both of whom 
were natives of Kentucky. A\'illiam Stone was a son of Joseph Stone, 
a veteran of the Revolutionary ^^'ar, who lived to be almost a centena- 
rian. Joseph Stone died at the Stone homestead in Harrison county, 
Kentucky. Agnes (Raney) Stone was a daughter of James Raney, who 
settled in E!ast Boone township. Bates county in 1876. He lived but a 
few brief years to enjoy the new \\'estern home. Mr. Raney died in 
1886. To William antl Agnes (Raney) Stone were born two sons: 
J. W., a farmer residing near Adrian, Missouri; and John H.. the sub- 
ject of this review. In 1876, \\'illiam Stone moved with his family from 
Kentucky to Missouri and located on a farm, of two hundred forty 
acres located in East Boone township, which place was originally 
owned by Henry Tamer. This farm, when purchased by Mr. 
Stone, was a raw prairie and at that time farm land in Missouri was 




JOHN H. STONE. 



HISTORY OF liATES C(JUNTY 557 

valued at five and eight dollars an acre. Mrs. Stone lived but a few 
months after the family came West. She died July 4, 1878, and was laid 
to rest in the cemetery at Everett, in Cass county. For twenty years, Mr. 
Stone resided on his farm in East Boone township, engaged in farming 
and improving the land. He then retired from the active labor of the 
farm and moved to Butler to spend the closing years of his life quietly 
at the home of his son, John H. William Stone died in 1913 and his 
remains were laid beside those of his wife in the cemetery at Everett. 
Mr. Stone occupied a high place in the ranks of Bates county's most 
enterprising and successful agriculturists. He believed in progress and 
spared no trouble or labor in making his country place one of the best 
farms in the county. He was a public-spirited citizen and for more than 
a score of years was one of the dominant factors in the growth and devel- 
opment of East Boone township. 

John H. Stone attended school in Kentucky and in Bates county, 
Missouri. His early life was the same as the boyhood days of the average 
lad in the rural districts. He is a "self-made" man. for almost since 
childhood he has made his o"w^n way in the world. He began farming 
for himself on the home place in 1880 and there resided until 1896, 
when he moved to Adrian to engage in the work of carpentering and 
contracting. Mr. Stone was thus employed when, in the election" of 
November, 1912, he was elected treasurer of Bates county and April 
1, 1913, assumed the duties of his of^ce. In the following election 
of November, 1916, he was re-elected county treasurer and he is the 
present incumbent in that ofifice. While always interested in public 
and political affairs, Mr. Stone has not been an active partisan and, 
until the time of his nomination for treasurer, he had not been known 
as a politician or party • -^vorker. For a number of years, his well- 
defined business policy and sterling honesty had been noted, and duly 
recognized, by his countless friends throughout the county, and it was 
by reason of these, and other qualifications, that his name was placed 
on the county ticket in the autumn of 1912. When he first entered 
upon the discharge of his official duties, the people, irrespective of 
party affiliations, predicted that Mr. Stone's career as a servant of 
the public would fully justify the wisdom of their choice and so far 
he has measured up to all expectations and has proven himself worthy, 
capable, and obliging, in every way deserving of the esteem and con- 
fidence in which he is held. 

December 24, 1884, the marriage of John H. Stone and Mattie 



558 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Webb, daughter of T. B. and Sarah (Sharpe) Webb, was solemnized. 
Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Webb were both natives of Jackson county and they 
are now deceased. To John H. and Mattie (Webb) Stone have been 
born four children, three of whom are now living: Ethel, wife of H. 
D. Chaney, of Kansas City, Kansas; John Webb, who was accidentally 
killed at the age of nineteen years; Dr. W. H., a prominent dentist 
of liiawatha, Kansas ; and Winifred, who is serving as deputy treas- 
urer of Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. Stone and their younger daugh- 
ter, Miss Winifred, reside at 204 North High street in Butler. 

Mr. Stone is a valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons of Butler, and of the Blue Flag Lodge of the Knights of Pythias 
of Butler. As a skilled mechanic, Mr. Stone enjoys more than local 
repute and as a business man, he is careful and methodical, possess- 
ing executive ability of a high order, sound judgment, keen discern- 
ment and foresight. John H. Stone is a man of scrupulous integrity. 
His word is as good as a Liberty Bond and for many years he has 
enjoyed the distinction of being one of the broad-minded, representa- 
tive citizens of Bates county. 

A. H. Culver, the senior member of the A. H. Culver Furniture 
Company of Butler, undertakers, and manufacturers of special work in 
store fixtures and office furniture, is a worthy descendant of a long line 
of furniture manufacturers. His grandfather, William Culver, was the 
pioneer furniture manufacturer of Shelby county, Illinois, and John L. 
Culver, son of William Culver, was engaged in the furniture business in 
Edinburg, Illinois, until the time of his death in 1873. John L. Culver 
was a skilled manufacturer of coffins, and in addition an expert con- 
tractor and architect. His factory in Edinburg, Illinois, occupied a large 
two-story building. Both William and John L. Culver are now deceased 
and they were buried in Oak Grove cemetery in Christian county, Illi- 
nois. 

A. H. Culver was born in 1853 in Sangamon county, Illinois, and in 
that state was reared and educated. At the early age of eighteen years, 
Mr. Culver began life for himself. For two years, he was employed 
in selling tombstones for a cousin and then he returned to his father's 
home and entered his employ. He soon mastered the art of coffin- 
making and after the death of his father continued the business estab- 
lished by him, remaining at home with his widowed mother for many 
years. Later, Mr. Culver traveled for one year as salesman for a coffin 
factory. He came to Butler, Missouri, in 1878, via Fort Scott and' 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 559 

Appleton City, overland on the stage coach from the latter city, to visit 
a friend and as he found Butler an inviting field, he opened a furniture 
and undertaking establishment afterward in partnership v^ith Mr. Young. 
This firm did well and prospered for three years, when the store was 
burned and the entire stock was a total loss, there being no insurance. 
This calamity broke up the business at that time and the owners were 
obliged to sell to P. J. Jewett, in wdiose employ Mr. Culver remained 
for six and a half years. For nine years, Mr. Culver clerked for the 
American Clothing House Company and again was one year on the 
road as traveling salesman. Twenty years ago, in 1897, he purchased 
an interest in a new and second-hand furniture store, having in addition 
an undertaking business, which establishment was conducted and owned 
by Mr. Campbell. About twelve years ago, A. H. Culver organized the 
A. H. Culver Furniture Company of Butler, Missouri, as a stock com- 
pany and shortly afterward Mr. Culver bought out the others and he 
and a son, C. E., and daughter, Nina L., are now conducting the business, 
well prepared and equipped to attend to all demands coming within 
their line. Mr. Culver has advanced steadily, overcoming many obstacles 
and forging to the front until he now ranks among the most successful 
business men of Bates county. Industrious and energetic, he took advan- 
tage of every opportunity that came his way and his honorable dealings, 
unquestioned integrity, and keen discernment have borne legitimate 
fruitage in the comfortable competence of which he is now possessor. 

In 1875, A. H. Culver and Julia Greenwood were united in mar- 
riage. Mrs. Culver is a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. B. G. Greenwood, 
of Edinburg, Illinois. She is a native of Sangamon county. Both par- 
ents of Mrs. Culver are now deceased. To A. H. and Julia (Green- 
wood) Culver have been born three children: B. G., of Leavenworth, 
Kansas, who is now superintendent of the Abernathy Furniture Fac- 
tory of Leavenworth, Kansas; C. E., who is associated in business with 
his father; and Nina, who is an assistant in her father's oliice. B. G. 
Culver married Emma Whitsett, of Butler, Missouri, and they are the 
parents of two children, Ladine and Catherine. C. E. Culver married 
Hattie Newell, of Butler, Missouri, and they are the parents of one 
child, Hilda. 

Mr. Culver has ably filled a number of ofifices of public trust and 
he has always done his part to "boost" for his home town. For the 
past five and a half years, he has been secretary of the Butler Commer- 
cial Club. He was a member of the city council for one term, during 



560 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

which period the municipal lights were installed in Butler, the lirst 
city in the state to have them. He was also a member of the first fire 
company of Butler. Mr. Culver has been, for the past five years, secre- 
tary and treasurer of the board of employment and public welfare and 
he was recently appointed county chairman of the County Council of 
Defense. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons 
and for the past twelve years has been secretary of the Butler Lodge. 

Pre-eminently a man of his word, A. H. Culver long ago won the 
respect and confidence of ^11 with whom he came in contact and from 
the beginning of his career to the present time he has maintained a 
reputation untarnished by a single unworthy act. Such is, in brief, the 
record of a "self-made" man, whose life, measured by the usual stand- 
ards of success, presents much that is worthy of emulation. 

George F. Alsbach, of Butler, proprietor of one of the best restau- 
rants in Bates county, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Alsbach was born 
March 10, 1869, in Monroe county, the first-born of three children, who 
are now living, born to his parents, George and Mary (Powderly) x\ls- 
bach, a prominent pioneer family of Shawnee township, Bates county. 
George Alsbach was born in Germany and in his youth emigrated from 
the old country and came to America. He first located in Illinois, 
where he was married and his son, George F., was born. In 1869, 
the Alsbachs moved from Illinois to Missouri and settled on a farm in 
Shawnee township in Bates county, where the father and mother spent 
the remainder of their lives. Mary (Powderly) Alsbach was a cousin 
of T. V. Powderly, who was an influential leader in Knights of Labor 
circles and in the latter part of his life was labor commissioner at the 
port of New York and the head of the immigration department there. 
Mrs. Alsbach was a native of Ireland. To George and Mary Alsbach 
were born the following children: George F., the subject of this review; 
William H., of Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Annie E. Yates, Kansas City, 
Kansas. The father died on the farm in Shawnee township, September 
23, 1900, and three years afterward his wife joined him in death. Both 
parents are interred in the cemetery at Butler. 

George F. Alsbach attended the public schools of Bates county, 
Missouri. He well recalls the early days in School District Number 3, 
Shawnee township, when "spelling schools" were the attractions of the 
long winter evenings and contests held at the different schools in the 
township furnished entertainment for the neighborhoods and "literary 
societies" and "debating societies" met regularly. Mr. Alsbach enjoys 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 561 

recalling those old days of "Town Ball" and "Whip Cracker" and delights 
in relating an amusing incident in his school-boy life. He was to be 
whipped at school the next day for some infringement of the strict 
school laws. Mr. Alsbach has always 'been an ardent advocate of 
"preparedness," and that morning went to school with his back well 
padded with hay, tucked in securely under his vest. Of course, he let 
the big girls in on his secret preparation and when the "master" com- 
manded him to remove his coat and proceeded to lay on the switch 
with much force and determination, they laughed heartily — behind their 
books. And George F. enjoyed it, too ! 

Until about ten years ago, George F. Alsbach was engaged in 
farming, and in raising, buying, feeding, and shipping cattle. He then 
resided on a farm in Shawnee township in Bates county. He left the 
farm in 1907 and came to Butler, where he opened a restaurant on the 
southeast side of the public square in this city. Three years ago, he 
moved his place of business to his present location, on the west side 
of the public square. Mr. Alsbach has an exceptionally fine restaurant 
and he enjoys a splendid trade. The Alsbach Restaurant opens at 5 
a. m. and closes at 12 p. m. He has the following motto hanging in a 
conspicuous place in the restaurant: 

"Don't Get a Divorce. If your Wife can't Cook, 
Eat Here and Keep Her for a Pet." 

In 1899, George F. Alsbach and Nettie Jenkins, daughter of S. M. 
Jenkins, of Mound township. Bates county, were united in marriage. Mr. 
and Mrs. Jenkins are the parents of eleven children, all of whom are now 
living, and the grandparents of thirty-eight children. Mrs. Alsbach's 
parents still reside on the home farm in Mound township. To George 
F. and Nettie (Jenkins) Alsbach have been born four children: George 
C. and Viola, who are students in the Butler High School; and Mary 
Catherine and Annie Rose, who are pupils in the graded schools of 
Butler. The Alsbach residence is in Butler on East Dakota street. 

Mr. Alsbach is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and the Fraternal Aid. He has always pursued 
an industrious, honorable course in life, constantly adhering to the 
upright principles in which he was reared, and he is highly respected 
and valued as a citizen. At the present price of food stufTs, only an 
exceptionally capable and cautious business man could possibly make 

(36) 



562 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

a success of the restaurant business, and Mr. Alsbach has been and 
still is making a marked success, and he is destined to continue in the 
future as in the past one of the enterprising, substantial, influential men 
of the city in which he labors and lives. 

Henry Reinheimer, a late prominent and influential citizen of Butler, 
Missouri, the founder of the Butler & Rich Hill Telephone Exchange, 
was a native of Australia. Mr. Reinheimer was born March 15, 1862 
at Castlemaine in the province of Victoria, a son of Peter and Catherine 
Reinheimer. When Henry Reinheimer was a child, six years of age, 
his parents emigrated from Australia and came to America, locating 
first in Canada, where they remained for one year and then moved to the 
United States, coming to Missouri in 1869 and settling in Shelby county, 
where the son was reared and educated. 

Mr. Reinheimer, the subject of this review, attended the public 
schools of Shelby county, Missouri. In early youth, he engaged in farm- 
ing, but about 1882 he had mastered the photographer's art and for 
several years he traveled over Shelby county engaged in the work of 
photography. He located at Shelbyville in 1888, where he opened a 
general mercantile establishment and until 1891 was one of the suc- 
cessful and leading merchants of that place. In 1891, Mr. Reinheimer 
disposed of his business in Shelbyville and moved to Butler, Missouri, 
where he installed a system of telephones which has developed into the 
Butler & Rich Hill Telephone Exchange. At that time, the Rich Hill 
Bank and the Bates County National Bank had a private telephone 
system connecting them, but so far as is known no one had as yet 
conceived the commercial possibilities of the telephone until the coming 
of Henry Reinheimer 

With less than one hundred telephones all told in the city of Butler, 
Henry Reinheimer started to put his idea into concrete working form. 
The charge for a telephone at that time was one dollar and twenty-five 
cents for residence purposes and one dollar and seventy-five cents for 
business purposes, payable quarterly. The people of Butler called him 
the "crazy Dutchman," when Mr. Reinheimer started business, but 
undaunted he proceeded to carry out his conception, for his own expe- 
rience at Shelbina and Shelbyville before coming to Butler had con- 
vinced him that he could make a success of the commercial telephone, and 
time has proven his judgment sound and correct. The telephone busi- 
ness grew so rapidly that within a very short time the farmers took up 
the proposition of connecting with the lines installed by Mr. Reinheimer 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 563 

and they ran lines to the city limits of Butler, where he connected with 
them. At the time of his death, in 1912, Mr. Reinheimer had about 
eleven hundred telephones in operation in Bates county, with exchanges 
at Butler, Rich Hill, and Spruce. After his death, his widow continued 
to control the business for three years, when she sold to H. W. Neusch- 
afer, a nephew of the deceased owner, who sold the business after a 
few months to F. M. Campbell, the present owner. 

In 1905, Henry Reinheimer and Maudelle Wood, daughter of Dr 
and Mrs. A. G. Wood, of Lentner, Missouri, were united in marriage. 
Dr. A. G. Wood was a native of Santiago, Cuba, and Mrs. Wood was 
born in Kentucky, Doctor Wood was a nephew of Fernando Wood, at 
one time mayor of New York City and a noted politician of that state. 
The doctor came to Missouri when he was a child, five years of age, 
coming with his parents, who settled in Shelby county. Dr. A. G. and 
Mrs. Wood were the parents of nine children, all of whom are now living: 
Fernando, of Houston, Texas; Mrs. Maudelle (Wood) Reinheimer, 
the widow of the subject of this review; Miss Bunton, of Butler, Mis- 
souri; Mrs R. J. Smith, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. A. E. Smith, Shelbina, 
Missouri; Lamar, Monroe City, Missouri; and Clunette, Gertrude, and 
Dr. A. N. Wood, all of whom resided at home with their widowed mother 
in Lentner, Missouri. Dr. A. N. Wood is now a first lieutenant, Medi- 
cal Department, United States Aviation Corps, Waco, Texas. Doctor 
Wood, Sr., died in 1914 at the age of eighty-three years. To Henry 
and Maudelle Reinheimer were born two children, Mary Catherine and 
Martin Wood. Mr. Reinheimer's untimely death occurred at San 
Antonio, Texas, January 22, 1912. Mrs. Reinheimer and her two chil- 
dren reside in Butler at 403 North Delaware street. 

Mr. Reinheimer was affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a worthy and consistent 
member of the German Lutheran church. He was still a young man, 
but fifty years of age, when cut down by the Grim Reaper, yet those 
fifty years were crowded with great activity and endeavor and were 
not lived in vain. The life of man is much like the waves of the sea. 
They flash for a few brief moments, reflecting the sun's golden beams, 
then are dashed upon the shore and disappear forever. The babe toddling 
from its crib is the man of tomorrow and with the lapse of a few short 
years is tottering toward the grave. Many in the innocence and beauty of 
childhood are taken to that "mysterious bourne whence no traveler ever 
returns," thousands like Henry Reinheimer in manhood's vigor and 



564 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

prime answer the last summons, while a few, like aged pilgrims going 
home from a long journey, lay down their staffs after three-quarters of 
a century of ceaseless toil and endeavor, yet at its greatest length how 
very short life is ! It is for us, the living, to catch the inspiration from 
lives like Mr. Reinheimer's and emulate their virtues so that, when the 
"summons comes to join the innumerable caravan which moves to that 
mysterious realm, w^e may, like him, approach the grave, 

"Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

Dr. W. E. Lampton, a prominent and successful osteopathic physi- 
cian of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Cooper county. He was born 
in 1858, a son of Benjamin C. and Anne (Wear) Lampton. Benjamin 
C. Lampton was a native of Cooper county, Missouri, and a veteran 
of the Mexican War. He moved with his family from Cooper county 
to Bates county and in 1881 located at Butler, where for several months 
he conducted a hotel. One year later, the Lamptons moved from 
Butler to Altona, where Mr. Lampton purchased a general store and 
for several years was postmaster. The mother died about the year 
1868. Benjamin C. Lampton departed this life at Butler in 1904. Doc- 
tor Lampton has one brother living: Reverend T. A. Lampton, who is 
engaged in ministerial work in Oklahoma. 

In the public schools of Cooper county. Doctor Lampton obtained 
his elementary education, which was later supplemented by a thorough 
medical education, received at Kirksville, Missouri. He graduated with 
the class of 1904 from the medical school and, immediately upon com- 
pleting the course, opened his of^ce in the Farmers Bank building 
at Butler, where he has been located for the past fourteen years and 
now has a splendid and lucrative practice. Doctor Lampton was inter- 
ested in osteopathy for many years prior to attending school, due to 
the fact that his wife had been cured of a chronic disease by a physi- 
cian of this school when others had failed. Many people confound osteo- 
pathy with faith cure and massage treatments and are ignorant of the 
basic principles of this method of treatment. The underlying idea of 
osteopathy is the adjustment of structure, aiding the nerve and blood 
supply, and all schools of osteopathy now have a four-year course of 
medical training, at which time the structure of the human system is 
carefully studied. 
?,. In 1884, Dr. W. E. Lampton and Nannie Covington were united 




DR. W. E. LAMPTON. 



"^ 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 565. 

in marriage. Mrs. Lampton was born in 1862 at Bolivar, Missouri, 
daughter of the pioneer harness maker of that place, who came to 
Bolivar from Kentucky. Doctor and Mrs. Lampton are the parents of 
one child, a daughter, Mrs. Samuel Armstrong, of Oklahoma City, Okla- 
homa. The Lampton home is in Butler on North Main street. Doctor 
and Mrs. Lampton are well known in the best society circles of Butler 
and they are numbered among the most highly respected families of 
Bates county. 

William M. Arnold, of Butler, is a native of Lafayette county, Mis- 
souri. He is a son of John E. and Maggie C. (Allen) Arnold. John 
E. Arnold was born near Leesburg, Virginia, and in childhood came with 
his father. Reverend Mosby Arnold, to Missouri. Reverend Arnold was 
a leading pioneer preacher, a gifted Methodist minister, who entered 
government land near Lexington, Missouri, paying one dollar and twenty- 
five cents for each acre of his large tract, and on his farm built the home 
of walnut logs, even the shingles being of walnut. He died on the Mis- 
souri farm at the age of eighty-six years. John E. Arnold and his family 
resided eleven miles west of Lexington until 1882, when they left the farm 
and moved to Butler. Mr. and Mrs. John E. Arnold were the parents 
of eleven children, as follow: Allen R., Kansas City, Missouri; Henry B., 
Big Spring, Howard county, Texas; Walter S., Kansas City, Missouri; 
Dr. T. W., a well-known and successful dentist of Butler, Missouri; Mrs. 
T. A. Black, deceased; Mrs. G. W. Logan, formerly of Cairo, Illinois, and 
now deceased; Mrs. Jesse E. Smith, Butler, Missouri; Agnes, Butler, 
Missouri; William M., the subject of this sketch; and two children died 
in infancy. The father died in 1913 and interment was made in the ceme- 
tery at Butler. Mrs. Maggie C. Arnold, the widowed mother, still 
resides at Butler and she is now eighty-two years of age. 

William M. Arnold was reared and educated in Lafayette county, 
Missouri. He recalls how, in the sixties, the James and Younger boys 
were want to call at his grandfather's home and demand food — which 
never failed to be forthcoming immediately. On the occasion of one of 
their visits, one of the intruders promised to bring him a revolver, such 
as he himself carried, when he came again, but much to the boy's dis- 
appointment the promise was never fulfilled. As William M. Arnold was 
then but a very small lad, it was perhaps best that it was not. He remem- 
'j?rs, too, the throngs of settlers, who camped for many weeks near a 
large spring on his grandfather's pasture, when Order Number 11 com- 
pelled Jackson county people to leave their farms and find sustenance 



566 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

elsewhere. Amid the scenes of pioneer life and war, Mr. Arnold grew to 
manhood. He has made his own way in life since he was eighteen years 
of age. For several years, he was engaged in farming in Lafayette county. 
After coming to Butler he entered the employ of the Charles Sprague 
Grocery Company and later the Ed Steele Grocery Company. Mr. 
Arnold served as constable of Mt. Pleasant township for six years. He 
has been employed for the past twenty-two years by Mrs. E. Angela 
Scully, owner of the Scully lands in Bates county, as clerk at Butler, 
Missouri. 

In 1886, William M. Arnold was married the first time to Lillie 
Patton, at Foster, Missouri. She died in 1899, leaving three children: 
Mabel, now the wife of W. L. Hodge, a prosperous merchant of Petty 
in Lamar county, Texas; Kate, the wife of J. H. McBee, manager of 
a large cotton plantation near Petty, Texas; and W. D., of Salt Lake 
City, Utah, who is a printer by trade. The mother was interred in the 
cemetery at Butler. Mr. Arnold was married a second time in 1900. 
Mrs. Arnold was formerly Mrs. Annie E. Smith, of Butler, Missouri. 
To William M. and Annie E. Arnold have been born two children: 
Marion F. and Asenith E. Mrs. Arnold, by her former marriage, is 
the mother of one son, Walker T. Smith, who enlisted with Company 
A, Twelfth Missouri Infantry, soon after the declaration of war by the 
United States and is at the present time located at San Francisco, Cali- 
fornia. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold reside in Butler at 501 West Fort Scott 
street. 

Frank H. Crowell, the well-known agent for the forty thousand 
acres of farm land in Bates county, Missouri, owned by Mrs. E. Angela 
Scully, of Washington, D. C, is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. 
Mr. Crowell is a son of Joseph D. and Hulda S. (Lewis) Crowell. 

The lands, for which Mr. Crowell is agent, were purchased in 1894 
by Mrs. Scully. He says, "If I were writing my biography, I would 
simply state, T am alive and glad of it!' " 

Dr. John W. Choate, retired physician and ex-representative of 
Bates county, Missouri, formerly United States pension examiner for 
this district, is a native of Bates county. Doctor Choate was born in 
1858 in Deepwater township, a son of Nicholas and Pernelia Isabel 
(Wilson) Choate. Nicholas Choate was born in 1817 in Baltimore, Mary- 
land, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Elias Choate. In his early childhood, 
Nicholas Choate moved with his parents to Kentucky and in that state, 
in Logan and Simpson counties where they settled, spent his youth and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 567 

was educated. When he was nineteen years of age, he left Kentucky 
and came on horseback to Missouri, locating first at St. Louis in 1836. 
For several years, Mr. Clioate was employed as a farm laborer in St. 
Louis and Lincoln counties, Missouri. He was married in 1846 in 
Lincoln county, Missouri, to Lucinda Uptegrove and to this union were 
born two sons, who died in early manhood. The mother also died early 
in life and in 1854 Mr. Choate came to Bates county and entered a tract 
of land in Deepwater township, a farm comprising four hundred forty 
acres which he entered from the government at seventy-five cents an 
acre. Four years later he settled on this tract. In 1858, Nicholas Choate 
and Pernelia Isabel Wilson, daughter of Isaac and Rebecca Wilson, 
highly respected and prominent pioneers of Deepwater township, natives 
of Caldwell county, Kentucky, were united in marriage and to them were 
born five children, two of whom are now living: John W., the subject 
of this review; Mrs. Sarah J. Nickell, of Deepwater township, who is 
the present owner of one-half the farm entered from the government by 
her father, which land has never been transferred except from the gov- 
ernment to Nicholas Choate and from Doctor Choate deeded to Mrs. 
Nickell; and Mrs. Martha Keziah Lewis, who died at the age of twenty 
years, leaving one child, a daughter, Emma Lewis, who is now deceased. 
The mother died at the age of fifty years in 1878 and her remains were 
laid to rest in the cemetery at Johnstown, Missouri. During the troublous 
times of the Civil War, Nicholas Choate remained on his Bates county 
farm, engaged in agricultural pursuits, with the exception of fourteen 
days, when he was just across the line in Henry county. All his horses 
and cattle were stolen during his absence, but he was able to obtain 
the return of his cattle and by using oxen in place of horses in his farm 
work succeeded in raising four good crops during the war without the 
aid of horses. Nicholas Choate was an honest, honorable, upright citi- 
zen and he lived to a venerable age, his death occurring in 1898 at the 
age of eighty-two years. He was buried beside his wife in the cemetery 
at Johnstown. 

Mrs. J. R. Simpson, nee Margaret Lutsenhizer, who is yet living 
at the advanced age of seventy-five years, was the first instructor of 
Doctor Choate. She was at that time a young girl and she took much 
pleasure in teaching the embryo physician his ''a-b-c's." Doctor Choate 
later attended the public schools of Bates county and Butler x\cademy. 
He is a graduate of the medical department of Washington University 
at St. Louis, Missouri, in the class of 1886, and at that institution was 



568 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

one of two students receiving honorable mention and he also received 
the second prize for commendable work done in chemistry. Dr. John W. 
Choate opened his office and began the practice of medicine at Creighton, 
Missouri immediately after obtaining his medical degree. After six 
months, he left Creighton and moved his ofifice to Johnstown, where he 
purchased the practice of Dr. Matchett in the medical profession and 
and in the drug business for thirteen years, when he came to Butler, 
in 1899, and since that time has not practiced medicine. Upon coming 
to Butler, Doctor Choate engaged in the real estate and loan business 
and for several years was thus employed. He has been, for the past 
four years, the farm and loan inspector for the Walton Trust Com- 
pany, a position he resigned recently upon the occasion of his son, Leslie 
R. Choate, joining the National Army. He purchased the interest of 
M. E. Fulbright in the Choate & Fulbright Real Estate Loans & Insur- 
ance and the firm is now Choate & Son. Doctor Choate is one of the 
directors of the Walton Trust Company of Butler. He was elected 
representative from Bates county to the Missouri State Legislature in 
1892 and served two terms and in 1896 was re-elected for two years, 
under the administrations of Gov. William J. Stone. Prior to that time, 
the doctor had been brought prominently into public notice, when he 
was appointed under Cleveland's first presidential administration, 1885- 
1889, United States pension examiner for his district, a position which 
he most ably filled. 

In 1889, Dr. John W. Choate and Lulu L. Jackson, daughter of 
Judge John L. and Mattie E. Jackson, of Cass county, Missouri, were 
united in marriage and to this union have been born two children, a 
son, Leslie R., who is a graduate of the Butler High School, of Sedalia 
Business CoUege, Sedalia, Missouri, who for the past two years has been 
with the firm of Choate & Fulbright Real Estate, Loans & Insurance, 
and at the present time is associated with his father in business, though 
expecting to be called by the government into service. Leslie R. Choate 
was with General Clark on the border in the recent trouble between our 
country and Mexico, serving as the general's secretary. Young Choate 
was recently transferred to the department of sergeant of ordnance and 
is stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He is an intelligent, alert, young 
man of excellent capabilities and will "make good" in any line of en- 
deavor he chooses. The youngest child died in infancy. Doctor and 
Mrs. Choate reside in Butler at 405 North Main street. They are well 
and favorably known in the best society circles of the city and county 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 569 

and they number their friends by the score in this section of Missouri. 

Doctor Choate recalls that in the early days of the history of Bates 
county, people living in the vicinity of Johnstown firmly believed that 
the prairies between that place and Butler would never be fenced. Mr. 
Borland, now residing near Johnstown, made .the remark one day in 
the presence of Nicholas Choate, while looking across Deepwater val- 
ley, "Surely this will be fenced sometime, but I will never live to see 
it." Mr. Borland is still living there on his farm near Johnstown, 
amid the splendidly improved country places of the county and the 
fences of hedge and wire suggest the marvelous changes which have 
come within the lifetime of a single individual. Doctor Choate has 
always taken a deep interest in everything pertaining to the early his- 
tory of Bates county. A pile of stone and brick and a clearing of perhaps 
one acre, overgrown with brush and trees, which evidently had been 
made long before the earliest known settlers came, was discovered by 
the doctor, when he was a young man, at the line between Bates and 
Henry counties. Wondering if this small patch of once cleared ground 
and the pile of brick and stone might be a clue to the name of one who 
had once lived there. Doctor Choate searched the records of the original 
government survey, made in 1837, and found among the notes that the 
line between the two counties at this particular point ran through 
"Christopher Greenup's garden" and again in the report mention was 
made that farther north another Greenup, probably a brother, lived 
just across the line in Henry county. The latter pioneer resided on land 
later owned by Isaac Wilson, the maternal grandfather of Doctor 
Choate. These old pioneers were evidently hunters and trappers, who 
went farther west when the incoming settlers ten and fifteen miles away 
crowded them out. 

Doctor Choate is an excellent citizen, belonging to that large and 
eminently respectable class of business men who have done so much to 
develop the resources of our country and give stability to the body 
politic. He is highly esteemed by his neighbors and friends and stands 
"four square to every wind that blows," a man in whom the citizens of 
Bates county repose universal confidence and trust and who has proven 
himself worthy of this mark of favor. 

J. M. Christy, M. D., one of the most prominent physicians of Bates 
county, Missouri, is a native of Fleming county, Kentucky. Doctor 
Christy was born at the Christy homestead in Kentucky a son of Ambrose 
B. and Eliza J. (Logan) Christy, both of whom were natives of Ken- 



570 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

tucky. The Christys came to Missouri from Kentucky in 1865 and settled 
at Fayetteville, where the father died twelve years later, in 1877. Eliza 
J. (Logan) Christy was a cousin of John A. Logan, the illustrious states- 
man and general, of Jackson county, Illinois, who was nominated for 
the vice-presidency of the United States in 1884 on the ticket with James 
G. Blaine. To Ambrose and Eliza' J. Christy were born four children, 
as follow; Mrs. W. E. Seamands, Warrensburg, Missouri; W. A., 
Mansfield, Missouri; Dr. J. M., the subject of this review; and Mrs. Lula 
E. Rowe, formerly of Butler, Missouri, now of Boise, Idaho. 

Doctor Christy attended the first term of school held at the War- 
rensburg State Normal School and afterward taught school for four 
terms in Linn district in Johnson county, Missouri. The doctor is a 
graduate of the Kentucky State University, Lexington, Kentucky in the 
class of 1877 and of the New York Homeopathic Medical College in the 
class of 1882. In 1916, Doctor Christy attended the annual meeting of 
the alumni associations of both institutions, of which he is an alumnus, 
and also visited both colleges, finding a few of his former classmates and 
in each school but one professor who was one of the faculty at the time 
of the doctor's graduation. Doctor Christy also attended the meeting 
of the alumni of Missouri State University at Columbia upon his return 
from Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. J. M. Christy began the practice of 
medicine at Fayetteville in Johnson county and in December, 1880 
located at Butler, where he has ever since remained. 

In 1876, Dr. J. M. Christy was united in marriage with T. Fanny 
Ellis, daughter of James M. Ellis, a highly respected and well-known 
citizen of Warrensburg, Missouri. To this union have been born three 
children, two died in infancy and a daughter, Stella A., who is now the 
wife of George G. Gilkeson, formerly of Warrensburg, Missouri, now 
of Chicago, Illinois, The doctor and Mrs. Christy reside in Butler on 
North Main street. 

Doctor Christy is a public-spirited citizen, a man of widely varied 
business interests, and in countless ways he has been and still is promi- 
nently identified with the material prosperity of Butler and his name is 
invariably found in connection with all enterprises for the public welfare 
of Bates county. He was one of the organizers of the Peoples Bank 
of Butler, and he is still one of the directors of this financial institution, 
and prior to that was a director of the Missouri State Bank for twenty 
years. Doctor Christy is a stockholder in the Walton Trust Company, 
the Missouri State Bank, the Peoples Bank, the American Trust Com- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY C5;:i 

pany of Warrensburg, Missouri, and the International Life Insurance 
Company of St. Louis, Missouri. 

The Christy farm, one mile south of Butler, is one of the beautiful 
country places of Missouri. There are two ditTerent and complete sets 
of improvements upon the place, two comfortable residences and five 
barns. Doctor Christy is interested in breeding registered Poland China 
hogs and he is now the owner of the first herd of Holstein cattle brought 
to Bates county, Missouri, a herd comprising fourteen cows which were 
brought to Missouri from Iowa and formerly belonged to different par- 
ties, Mr. Douglass, a well-known dairyman, owning a part of the num- 
ber. A lake on his farm, of four hundred twenty-three acres of valuable 
land, covers four and a half acres of the place and the doctor has this 
stocked with fish and has bathing and swimming facilities, including a 
bathhouse near the shore of the lake. Any spot along the water is a 
delightful place to rest on summer evenings. Doctor Christy says that 
his farm is his "side line" and looking after it, his recreation and he 
believes that it wall add ten years to his life time. 

Wesley Denton, cashier of the Peoples Bank of Butler, with Dr. 
J. M. Christy organized the Bates County Calf Club and in October, 
1917 brought to this county and distributed within a few miles of Butler 
one hundred nine head of high grade Holstein calves among the chil- 
dren of Bates county. In case the youngsters were unable to pay cash, 
a note was taken granting the privilege of paying for the calf one year 
later. At the end of the year, in October, 1918, the calves were to be 
brought to Butler and sold at auction. One of the wise provisions, for 
the benefit of the children, is that in case of the death of the calf three- 
fourths of the cost price will be paid to the loser by the other parties 
who purchased calves. In 1918, the profitableness of raising good grade 
cattle will be thoroughly demonstrated and proven. The basic idea of 
this most unusual departure of the Peoples Bank of Butler, with which 
Doctor Christy is connected, is to encourage the handling of the best 
grade dairy cattle, to interest the boys and girls in the most profitable 
side of stockraising, and at the same time to build up the farms so long 
devoted to grain. And in the years to come, the one hundred nine firm 
friends of the Peoples Bank of Butler this business venture will assuredly 
make may prove to be a valuable asset. Doctor Christy has also prom- 
ised Bates county a cheese factory, provided that sufficient support is 
guaranteed, his unselfish motive being to encourage the dairy business 
in this section of the state. 



572 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

The reader has undoubtedly concluded, and correctly, from the fore- 
going brief synopsis of Doctor Christy's career that his has been a very 
busy life, into which a multitude of interests have been crowded. The 
lessons mastered in his youth taught him industry, enterprise, and human- 
ity. The medical profession in Bates county is honored by having such 
as he a worker among and with them. Dr. J. M. Christy is widely recog- 
nized as one of the best posted and most intellectual gentlemen in the 
city of Butler. 

James J. McKee, an honored pioneer of Bates county, is one of the 
highly valued citizens of Mount Pleasant towmship. The McKee home- 
stead is located on the Butler and Appleton City road and a portion of 
the residence has been standing since 1869, when Mr. McKee settled in 
Bates county. Mr. McKee is a native of Richland county, Ohio. He 
was born September 14, 1837, a son of J. W. and Isabella (Fulton) 
McKee, both of whom were natives of Cumberland county, Pennsyl- 
vania. The McKees moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, where the son, 
James J., was born, and thence to California in the spring of 1850. 
Mr. McKee was outfitted for the journey across the plains from Mis- 
souri to California at Independence, Missouri. He crossed the plains 
and mountains with oxen and upon reaching California obtained employ- 
ment in the mines and in November of the same year he contracted 
chotera and died. It will be recalled that this was the period of the 
excited rush for the newly discovered gold region in California, that 
from 1848 until 1861 the mines there yielded more than five hundred 
million dollars for which thousands of good men gave their lives. J. 
W. and Isabella McKee were the parents of eight children: Alexander, 
deceased; William F., deceased; James J., the subject of this review; 
J. P., who resides in McDonald county, Missouri; Mary, the wife of 
George McCully, deceased; Sarah, the wife of Houston Culbertson, 
deceased; Isabelle, Butler, Missouri; and Anna K., the wife of D. N. 
Thompson, Butler, Missouri. 

In 1869, James J. McKee and D. N. Thompson came to Bates 
county, Missouri, from Henry county, Iowa, and purchased one hun- 
dred sixty acres of land, the present home place of Mr. McKee, and 
later added to their holdings two hundred forty acres of land located 
one mile north of Butler. Mr. Thompson bought and sold stock, driv- 
ing to Appleton City to make shipments. He afterward purchased Mr. 
McKee's interest in the farm one mile north of Butler. The McKee 
residence, a part of which was built in 1869 and rebuilt in the eighties, 



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JAMES J. McKEE AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 573 

is an eight-room structure. The farm owned by James J. McKee is 
considered one of the best in the township. The land slopes to the 
south and is well improved and located, the improvements including 
a barn, constructed of native lumber, 24 x 51 feet in dimensions, another 
one, 44 x 60 feet in dimensions, and numerous sheds. Mr. McKee put 
up the first barn in 1877. He has at present on the farm fifteen head 
of Hereford cattle, all registered cows, which breed he began raising 
in 1899 when he purchased three head of registered Herefords from 
James McKittrick, of' Greenwood, Jackson county, Missouri, and he has 
had as many as fifty registered Herefords on his place at one time 
since he became interested in raising them. Previous to 1899, Mr. 
McKee handled Jersey cattle extensively, but he learned at that time 
that dairy cattle were not in the same demand as beef cattle and he 
sold his herd, having no dif^culty to find a ready market in the vicinity 
of his farm. In addition to stock raising, Mr. McKee takes much pleas- 
ure in horticulture and he keeps his ten-acre orchard in splendid condi- 
tion and finds apple growing a very profitable business. His favorite 
apples for commercial purposes are : Mammoth Black Twig, Ben Davis, 
Gano, Jonathan, and Winesap. Of the early maturing varieties, he 
prefers the Early Harvest, Bellflower, Maiden Blush, and Rome Beauty. 

In 1872, the marriage of James J. McKee and Sarah Ann Hoffman, 
of Mount Pleasant township, was solemnized. Mrs. McKee is a native 
of Virginia, born on January 29, 1849. She came to Bates county in 
1868 with her uncle. James Hoffman. To James J. and Sarah Ann 
McKee have been born three children: Newton W., who w^as killed at 
the age of twenty-one years by lightning while assisting with the work 
on the home farm; Mary B., the wife of John C. Lane, son of J. C. 
Lane, Butler, Missouri; and James F., at home with his parents. 

In former years, James J. McKee follow^ed freighting from the 
end of the Union Pacific railroad as it was built west. He made 
a trip to California in 1864, starting from Iowa. His second long 
journey was from Denver, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. On 
the latter trip, he was caught in a blinding snowstorm when about 
fifty-five miles from his destination and all his cattle were lost in the 
storm. Mr. McKee hired Mexicans to take the two wagons on into 
Santa Fe, for which he was obliged to pay them two hundred dol- 
lars, at the rate of about four dollars a mile — and that was in the 
sixties. 

Men of Mr. McKee's caliber are not to be found in everv commun- 



574 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ity, but wherever such a one is found the impress of his personality 
will be seen indelibly stamped upon the community. In this brief 
life history is exemplified the truth that success is the result of labor — 
well-directed, untiring labor. Beginning life with few advantages and 
handicapped by many discouraging circumstances, left fatherless at 
the age of thirteen years when he needed most a father's advice and 
counsel, Mr. McKee has triumphed over every obstacle and has steadily 
worked himself upward from penury to affluence and he is now num- 
bered among the most substantial citizens of Mount Pleasant township, 
where for many years he has enjoyed precedence as one of the most 
intelligent and enterprising men of Bates county. He has himself lived 
a good, clean, moral life and both he and Mrs. McKee are deeply inter- 
ested in whatever tends to benefit the public and exert a wholesome 
influence upon the community. We are proud to be able to still num- 
ber Mr. and Mrs. McKee among the best citizens of Bates county. 
The ranks of the brave and noble pioneers are all too rapidly thinning. 
B. B. Canterbury, ex-deputy county clerk and secretary of the Bates 
County Old Settlers' Association, owner and manager of Real Estate & 
Loans at Butler, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Canterbury was born 
December 7, 1857 at Little Louisa, Kentucky. He is a son of R. F. and 
Fannie E. (Hereford) Canterbury, who were the parents of six children, 
as follow: Elizabeth, who married Mr. Erwin and she is now deceased; 
Ben B.. the subject of this review; Eudora, the wife of Mr. Daniels, Den- 
ver, Colorado; Susan Ann, the wife of Dr. J. T. Walls, Portland, Oregon; 
George M., Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Samuel S., who died in 1912 and is 
buried at Kansas City, Missouri. R. F. Canterbury, a native of Ken- 
tucky, came to Missouri in June, 1858 with his family and they located 
in Sullivan county, moving thence to Saline county and in 1872 to Bates 
county. The father purchased the Tomlinson & Shorb mercantile estab- 
lishment at Burdett and conducted that store from 1872 until 1881 and 
then moved the stock of goods to Archie, Missouri, where he continued 
in business for two years. From Archie, Mr. Canterbury came to Butler 
and resided until 1888, when he went west. He returned to Kansas City, 
Missouri in 1903 and at that place his death occurred two years later. 
Mr. Canterbury's remains were interred in the Mount Washington ceme- 
tery at Kansas City. Mrs. Canterbury, mother of B. B., the subject of 
this sketch, departed this life in 1901 and she was laid to rest in the 
cemetery at Kansas City. The Canterburys were well known and highly 
respected in Bates county, where they were numbered among the best 
families and most progressive and valued citizens. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 575 

B. B. Canterbury obtained his education in the public schools of Mis- 
souri and at the Warrensburg State Normal School, which institution he 
attended one term. Mr. Canterbury has made his own way in the world 
since he was a youth nineteen years of age. He served as deputy county 
clerk for one year, serving under W. E. Walton. Following this, he 
engaged in the real estate and abstract business for several years. In 
1888, he moved to Howell county, Missouri, and there resided for four- 
teen years. While a resident of Howell county, Missouri, Mr. Canter- 
bury served four years as probate judge. He returned to Bates county, 
Missouri in 1902 and opened an office at Butler, where he has continued 
the real estate and loan business ever since. He is pushing the amortized 
or rural credit plan of farm loans, of which an example is given : Twenty 
years ago, a farmer borrowed one thousand dollars at six per cent., 
straight interest on the old-fashioned plan. He has renewed the loan 
at intervals with constant expense of renewals, commissions, abstract 
charges, and recorder's fees, and he still owes the principal, one thousand 
dollars. He has paid sixty dollars interest every year for twenty years 
or a total of twelve hundred dollars. The old-fashioned loan of one thou- 
sand dollars has cost the farmer, not including commissions, abstract 
charges, and recorder's fees, twenty-two hundred dollars. Under the 
amortized plan, he would have paid, as follows: 

First eleven payments, of eighty-five dollars and sixty-eight cents 
each, a total of nine hundred seventy-five dollars and forty-eight cents. 

Last nine payments, of eighty-three dollars and sixty-three cents 
each, a total of seven hundred fifty-three dollars and twelve cents. 

The sum total of all payments would be one thousand seven hundred 
twenty-eight dollars and sixty cents, leaving a balance of four hundred 
seventy-one dollars and forty cents in favor of the amortized plan. 

Loans are made up to one-half the cash value of the land and loans 
from five hundred to ten thousand dollars can be made by Mr. Canter- 
bury, The payments may be made at any time designated and at any 
bank the borrower may choose. 

In June, 1880, B. B. Canterbury and Frances M. Pentzer were united 
in marriage. Mrs. Canterbury was born at Alexandersville, Ohio, a 
daughter of H. V. Pentzer, who came to Butler about 1870. Mr. Pentzer 
died in 1905. To Mr. and Mrs. Canterbury have been born two chil- 
dren: Katie L., the wife of O. A. Heinlein, manager of the Bennett- 
Wheeler Mercantile Company and mayor of Butler; and Deane B., who 
is with the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler. 

In 1910, B. B. Canterbury was elected secretary of the Bates County 



576 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Old Settlers' Association, which position he still holds. At the last meet- 
ing of the association, the oldest settler was Judge Clark Wix, the oldest 
man present was Samuel Mellon, aged ninety-three years, and the oldest 
woman was Mrs. Catherine Patty, aged ninety-two years. 

Mr. Canterbury takes an unusual interest in governmental affairs. 
He reads widely and extensively and is well known as a clear thinker 
and in conversation expresses himself concisely, fearlessly, and in a con- 
vincing manner. As was his father before him, Mr. Canterbury is highly 
esteemed among the enterprising, clear-headed, upright citizens and his 
family is widely known among the best in Bates county. 

Judge A. B. Owen, one of Bates county's leading citizens, ex-collec- 
tor of taxes in Grand River township and in Bates county, ex-treasurer 
of Bates county, and ex-mayor of Butler, is a native of this county. Mr. 
Owen was born in Grand River township, September 18, 1856. He is 
a worthy representative of a sterling pioneer family of this part of Mis- 
souri, a son of Crayton and Elizabeth (Haggard) Owen, both of whom 
were natives of Kentucky and among the earliest settlers of this state. 
Crayton Owen was born in Clark county, Kentucky in 1834. He came 
to Missouri with his father, Martin B. Owen, in 1842. The Owens set- 
tled on Elk Fork creek, where the father entered several hundred acres 
of land. Their trading was done at Lexington, Missouri, and the father 
would go with a yoke of oxen and a large w^agon once a year and at that 
time would lay in a supply of provisions sufficient to last the twelve 
months. During the Civil War, when Order Number 11 was in force, 
Martin B. Owen moved wnth his family to Pettis county, Missouri, return- 
ing after the war had ended to the homestead, where he died and is 
buried. Crayton Owen was employed by the Missouri Pacific Railway 
Company, when they were building the road through Pettis and John- 
son counties. After the Civil War closed, he returned to the farm and 
engaged in cattle buying and shipping. Mr. Owen was widely known as 
a successful stockman in Bates county, as a large shipper of stock. His 
shipping point was Holden, forty miles away. Elizabeth (Haggard) 
Owen was a daughter of Andrew Haggard, a native of Kentucky and a 
highly respected pioneer of Pettis county. In that county, Mrs. Owen 
was reared, educated, and married. At her father's home near Sedalia, 
Crayton Owen and Elizabeth Haggard were united in marriage in 1854 
and soon afterward they settled on a farm in Grand River township. 
Mr. and Mrs. Crayton Owen were the parents of the following children: 
A. B., the subject of this review; Mrs. M. E. Powell, deceased; James, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 577 

a civil engineer, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Anna Reeder, Adrian, Mis- 
souri; Mrs, May Taylor, Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. Dottie Mitchell, Kansas 
City, Missouri; and Crayton, Jr., a prominent lumberman of Idaho. The 
father died in 1890 and his remains were buried in the family burial 
ground on the home place. Mrs. Owen died in 1916 at the age of seventy- 
five years and she was laid to rest in the cemetery at Kansas City, 
Missouri. 

In the district schools of Bates and Pettis counties, Missouri, A. B. 
Owen obtained a good common school education. Until he was twenty- 
five years of age, he remained at home with his parents and then at that 
time began farming independently in Grand River township and engag- 
ing in stock raising. Mr. Owen served as collector of taxes in his town- 
ship for nearly fifteen years prior to his election as county treasurer of 
Bates county in 1896 and re-election in 1898. He moved from the farm 
to Butler in the autumn of 1896 and at that time purchased his present 
home, a pleasant and comfortable residence located at 513 West Ohio 
street. Following the expiration of his four-year term in the treasurer's 
office, A. B. Owen was appointed by Governor Folk to the position of 
county collector of taxes to complete an unexpired term. When Estes 
Smith, judge from the northern district, died, Mr. Owen was appointed 
by Governor Majors to fill the unexpired term of eighteen months. A. 
B. Owen has served two terms as mayor of Butler and while an incum- 
bent in that office, there were more sidewalks built than at any other time 
in the history of the city. Though he is not now an official in public 
service, Mr. Owen has still plenty of work to do in managing and attend- 
ing to his financial interests, being the owner of property in Butler and 
Bates county and in Kansas City and a director of the Missouri State 
Bank and a director and stockholder of the Walton Trust Company. 

December 23, 1879, A. B. Owen and Edna F. Reeder were united in' 
marriage. Mrs. Owen is a daughter of Joseph Reeder, of Mingo town- 
ship. Mr. Reeder was a native of Virginia. He settled in Mingo town- 
ship prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. To A. B. and Edna F. 
Owen has been born one child, a daughter, Jennie, who is now the wife 
of Dr. J. S. Newlon, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. 
Doctor and Mrs. Newlon are the parents of one child, a son, Robert 
Owen. Mr. and Mrs. Owen are active and valued members of the Chris- 
tian church, of which Mr. Owen has been a member since he was twenty- 
one years of age and a deacon for almost that entire period. 

Mr. Owen is a man of sound, practical sense, unflinching integrity, 

(37) 



5/8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and scrupulous honor. He is a progressive business man in all that the 
term implies. He has always taken an active interest in the growth and 
development of his township and county. 

J. W. Eggleson, a prominent citizen of Bates county and a well- 
known, progressive business man of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Illi- 
nois. Mr. Eggleson was born January 4, 1859 in Adams county, Illinois, 
the eldest of four children born to his parents, Asa W. and Amy (Eddy) 
Eggleson, both of whom were natives of Jefferson county. New York. 
Asa W. Eggleson was born in 1813. He came from Illinois to Vernon 
county, Missouri in 1866 and located on land lying on the line between 
Bates and Vernon counties. Mr. Eggleson owned the land which is 
now the site of the town of Panama. At the time of the coming of the 
Egglesons to Missouri, this was all open prairie and Mr. Eggleson and 
Lucius Horr built the first two houses there. One could then drive 
through to Paola, Kansas and not see one fence. At one time in the 
late sixties, when the farmers on the prairies had to go to mill driving 
to Pleasant Hill, Missouri or to Pleasanton, Kansas, Addie Robinson, 
a pioneer, made the trip for the neighborhood. Due to the slow 
methods of grinding, he was often detained several days waiting for 
the grist. J. W. Eggleson vividly recalls how the Egglesons existed on 
a ration of potatoes for three days or until Mr. Robinson's return from 
the mill. He also remembers the days of chills and fever, when at 
times there would not be a family on the prairie but was afflicted with 
this malady of pioneer times. In 1881, Asa W. Eggleson moved to 
Cedar county, Missouri and there he died at Jericho Springs in 1885. 
Interment was made in the cemetery in Balltown in Vernon county. 
Airs. Eggleson, mother of J. W., departed this life in 1861 and her 
remains were interred in the cemetery at Loraine, Illinois. J. W. 
Eggleson was left motherless when he was a child two years of age. 
The following children were born to Asa W. and Amy Eggleson : J. 
W., the subject of this review; E. E., who is engaged in farming in 
Bates county, residing on Rural Route 6, Butler, Missouri; Maria A., 
the widow of F. W. Riddle, Kaw City, Oklahoma; and Amy, who died 
at the age of seventeen years. 

J. W. Eggleson obtained his education in the public schools of 
Vernon county, Missouri. Until he was twenty-one years of age. Mr. 
Eggleson remained at home with his father. At that time he began 
farming on rented land, raising corn enough the first year to pay for 
his team of mules. Asa W. Eggleson gave to his two sons, J. W. and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



579 



E, E., one hundred sixty acres of land, which were later found to be 
underlaid with coal. This land the Eggleson brothers sold to Charles 
Faler and then purchased eighty acres of land in Charlotte township, 
Bates county, which farm E. E. Eggleson now owns, and one hundred 
sixty acres, which they afterward divided. J. W. Eggleson at present 
owns the homestead in Charlotte township and a farm comprising one 
hundred acres in West Point township. He was for many years engaged 
in farming and stock raising, when he moved from the farm to Butler 
in 1914 and entered the garage business, purchasing the McFarland 
garage located on South Main street. He sold his place of business to 
the Newman brothers in the autumn of 1915 and in July, 1917 the garage 
was burned. 

In 1885, J. W. Eggleson and Anna Corlett were united in marriage. 
Mrs. Eggleson is a native of Leavenworth county, Kansas, a daughter 
of Christopher and Laura (Walker) Corlett. Mrs. Eggleson's father was 
born on the Isle of Man in 1835 and in 1854 he emigrated from his native 
land and came to America. Mr. Corlett settled in Illinois and in that 
state was united in marriage with Miss Walker. Both father and mother 
died in Charlotte township. Bates county, to which they came in 1880, 
and their remains are buried in the cemetery known as the Morris ceme- 
tery in this county. J. W. and Anna Eggleson are the parents of five 
children: Willa, the wife of Bird Barr, whose death occurred in August, 
1915; Pearl, the wife of Clarence Porter, of Charlotte township. Bates 
county ; Orland, who married Sallie Simpson, of Butler, and to them has 
been born one child, a daughter, Anna Laurie ; Bert and Frank, who are 
at home with their parents. The Eggleson home is in Butler at 211 
West Eort Scott street. 

J. S. Newlon, M. D,, a well-known and successful practitioner of 
Butler, Missouri, a specialist in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and 
throat, is a native of Nebraska. Doctor Newlon was born in Kearney 
county, Nebraska in 1883, a son of Samuel J. and Ellen (Seevers) Newlon, 
the former, a native of Ohio and the latter of Iowa. Samuel J. Newlon 
was a well-to-do and enterprising agriculturist. He was reared and edu- 
cated in his native state and in 1854 left Ohio to make his home in Iowa, 
whence he moved with his wife and two children to Nebraska, where Dr. 
J. S. Newlon was born. Later, the Newlons returned to Iowa and in 
that state remained until 1903, when they came to Bates county, Missouri, 
locating near Butler on a farm. There the father died in 1912 and the 
mother still resides. To Samuel J. and Ellen Newlon were born the 



580 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

following children: D. W., a prominent farmer and stockman, Culver, 
Missouri; Lorraine, who is at home with the widowed mother on the 
home place; Dr. J. S., the subject of this review; Mrs. H. O. Welton, 
Butler, Missouri; George, who is engaged in farming on the home 
place ; Thomas D., a widely known automobile salesman, Kansas City, 
Missouri; Selina, who is a student in the Warrensburg State Normal 
School ; and Alfred, a motor machinist, Kansas City, Missouri. 

Dr. J. S. Newlon is a graduate of Winterset High School in Iowa. 
After completing the high school course. Doctor Newlon entered 
Haynes Academy at Excelsior Springs, Missouri, matriculating later 
in the University Medical College at Kansas City, Missouri. He is a 
graduate of the latter institution in the class of May 8, 1908. Doctor 
Newlon has also attended the New York Polyclinic Institute. He began 
the practice of his profession at Ballard, Missouri, in 1908 and five years 
afterward located at Butler. He gives special attention to the diseases 
of the eye, ear, nose, and throat. Doctor Newlon is secretary of the 
Bates County Medical Society and also of the Missouri State Medical 
Association. He is a member of the Southeastern Medical Associa- 
tion, also. 

September 15, 1915, Dr. J. S. Newlon and Jennie Mae Owen, tlie 
only daughter of Judge and Mrs. A. B. Owen, of Butler, Missouri, were 
united in marriage. A biography of Judge A. B. Owen will be found 
elsewhere in this volume. To Doctor and Mrs. Newlon has been born 
one child, a son, Robert Owen, who was born May 8, 1917, just nine 
years to the day from the time his father graduated from the Uni- 
versity Medical College. 

David W. Beaman, an honored pioneer of Bates county, is a mem- 
ber of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Beaman 
was born March 20, 1848, in Pettis county, Missouri, a son of William 
and Jane (Stanford) Beaman, the former a native of North Carolina 
and the latter, of Tennessee. William Beaman came to Missouri in 
1826 and located in Pettis county, on a tract of land near the Cooper 
county line. In April, 1866, the Beaman family moved to Bates county 
and settled on a farm in Summit township, where Mr. and Mrs. Bea- 
man spent the remainder of their lives. To William and Jane Beaman 
were born six children: Mrs. Margaret Jones, deceased; Franklin, a vete- 
ran of the Civil War, who served with Company C, Forty-fifth Mis- 
souri Infantry, and whose last known address is Soldiers' Home, 
Leavenworth, Kansas; Mrs. Jemima Frances Walker, Sedalia, Mis- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 581 

souri; Mrs. Missouri Ann Stelman, Beaman, Missouri; Carlton Jobe, 
a veteran of the Civil War, who died August 12, 1917, at Fort Dodge, 
Kansas; and David W., the subject of this review^. By a former mar- 
riage, William Beaman was the father of five children : Lucinda, John, 
Martha, Sarah Ann, and Thomas, all of whom are now deceased. John 
Beaman was also a veteran of the Civil War. He was born in North 
Carolina. The father died July 8, 1874, on the farm in Bates county 
and three years later, in March, 1877, he was joined in death by his 
wife. The father was interred in Glass cemetery. The mother was 
buried in Mt. Olivet cemetery. 

February 11, 1867, David W. Beaman came to Bates county and 
settled on his present farm in Summit township in the same year. His 
father and mother with his brothers, John and Carlton Jobe, and his 
three sisters, Margaret, Jemima Frances, and Missouri Ann, had pre- 
ceded him and were already comfortably situated in Summit township 
in a small box house, which they had built on the farm. Their trading 
point was Butler, where Doctor Hill conducted a general store, dealing 
chiefly in dry goods and hardware, and Doctor Pyle kept a drug store. 
David Beaman is now owner of two hundred fifty acres of valuable 
land in Summit township, about half of which is devoted to pasture. 
Mr. Beaman has for years been engaged in stock raising and in former 
times was want to feed a large number of cattle annually for the market. 
He has, at the time of this writing, in 1918, forty head of stock on the 
farm. A good barn was built by Mr. Beaman about fifteen years ago 
and he is at the present time remodeling the residence. 

The marriage of David W. Beaman and Missouri Delitha Ellitt, a 
native of Arkansas, was solemnized on January 17, 1866. Mrs. Beaman's 
father died in Arkansas when she was a little child and, when she was 
three years of age, she came to Missouri with her mother and they 
settled in Pettis county, where Mrs. Beaman was reared and educated. 
She has one brother living, Willi'am H. Ellitt, of Wichita, Kansas. Mrs. 
Ellitt died in Pettis county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Beaman were mar- 
ried in Pettis county and soon afterward settled in Bates county on 
the farm which is still their home. To David W. and Missouri D. 
Beaman have been born eight children: William, Tola, Kansas; Jane 
Elizabeth, the wife of C. B. New, of Cromwell, Iowa ; John, who is 
engaged in farming on the home place; Robert Luther, Tipton, Kansas; 
Minnie Luetta, the wife of George Kersey, of Butler, Missouri ; James 
Nila, Adrian, Missouri; Leora Viola, the wife of H. C. Hyatt, of Adrian, 



c82 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Missouri; and Effie Lillian, the wife of Charles Aman, of Independence, 
Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Beaman celebrated their Golden Wedding Anni- 
versary on January 17, 1916. They are still enjoying fairly good health 
and are as active, physically and mentally, as many a score of years 
younger. Mr. Beaman would have been sixty-seven years of age within 
two days when he was obliged to call for the assistance of a physician 
for himself for the first time in his life. 

Mr. and Mrs. Beaman have twenty-five grandchildren and three 
great-grandchildren. William married Mary Brooks and has five chil- 
dren: Ina, Roe, Emmet, Amos, Archie; Mrs. Mary E. New has four 
children: Boyd, Claude, Walter, Hugh. John married Myrtle Dent and 
has six children: Oliver, Mabel, Clarence, Howard, Wendell, Ruth. 
Luther married Alta Smith and has three children: Roberta, Robert, 
Norman. Mrs. George Iversey has two children, Kendall and Chris- 
tine. Mrs. Leora Hyatt has two children, Henry Clay, Sr. and Elsie. 
Mrs. Efifie Aman has three children, Orville, Ellitt, Loran. 

Mrs. Ina Dixon, daughter of William Beaman, has one child. 
Boyd New is father of one child, Ruby. Claude New is father of one 
child, Eugene. 

Mr. Beaman was a resident of Bates county, Missouri, during the 
grasshopper visitation in 1874 and 1875 and he recalls their coming and 
how they ate everything green in sight, from peelings of sumac bushes 
to the growing plants in the fields. But, there is no cloud so black but 
has its silver lining, and the next season he raised the largest crops he 
has ever raised. Mr. Beaman was a resident of Deepw^ater township 
for a few months previous to his coming to Summit township. When 
he came to Bates county, he was the ow^ier of one horse, three calves, 
and seven pigs. A kindly neighbor hauled the pigs from Pettis county 
to Bates county for him. If any man in Bates county has earned the 
right to be called "self-made," that man is David W. Beaman. He 
began hfe with little of this world's goods but w^ith the most valuable 
capital with which any young man could possibly be endowed — good 
sense, a clear brain, discriminating judgment, a strong arm, and determi- 
nation to succeed. Mr. Beaman is not a theorist but a man of sound, 
practical ideas. He has undoubtedly earned the distinction of being 
numbered among Bates county's best citizens and most representative 
pioneer agriculturists. Mr. Beaman loves the country, the freedom 
of the great out-of-doors, to watch and study the mysteries of Nature 
in growing plants and animals, and when people have querulously 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 583 

inquired of him why he doesn't move to town and escape the hard work 
of the farm he has always wisely replied that he is happier where he 
is and would rather be on the old home place where he and his noble 
wife reared their children and where they have together enjoyed the 
passing of the seasons for more than fifty years. 

Frank T. Clay, a successful and prominent pharmacist of Butler, 
Missouri, is one of the enterprising and leading business men of Bates 
county. Mr. Clay is pre-eminently a self-made man. He is a native 
of Texas. He was born in 1878 in Tarrant county, a son of Mark S. 
and Rachel A. (McGuire) Clay. Mark S. Clay was born in Virginia 
in 1825. He died June 3, 1915 at Butler, Missouri, where he had been 
living a quiet, retired life since 1886. At the time of his death, Mr. 
Clay was ninety years and three months of age. Mrs. Clay, a native 
of Indiana, survives her husband and is now residing in Butler at 211 
North High street. Mark S. and Rachel A. Clay were the parents of 
four children, who are now living: W. H., a prosperous farmer and 
grain dealer. South St. Joseph, Missouri; George, a well-known laun- 
dryman of St. Joseph, Missouri; Frank T.., the subject of this review; 
and James, a well-to-do druggist, Caldwell, Idaho. Mark S. Clay 
enlisted in the Civil War in 1861 at Springfield, Illinois and for many 
months served with the Twenty-second Illinois Infantry. He later 
enlisted with the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry at Madison, Wisconsin. 
After the Civil War had ended, Mr. Clay returned to his home in Illi- 
nois. Later, he came from Illinois to Missouri and thence went -to 
Texas, returning from that state to Missouri in 1881, where he spent 
the remainder of his long life of usefulness. Mark S. Clay was an 
honored and highly valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Frank T. Clay obtained his elementary education in the public 
schools of Bates county. He has since added to his store of knowledge 
by wide reading and by practical experience gained in the best, most 
thorough, but hardest of all schools. He began studying the drug 
business in the drug store of H. L. Tucker in 1894. Ten years later, 
when Mr. Tucker died, Mr. Clay was able to purchase the stock of 
drugs and merchandise and to successfully continue the business. Clay's 
Drug Store is one of the best business establishments in the city, Mr. 
Clay is a registered pharmacist, having obtained his certificate in 1902. 
His stock of goods is complete, fresh, and neatly kept. He occupies a 
building 22 x 70 feet in dimensions, a structure comprising two stories. 
Mr. Clay has, in addition, won for himself distinction as a curio collector 



584 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and he is justly proud of his collection of Indian arrow heads and fifty- 
.three rattlesnake rattles, to which he is constantly adding. Mr. Clay 
has his specimens nicely displayed at his store. 

Mr. Clay is afTfiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, 
of which fraternal order he has been a member since 1904, the Scottish 
Rite Masons, the York Rite Masons, the Shriners since 1910, the Benevo- 
lent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Modern Woodmen of America. 

Thomas Webster Legg, a late worthy and widely known citizen of 
Butler, Missouri, a noble and upright gentleman whose life for many 
years was closely interwoven with the local history of Bates county, was 
a native of Piqua, Miami county, Ohio. He was born November 20, 
1854. He was a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Webster) Legg. Joseph 
Legg was a skilled cabinet maker of Piqua, Ohio and at the age of 
eighteen years his son, Thomas W., had mastered the carriage maker's 
trade. He was reared and educated at Piqua. 

December 26, 1876, T. W. Legg and Mary C. Catterlin were united 
in marriage at Piqua, Ohio. Mrs. Legg is a daughter of S. B. and 
Louisa (Jones) Catterlin, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, 
of Kentucky. Both father and mother of Mrs. Legg died at Butler, 
Missouri, to which city they had come from Ohio to make their future 
home. Mr. Catterlin departed this life one year after their coming 
West and Mrs. Catterlin joined him in death a few years later. To 
T. W. and Mary C. (Catterlin) Legg were born three children, two of 
whom died in infancy, one child, a daughter, now living: Mrs. A. C. 
Coberly, who resides with her widowed mother, the wife of A. C. Cob- 
erly, a prominent business man, who is in the employ of the Logan Moore 
Lumber Company, manager of the Butler lumber yard and manager of 
advertising for the thirty branch yards controlled by the company. Mrs. 
Legg and the Coberlys reside in Butler at 506 West Ohio street. 

In 1879, Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Legg came from Piqua, Ohio to Butler, 
Missouri. Mr. Legg, within a short time afterward, began the erection 
of a carriage shop. His first shop was a large, two-story structure, a 
frame building, and a few years after Mr. Legg had completed it the 
shop was destroyed by fire. He rebuilt immediately and continued the 
business of iron working and carriage making until his death on April 
22, 1914, after which his widow managed the factory until in November, 
1917 the shop was again destroyed by fire. Mr. Legg built carriages, 
buggies, and spring wagons and in addition did a large amount of repair 
work. There are scores of people in Bates county who still own vehicles 
made by T. W. Legg in his shop at Butler. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 585 

At one time, Mr. Legg was a member of the city council of Butler. 
He was a director of the Butler Building & Loan Association and a 
director and stockholder in the Peoples Bank of Butler, one of the 
charter members of the latter financial institution. Mr. Legg was deeply 
interested in church and Sunday school work. He was a devout member 
of the Butler Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was chorister, 
organist, and superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Legg had held 
the same positions in Ohio. He was superintendent of the Methodist 
Sunday school for more than thirty years. Mrs. Legg still treasures 
gifts and remembrances given Mr. Legg by the church and school in 
appreciation of his long years of faithful service. He was at one time 
and for many years president of the Bates County Sunday School Asso- 
ciation and had visited the different schools in all parts of the county. 
Since early manhood, Mr. Legg was affiliated with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. He died April 22, 1914 and interment was made 
in the Oak Hill cemetery at Butler. 

Incomplete would be a biographical compendium of Bates county 
without mention of T. W. Legg. His name has been inseparably linked 
with the history of the business interests in Bates county. He was a 
model citizen, a gentleman, one who had justly earned an enviable repu- 
tation as a successful manufacturer, an enterprising citizen, a true Chris- 
tian. He was widely and favorably known throughout the county as a 
man of extraordinary good sense, skill, judgment, and force of charac- 
ter. His death was long deeply deplored in Bates county and the 
memory of the "good fight" he made remains a priceless heritage. His 
influence in behalf of all that was noble and uplifting will be felt for 
scores of years to come, a monument to his memory more enduring than 
obelisk. 

George W. Dixon, one of Bates county's successful merchants, a 
grocer, hardware and music dealer of Butler, is a native of Kansas. Mr. 
Dixon was born October 16, 1864 in Miami county, Kansas, a son of 
J. W. and Martha E. (Tharp) Dixon, both of whom -were born in Vir- 
ginia. J. W. Dixon was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He enlisted 
with the Federal troops at Miami county, Kansas, and for many months 
served with Company I, Ninth Kansas Infantry, and later with the Cass 
county home guards. In the second year of the Civil War, in 1862, J. 
W. Dixon and Martha E. Tharp w^ere united in marriage in July and 
to this union were born nine children,- all of whom are now living and 
the youngest child is, at the time of this writing, thirty-seven years of 



586 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

age: Etta, the wife of Houston Gillogly, of western Kansas; George 
W., the subject of this review; Emma, the wife of A. C. Stewart, Miami, 
Oklahoma; Elmer, Dodge City, Kansas; Anna, the wife of O. D. Kuhu, 
Miami county, Kansas; Ella, the wife of Mr. Dunham, of lola, Kansas; 
J. W., B. O., and Jud P., who are engaged in the junk business at Rich 
Hill, Missouri. Years before the war, J. W. Dixon came to Kansas and 
settled within two and a half miles of the state line, in Miami county, 
Kansas in 1857. With him came J. W. White and Archie Trammel. A 
son of Archie Trammel, William Trammel, is now residing on a farm 
near Rich Hill, Missouri. Mr. Dixon returned to the farm after the 
close of the war and continued to reside there the remainder of his life. 
He died in 1885. The widowed mother is now living at Butler, Missouri. 

George W. Dixon received his elementary education in the public 
schools of Miami county, Kansas, and later, he was a student for one and 
a half years at Kansas Normal College, Fort Scott, Kansas. Mr. Dixon 
began life for himself in 1889, alternately teaching school and farming 
in the winter and summer seasons in Miami county for a period of 
seven years. In 1899, Mr. Dixon purchased the G. B. Hockman furni- 
ture stock in Butler, Missouri and since acquiring the store he has added 
hardware, musical instruments, and groceries and has moved to his pres- 
ent location in 1907. Mr. Dixon owns the store building, a two-story 
brick structure 45 x 80 feet in dimensions, which fronts on Main street. 
He carries a complete line of groceries, furniture, hardware, and stoves, 
which are on the ground floor of the store, and linoleums, rugs, furni- 
ture, and musical instruments, on the second floor. 

In 1903, George W. Dixon and Dora Collins were united in mar- 
riage. Mrs. Dixon is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Collins, of Chap- 
man, Nebraska. The Dixon home is in Butler, located on Havanna 
street, an attractive, modern residence built in 1917. In addition to his 
home, and his store, Mr. Dixon is owner of a good farm comprising one 
hundred twenty acres in Vernon county, Missouri and he is one of the 
organizers and stockholders of the Peoples Bank of Butler, with which 
financial institution he has always maintained a close connection. 

Mr. Dixon has taken a keen interest in civic affairs and he was at 
one time a member of the city council of Butler. Mr. Dixon is one of 
the leading dealers in Bates county and has deservedly earned the lib- 
eral patronage accorded him by the public. 

Judge J. F. Smith, a prominent attorney of Butler, Missouri, the 
efflcient city clerk and city attorney of Butler, ex-judge of the probate 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 587 

court, is a native of Franklin county, Missouri. Judge Smith was born 
March 31, 1859, a son of Nathan L. and Martha Ann (Adams) Smith. 
Nathan L. Smith was born in 1815 in Virginia. He was reared to 
maturity and educated near Richmond of that state. About 1835, Mr. 
Smith, then a young man, heard the call of the West and he left Vir- 
ginia and came to Missouri, walking all the way. He was a blacksmith 
by trade and he followed his line of work at Old Port William for a 
number of years. He followed farming during his later life. Martha 
Ann (Adams) Smith was a native of Warren county, Missouri. She 
was born in 1826. To Nathan L. and Martha Ann Smith were born 
eleven children: David L., a retired farmer residing at Gray's Sum- 
mit in Franklin county, Missouri; William P., deceased; Alphonso 
Theodore, deceased; Theopholis, deceased; Charles Wesley, who resides 
in Texas; Thomas D., Sedalia, Missouri; James Fletcher, Butler. Mis- 
souri; Mary Elizabeth, Martha Ann, Nathan L., Jr., and Daniel, who 
died in infancy. The mother died in 1889 at the age of sixty-three years 
and the father died February 7, 1908 at the age of ninety-three years. 
Both parents were laid to rest in the family burial ground at the old 
homestead in Franklin county, Missouri. 

Judge Smith attended the common schools of Franklin county, Mis- 
souri. On leaving school, he alternately taught school and engaged in 
farming in Franklin county. He began the study and reading of law 
in the office of Crews & Booth in Union, Franklin county and in that 
county was admitted to the bar. He then came directly to Bates county 
and began the practice of his profession. Judge Smith came to Butler 
in 1882 and shortly afterward located at Rich Hill, where he remained 
for fifteen years in active legal practice. During this period, he served 
as mayor of Rich Hill for several years. In 1897, he removed to Butler. 
One year afterward, a vacancy in the probate court occurred due to the 
death of Judge Dalton and Mr. Smith was appointed to fill the vacancy. 
He served two years as judge of the probate court and since that time 
has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Butler. At the 
time of this writing, in 1918, Judge Smith is satisfactorily filling the 
positions of city clerk and city attorney, which ofiices he has occupied 
eight years. 

In 1899, Judge J. F. Smith and Miss Hattie Scott were united in 
marriage. Mrs. Smith is a native of Bates county, Missouri, a daughter 
of Ben F. and Elizabeth Ann Scott, honored pioneers of this county. 
Ben F. Scott was widely and favorably known and universally respected. 



588 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

He formerly resided on a farm north of Butler and he held several 
different offices of public trust in his township. Afterward, the Scotts 
moved from the farm to Butler and resided here until death called them. 
He died in 1914 and Mrs. Scott joined him in death three years later, 
in 1917. Mrs. Smith was reared in Butler and educated in the city 
schools. She is deeply interested in church w^ork and takes an active and 
prominent part in the work of the Butler Christian church, of which she 
is a valued member. Mr. Smith is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, 
the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the 
Yeomen and the Masonic order, all fraternal orders of Butler. The Smith 
home is located in Butler on Ohio street. 

Milton H. Price, a prominent farmer and stockman of Summit town- 
ship, is one of Bates county's successful citizens and a member of a 
well-known pioneer family of Henry county, Iowa. Mr. Price is a native 
of Baltimore county, Maryland. He was born on December 12, 1839, a 
son of Jehu and Susan M. (Matthew^s) Price, natives of Maryland, who 
settled in Henry county, Iowa, in 1859 and resided in that state the 
remainder of their^lives. The mother died February 27, 1873, and the 
father joined her in death on March 6, 1873. The remains of both par- 
ents w^ere interred in Prairie Grove cemetery in Henry county, Iowa. 

In October, 1859, M. H. Price and his brother, S. T. Price, left home 
to try their fortunes in Iowa, driving across country from Maryland. 
It will be recalled that 1859 was a momentous year in the history of 
our country and that for many months before the outbreak of the Civil 
War many events of tremendous import occurred. This was the year 
John Brown's raid upon the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, 
Virginia. On October 16, 1859, he with about twenty followers sur- 
prised and captured the arsenal, the supplies, and arms and the next 
day he was captured. One week later, the two Price boys appeared at 
Newmarket in Shenandoah county, Virginia — strangers coming upon 
the scene at a very inopportune time — and they were naturally looked 
upon as suspicious characters, the federal officers being convinced that 
they were two of Brown's men. To escape arrest and conviction, the 
young men had no little difficulty in establishing their identity and inno- 
cence. 

M. H. Price was a student at Milton Academy, Baltimore, Mary- 
land at the same time that John Wilkes and Edwin Booth were students 
at the same institution. There were probably one hundred students 
enrolled at Milton' Academy at that time and Mr. Price recalls seeing 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 589 

the brothers frequently in the amateur theatricals staged at the school. 
Edwin Booth, the peerless actor of the American stage, was but six 
years older than Mr. Price. The father of the Booth brothers, Junius 
Brutus Booth, was undoubtedly one of the greatest tragedians that 
ever lived and he gave to the world three sons of note : Junius Brutus, 
Jr., John Wilkes, the author of the greatest tragedy in the life of our 
nation, and Edwin, the greatest actor of America in his day. Strange 
stories were current in Baltimore of the elder Booth's peculiarities and 
eccentricities, of how he forbade the use of animal food on his place, 
"Belair," near Baltimore, the taking of animal life, and even the cutting 
down of trees. He could often be seen bringing his butter and eggs .to 
the Baltimore markets in person. 

For thirty-four years, M. H. Price resided in Henry county, Iowa, 
on the home place, where his parents had settled in 1859 and which 
he had inherited from his father's estate. Mr. Price sold the farm in 
Iowa and came to Bates county, Missouri on February 1, 1894, locating 
on a farm, which he purchased in Mound township. This place com- 
prised eighty acres of land and on it Mr. Price lived for four years. 
He then purchased a farm of one hundred sixty acres in Summit town- 
ship and since has increased his original holdings until his place now 
embraces two hundred forty acres of valuable land, eighty acres lying 
on the north side of the Summit road and one hundred sixty acres on 
the south side. There is an excellent orchard, covering three acres 
of land, on the farm and sixty acres of the place are devoted to pasture. 
Mr. Price made the remark, at the time he first saw his present country 
home, "If I owned that farm, there are just two things that would 
make me leave it — the sheriff or the undertaker." He bought the farm 
one year afterward and he hasn't changed his mind yet. He is profitably 
engaged in raising registered Percheron horses and he is the owner 
of a registered Kentucky jack. Mr. Price gained some prestige among 
the horsemen of Bates county, when he presented at the Bates county 
fair, "Brilliant," a colt wdiich he had raised. "Brilliant" weighed eight 
hundred pounds when seven months of age and won three premiums 
at the diiTerent county fairs in Bates county, when a colt, when one 
year old, and again when two years old. The picture of "Brilliant," 
the colt, may be seen at the Farmers Bank in Butler, Missouri, and he, 
himself, is still on the farm, a valued possession of M. H. Price, who is 
a lover of fine horses. 

M. H. Price and Laura Blackstone were united in marriage, January 



590 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

26, 1878. Laura (Blackstone) Price, born at Middleburn, Guernsey 
county, Ohio, September 28, 1845, is a daughter of William Presley and 
Cecelia C. (Hayes) Blackstone, of Illinois. William Presley Blackstone 
was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1818, a son of William Blackstone, 
who came to America when he was twelve years of age with his father, 
Ebenezer Blackstone, a native of Scotland, a veteran of the War of 1812. 
Hugh Benjamin and Nathan Blackstone, sons of Ebenezer Blackstone, 
were veterans of the War of 1812. The Blackstones are relatives of 
William Blackstone, ^an eminent English jurist, who was born in Lon- 
don. July 10, 1723, and died in a railway carriage while traveling between 
Rouen and Caen, May 1, 1850. Cecelia C. (Hayes) Blackstone was 
born in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1822. She was a distant relative of 
Rutherford B. Hayes, the nineteenth President of the United States. 
The Blackstone family in America trace tlieir lineage back to a Scot- 
tish chieftain, who fought side by side with Baliol, William Wallace, and 
Robert Bruce. Mrs. Price has in her possession an old land warrant signed 
by James Madison, President of the United States, and dated October 
21, 1816, which is made to Daniel McPeek, of Guernsey county, Ohio, 
who entered land which her father purchased. This paper came with 
the abstract to the land. To Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Price have been born 
three children: Presley B., at home; Tacy C, who married Harry Ray- 
bourn and she died in 1910, leaving two daughters, Marie Elizabeth 
and Laura; and Blanche S., who married Del Lutsenhizer, a prosper- 
ous farmer of Deepwater township, and to them have been born two 
children, Hazel and Howard Benton. Mrs. Price's parents moved to 
Geneseo, Illinois, in 1857 and Mr. Blackstone became very wealthy. 

Politically, Mr. Price is affiliated with the Republican party and 
he has served the public ten years as township committeeman, being 
chairman of the committee. He is a gentleman of strong conviction 
and pronounced views and a fearless upholder of principles which he 
believes to be right. Mr. and Mrs. Price are numbered among the 
county's most valued citizens. 

Frank Priestly, proprietor of the Peoples Feed Yard at Butler, Mis- 
souri, is one of Bates county's successful business men. Mr. Priestly is 
a native of Linn county, Kansas, He was born July 5, 1868, a son of 
Joseph and Melinda (Taylor) Priestly. Joseph Priestly was born in 
England in 1830. He emigrated from his native land when he was a 
young man, twenty-one years of age, and came to America. Mr. Priestly 
located first in Illinois and later settled in Kansas in 1858. Melinda 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



591 



(Taylor) Priestly is a native of Illinois. Her father died when she was 
but an infant and her mother remarried, her second husband being Levi 
Ward. The Wards and Melinda Taylor settled in Linn county, Kansas 
in 1854. To Joseph and Melinda Priestly have been born six children, 
who are now living : Mary, the wife of William Gould, of Oregon ; Emma, 
the wife of John Donnelly, of Oklahoma; Frank, the subject of this 
review; Hattie, the wife of Jack Williams, Spokane, W^ashington; Will- 
iam, Anadarko, Oklahoma; and Clara, who is at home with her par- 
ents at Pleasanton, Kansas. Edward, William, and Joseph Priestly, 
three brothers, located on a vast tract of land near Trading Post, Kan- 
sas in 1858, purchasing "squatter's" rights there. Joseph Priestly and 
his wife, the parents of Frank Priestly, resided on this land until Feb- 
ruary, 1904 when they moved to Pleasanton, Kansas, where they now 
reside. Mr. Priestly is now eighty-seven years of age and his wife is 
seventy-seven years of age. A biographical sketch of Mr. and Mrs. 
Priestly appears elsewhere in this volume. 

Frank Priestly received a good common school education at the 
Priestly school near Trading Post, Kansas. The Priestly school was 
named in honor of the Priestly brothers, Edward, William, and Joseph, 
upon whose land the school building was located. In 1890, Frank 
Priestly purchased the Cottrell homestead in Valley township, Linn 
county, Kansas and there resided for five years, going thence to Pueblo, 
Colorado, where he remained five years. When he returned to Kansas, 
Mr. Priestly purchased a farm located two miles south of Pleasanton, 
where he lived until his coming to Butler, Missouri. He purchased a 
feed yard at Butler, which he later traded for a farm he formerly 
owned, the place south of Pleasanton, Kansas. He was residing on 
the farm two years, when he repurchased the Peoples Feed Yard, the 
yard he had previously owned and which he still owns and manages. 
Mr. Priestly handles coal, feed, wood, and grain and in connection 
operates a feed stable. 

November 27, 1889, Frank Priestly and Minnie M. Cottrell were 
united in marriage at the Cottrell homestead in Valley township, Linn 
county, Kansas. Mrs. Priestly is a daughter of Moses L. and Ruth A. 
(Whitaker) Cottrell, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Cottrell 
was born in Darke county, Ohio in 1827 and Mrs. Cottrell was born 
in Indiana in 1839. To Moses L. and Ruth A. Cottrell were born the 
following children: John H., of Colorado; Mrs. Rosa J. Black, Green- 
wood county, Kansas; Mrs. Josie (Cottrell) Nuckols, deceased; and 



592 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTV 

Mrs. Frank Priestly, the wife of the subject of this review. The father 
died in 1883 in Linn county, Kansas and he was joined in death by 
the mother on June 21, 1892. Both parents were laid to rest in East 
Mount Zion cemetery in Lincoln township. Mr. and Mrs. Priestly are 
the parents of three children: Winnie, who is teaching her fourth term 
of school in the Taggart district in Bates county; Ray, who is on the 
home farm at Pleasanton, Kansas ; and Marion, at home with his par- 
ents. Mr. and Mrs. Priestly have in addition reared and educated a 
nephew, George Nuckols, son of Mrs. Josie (Cottrell) Nuckols, a sister 
of Mrs. Priestly. The Priestly home is in Butler at 204 West Dakota 
street. 

As a citizen, Frank Priestly stands high above reproach, being 
noted for his honesty and honorable dealings and from the beginning 
of his career to the present time he has commanded the unqualified 
respect and esteem of his many friends and neighbors and business 
associates. 

E. A. Bennett, one of the organizers of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercan- 
tile Company of Butler, a skilled mechanic, a successful business man of 
Bates county, was born May 14, 1849 at Springfield, Ohio. Mr. Bennett 
is a son of B. G. and Anna (White) Bennett, the former, a native of 
Chester, Pennsylvania and the latter, of Hagerstow^n, Maryland. B. G. 
Bennett was born in 1818. He came to Missouri in 1872 and settled in 
Holt county, where he resided until his death. Mr. Bennett died at 
Oregon, Missouri, about 1897. He was an expert mechanic and a citizen 
universally respected and esteemed. Mrs. Bennett died in 1911 while 
visiting her son in Oklahoma. Both father and mother were interred in 
the cemetery at Oregon, Missouri. 

In the public schools of Clark county, Ohio, E. A. Bennett received 
an excellent common school education. When the Civil War broke out 
in 1861, E. A. Bennett was but a child twelve years of age. Nevertheless 
he felt the call of his country much more keenly than many of his elders 
and from 1862 until 1865 served in the Clark county, Ohio militia. He 
was then a growing boy, from thirteen to sixteen years of age. Mr. 
Bennett came to Missouri in 1869 and located in Holt county. His first 
mercantile experience was at Whig Valley in that county, in a crossroad 
store near the site of Mariland, where he was employed until 1878 when 
he accepted a position as traveling salesman for the Deere-Mansur & 
Company of Kansas City, Missouri, later the John Deere Plow Company. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



59: 



Mr. Bennett was on the road for this company for five years, when, in 
1882, he came to Butler. 

Mr. Bennett mastered the mechanic's trade when he was a youth. 
He was for many years with John A. Pitts, of Dayton, whose father 
invented the Pitts separator. B. G. Bennett was foreman of the wood- 
working department of the factory owned by John A. Pitts and there 
E. A. Bennett learned to make every piece of a threshing machine except 
the iron parts. His part of the work was to assemble the different por- 
tions of the machines. Mr. Bennett also learned thoroughly the car- 
penter's trade, which knowledge later proved to be of inestimable benefit 
in the implement business that he followed in after years. He was one 
of the three organizers of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of 
Butler in 1890, from which organization he resigned probably in 1900. 
Since that time, Mr. Bennett has been engaged in the loan business at 
Butler, with the exception of six years spent in Colorado. 

In 1878, E. A. Bennett and Hannah J. Roberts, of Holt county, were 
united in marriage. To this union were born four children: Mrs. Doctor 
Zey, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Charles McFarland, Butler, Missouri ; Charles 
R., who is employed as civil engineer, by the United States Government, 
in the city of Manila, Philippine Islands; and Gordon, a successful farmer 
and stockman, Holt county, Missouri. In November, 1910. E. A. Bennett 
and Minnie Chandler were united in marriage. Hannah J. (Roberts) Ben- 
nett had died in May, 1909. 

The Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler, of which O. A. 
Heinlein is now manager, was organized in 1890 by E. A. Bennett, C. S. 
Wheeler, and J. B. Armstrong with a capital stock of thirty-five thousand 
dollars. This firm succeeded Bennett-Wheeler & Company, organized 
in 1882 with a capital stock of five thousand dollars, successors of B. 
G. Wheeler, who occupied a small frame building, 25 x 50 feet in 
dimensions, located on the present site of the Missouri State Bank build- 
ing. There B. G. Wheeler had started in business in partnership with 
Mr. Harwi, under the firm name of WHieeler & Harwi. The latter 
retired from the firm later and went to Atchison, Kansas, where he 
established a wholesale and retail hardware and implement business 
and became wealthy. Mr. Harwi died about 1912. B. G. W^heeler left 
Butler after selling his interest in the store in 1882 and went to Boston. 
Massachusetts and in that city he died, probably in 1908. C. S. Wheeler 

(38) 



594 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

was engaged in the real estate business at Westplains, Missouri at the 
time his death occurred. He died at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri 
in 1909. J. B. Armstrong is still with the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile 
Company. Mr. Bennett retired from the company after eighteen years 
service, 

E. A. Bennett was one of the original stockholders of the Farmers 
Bank and for many years was a member of the directorate. He later 
became vice-president of this bank and also served as president of the 
Farmers Bank until January 1, 1911. He has been a member of the 
city council two terms, during which time the city ownership of the 
waterworks was being agitated. Honored and respected by all who 
know him, there is no man in Butler or Bates county, who occupies a 
more enviable position in commercial and financial circles than does 
Mr. Bennett, not alone on account of the marked success he has achieved, 
but also because of the honest, straightforward policy he has ever 
pursued. 

J. F. Kern, the well-known promoter of Drainage District Number 
1 in Bates county, Missouri, is one of the most progressive and ener- 
getic citizens of Bates county. Mr. Kern is a native of Indiana. He 
was born in 1859 in Boone county, Indiana, a son of William Perry and 
Caroline (Potts) Kern, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Mr. 
and Mrs. Kern were the parents of four children, who are now living: 
•Charles P., San Francisco, California; Mrs. Josie K. Pease, St. Louis, 
Missouri; Mrs. Emma Hutchison, Boise City, Idaho; and J. F., the sub- 
ject of this review. The father died many years ago in Indiana. Mrs. 
Kern was making her home with her daughter at Kansas City, Missouri, 
when she died. Both parents were interred in the cemetery near the 
Kern homestead in Boone county, Indiana. 

In the public schools of Indiana, J. F. Kern obtained a good com- 
mon school education. His boyhood days and early manhood were 
spent in that state. He came to Missouri in 1898 and located at Kansas 
City. Four years later, in 1902, Mr. Kern settled at Butler. Prior 
to his coming, he had purchased six hundred fifty-eight acres of land 
now included in Drainage District, Number 1 and since he has added 
to his holdings twelve hundred acres. Mr. Kern is the present owner 
of eighteen hundred fifty-eight acres of land in the above named district, 
some of the very best farm land in Bates county, on which vast tract he 
has five sets of improvements. Eight hundred acres of his farm are, at 
the time of this writing in 1918, under a high state of cultivation. Mr. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 595 

Kern is constructing a large levy along the ditch which passes through 
his land as an additional protection. 

In 1895, J. F. Kern and Fannie Beatty, daughter of Joseph and 
Ruth Beatty, of West Virginia, were united in marriage. Mrs. Kern's 
parents are both now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Kern have been born 
two children : Ruth, who is a student in the Butler High School ; and 
Frances, who is in the grade school. Although the Kerns are com- 
paratively newcomers in Bates county, they have made countless friends 
in the county and in Butler, where they are numbered among the best 
families. 

As has been above mentioned, J. F. Kern was the chief promoter 
of Drainage District, Number 1 in this county. The preliminary work 
on the ditch, twenty-three and a half miles in length, was begun in 1906. 
The labor of digging was begun in the autumn of 1907. This ditch drains 
forty-one thousand three hundred acres of land. There are eleven miles 
of lateral ditches cut and the entire work, as originally planned, was com- 
pleted in 1909. The assessment on the land was ten dollars and ninety- 
three cents an acre for the original labor, but in 1911 it was decided 
to cut the ditch ten feet deeper and an additional assessment of four 
dollars and ninety-eight cents was made. The statutes of Missouri 
provided for the organization of drainage districts where a majority 
of the acreage in the district petitioned the court for such organiza- 
tion. The statutes also provided for bonding the assessments. Drain- 
age District, Number 1 issued bonds at six per cent, for twenty years, 
which bonds were sold for a premium of fifteen thousand dollars. Mr. 
Kern states that the crops grown in this particular valley, where none 
ever grew before the ditch was dug, last year, of 1917, would pay the 
indebtedness created at the last assessment, namely one hundred sev- 
enty-one thousand dollars. The land is being gradually put under the 
plow and ultimately all will be under cultivation, one of the richest 
agricultural sections in Missouri. Naturally, at the beginning of the 
stupendous undertaking, as does every man who introduces an inno- 
vation, J. F. Kern met with much opposition but time and experience 
have proven conclusively the wisdom of the splendid improvement. Mr. 
Kern is a clear, logical thinker and the type of man who does big things. 
He plans and then studies practical means of carrying out his plans, 
keeping persistently at one attempt until he has accomplished his pur- 
pose and success comes. At the present time, Mr. Kern is "boosting" 
the Torrens system of land transfer. He was instrumental in getting 



596 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

a bill introduced at the last session of the Missouri State Legislature 
for the adoption of the system in Missouri. The bill passed the House 
but failed in the Senate. Mr. Kern has not given up the fight and some 
day the bill will undoubtedly become a law of the state, for it has much 
to recommend its adoption. The Torrens system of land transfer is 
practical and would save thousands of dollars to land owners of Missouri. 

Interested in everything that tends to benefit the public J. F. Kern 
is no idle spectator of current local events, but in a large degree he has 
directed and controlled them. Firm in his individuality, Mr. Kern never 
lacks the courage of his convictions. He is a gentleman of lively sym- 
pathy, abiding charity, and sterling integrity, one of the strong, note- 
worthy citizens of Bates county, and in the years to come he is destined 
to be an important factor in the history of public affairs in this section 
of Missouri. 

John Lawson, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Summit town- 
ship, is one of the favorably known citizens of Bates county. Mr. 
Lawson is a native of Sweden. He returned to his native land in 1903 
to visit his brother and four sisters still residents of that country and 
to again see the old home at Orklejunga, near Helsinborg, which is 
located on The Sound between Denmark and Sweden in the southern 
part of Sweden near the Cattegat in Malmohus Ian or province. 
There he was reared and, in the schools of Sweden, educated. After 
coming to America, Mr. Lawson mastered the English language, learn- 
ing to both sp'eak and read it. He was born in Sweden in 1846 and 
emigrated from his home land in 1869. 

On coming to the United States, Mr. Lawson located at Kansas 
City, Missouri, where he was employed in bridge work, laboring on the 
first bridge that ever spanned the Missouri river. Later, he worked 
on the first street railway line in Kansas City, Missouri, and he recalls 
that when the old depot was built, there were but three or four houses 
in the bottoms. He left Kansas City to accept a position on the St. 
Louis & St. Joe railroad, after which he was employed on a farm in 
Clinton county, Missouri, for three years, on a farm in Nebraska for 
eight years, and again on a farm in Clinton county for four years. 
Thirty-two years ago, Mr. Lawson came to Bates county, Missouri. 
He purchased his present country place in 1890 from Mr. Davis, of Indi- 
ana, and since he acquired the ownership of the farm he has improved 
it, -^dding all the well-constructed buildings, putting up all the fencing, 
and planting all the trees and shrubbery. The residence is a pleasant, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 597 

comfortable house of seven rooms and there are two large barns on the 
farm for the use of stock and hay. The Lawson place is one of the 
excellent stock farms of Summit township, conveniently located and six 
and a half miles east of Butler. When Mr. Lawson was in Nebraska 
eight years, having gone there in 1874, a plague of grasshoppers 
descended upon them like hail stones and for three years their crops 
were entirely destroyed by the pestiferous pests, but — in spite of the 
ravages of the insects — he proved his claim and sold the farm one year 
after leaving the state. The last year in Nebraska, 1882, eight feet 
of snow embanked the house and Mr. Lawson knows that he scooped 
more snow that winter than all the people in Bates county combined 
ever saw. Two of the children were born in a "dug-out" on their claim 
in Nebraska. 

The marriage of John Lawson and Sarah Miller was solemnized 
in 1892. Sarah (Miller) Lawson was born in 1850, in Clinton county, 
Missouri, a daughter of William and Margaret Miller, honored pio- 
neers of Clinton county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Miller entered land in 
Clinton county for twelve and a half cents an acre. Both parents are 
now deceased. To John and Sarah Lawson have been born five children: 
George, Adrian, Missouri; Vina, the wife of Charlie Williams, of Kiowa, 
Oklahoma; Myrtle, who resides in Nevada; Oliver, who resides in 
Montana; and John, Jr., who is engaged in the real estate business at 
Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson are justly proud of their 
only grandson, John David, the son of John, Jr., of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri. 

John Lawson is a striking example of what an immigrant, beginning 
life in America with no capital and no knowledge of the spoken tongue, 
can by constant industry, pluck, and perseverance accomplish. Begin- 
ning at the very bottom round of the ladder, without one dollar, he 
has steadily ascended until he has gained the top. directed and con- 
trolled throughout his career by honorable and upright principles. Mr. 
Lawson long ago won the respect and confidence of all with whom he 
came in contact and his life, measured by the usual standards of success, 
presents much that is worthy of emulation. 

H. G. Cook, the widely and favorably known manager of the Ameri- 
can Clothing House, is a native of Iowa. Mr. Cook is a son of Capt. 
N. W. and Mary E. (Green) Cook, the former, a native of New York 
and the latter, of Indiana. Capt. N. W. Cook was engaged in the mer- 
cantile business practically all his life. He served in the Union armv dur- 



598 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ing the rebellion as captain of Company D, Third Iowa Volunteer 
Cavalry and came to Missouri in 1882 and was in the real estate busi- 
ness at Rich Hill for several years. N. W. and Mary E. Cook were 
the parents of nine children, who are now living: William H., Los 
Angeles, California; E. G., Tacoma, Washington; N. G., Springfield, 
South Dakota; G. B. M., Chicago, Illinois; H. L., Ottumwa, Iowa; Mrs. 
J. D. Wiseman, Centerville, Iowa; Mrs. W. R. Heylmun, lola, Kansas; 
Mrs. C. C. Cain, Tacoma, Washington; and H. G., the subject of this 
review. The father died in 1889 at Rich Hill, Missouri and the mother 
joined him in death in 1907. Mrs. Cook died at Centerville, Iowa. 

H. G. Cook attended the public schools of Red Oak, low^a, and in 
that state was reared to manhood. He came to Bates county, Mis- 
souri in 1883. The American Clothing House was incorporated by Mr. 
Cook and others in 1901. Since locating at Butler, H. G. Cook has 
been a member of the city council four years and mayor of Butler two 
years. During his administration as mayor, the water works system 
was purchased by the city, a seventy-five-thousand-dollar bond issue 
voted, the old water works system taken over for thirty-two thousand 
five hundred dollars, a pumping station built on the railroad and a 
transmission line to the old plant at the river installed which station 
pumps water by electrical power for city purposes. By this means the 
water and light plants were consolidated at a great saving of labor 
and expense. The opposition, naturally, was exceedingly strong at the 
beginning of the undertaking as there always is at the proposal of any 
improvement, but Mr. Cook, with a progressive council backing him, 
pushed through these innovations to a successful termination and the 
experience of the years which have followed have proven their wisdom 
and excellence. He was one of the organizers of the Butler Commercial 
Club and served as its first president two years. During his adminis- 
tration the bond issue for the new high school was carried, the Com- 
mercial Club having charge of the campaign. 

In 1891, H. G. Cook and Sallie Easley, of Rich Hill, Missouri, were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Cook is a native of Pleasant Hill, Cass county, 
Missouri. Her father was a prominent merchant in the pioneer days. To 
H. G. and Sallie Cook have been born three children : Pauline, St. Louis, 
Missouri; Helen, who is a student at the Missouri State L^niversity, 
Columbia, Missouri; and Josephine, wdio is attending St. Terresa Acad- 
emy, Kansas City, Missouri. 

The American Clothing House was established by Coy Carrithers 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 599 

& Company in 1885 and was incorporated by H. G. Cook and others 
in 1901. The store was originally located in the middle of the north 
block and the stock of merchandise was moved to the present store 
building in 1892. The establishment has fifty feet frontage and occu- 
pies two floors of the building. Originally the stock of goods consisted 
of clothing and men's shoes exclusively. In 1912, ladies' shoes, dry 
goods, and ready-to-wear garments were added. The American Cloth- 
ing House now carries a mammoth stock of merchandise and enjoys 
a liberal patronage in Butler and Bates county. Much of the company's 
marked success has undoubtedly been due to the efficient management 
of the store. 

Mr. Cook is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, 
the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks. Mr. Cook is essentially a business man, a firm believer 
in the efficacy of honest and honorable labor. He possesses excellent 
judgment and taste and is seldom mistaken in his judgment of men 
and affairs. He conducts all business operations fairly and justly and 
has financially met with success commensurate with the ability and 
energy displayed. 

Charles L. Fisk, the head of the amusement business in Butler, 
owner and manager of the Butler Opera House, an active member of 
the Butler Commercial Club, is one of Bates county's most progressive 
citizens, one who is known far bjeyond the confines of this part of the 
state. Mr. Fisk was born in Carrollton, Missouri in 1875, a son of 
Tilford Lewis and Caroline (Albert) Fisk, natives of Kentucky. His 
mother died when he was a babe three weeks of age and the boy was 
chiefly reared by his grandmother, Mrs. Martha (Medcalf) Fisk. At 
the age of fourteen years, Charles L. Fisk came to Bates county to 
make his home with his father, who resided on a farm four miles east 
of Butler and with whom he remained two years. The young man 
was then apprenticed to a merchant at Carrollton and later was 
employed on the section of the Santa Fe railway. Afterward, Mr. 
Fisk had the opportunity he had always longed for to acquire a knowl- 
edge of music and started on a career which has taken him to every 
capital and leading city in the United States. 

For two and a half years, Charles L. Fisk was in the emplov of 
the Dain Mower Manufacturing Company at Ottumwa, Iowa. With 
this company, he received his start in music, with the Dain Mower 
Manufacturing Company's band, and Mr. Fisk has kept up his work 



600 HISTORY OF BATES • CCUNTV 

in music for the past fifteen years. He is the present capable leader 
of the Butler band, one of the best in Missouri, a band that has never 
missed a contest, the winner of six first prizes in competition with 
such bands as the Colorado Midland, the Marshall, the Topeka, Kan- 
sas, and the Gownley's bands, the last named of Ottawa, Kansas. 

In 1890, Mr. Fisk located at Butler. For the past five years, he 
has had charge of the Butler Opera House and for the last twelve 
months has been the owner and manager. He has followed the amuscr 
ment and music business practically all his life and has been in all the 
capital cities and principal business centers of the country in pursuit 
of his vocation. Mr. Fisk is at the head of the Lyceum Course of 
Butler, which puts on an eleven-hundred-and-twenty-five-dollar course 
of entertainments annually, bringing to the city the best talent to be 
found in the United States. On November 5, 1917, Mr. Fisk gave a 
band contest, in which all the bands, except the Butler band, of Bates 
county were eligible to compete and had as guest at the Opera House 
that night Ex-President William H. Taft. 

In the Spanish American War, Charles L. Fisk was in charge of 
the Sixth Infantry band of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's command. Mr. Fisk 
was commissioned by Gov. Lon V. Stevens as captain and aid-de-camp 
to serve on the staff of Brigadier-General H. C. Clark and he holds an 
honorable discharge from the United States Government. 

November 17, 1896, Charles L. Fisk and Mabel Jenkins, a daugh- 
ter of J. R. Jenkins, president of the Peoples Bank of Butler, w^ere 
united in marriage. Mrs. Fisk died November 26, 1899. Mr. Fisk 
was united in marriage with Leta Van Doren, of Pontiac, Illinois, on 
December 6, 1906 and they reside in Butler at the Opera House block. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fisk are widely known and universally respected. 

Walter Henry, the pioneer garage man of Butler, Missouri, the 
well-known agent for the Dodge Brothers' automobiles, is a member 
of a highly respected and prominent pioneer family of Butler. Mr. 
Henry is a native of Bates county. He was born in 1880 on his father's 
farm which is located due east of the townsite of Butler, a son of E. P. 
and Gertrude (Garrison) Henry. E. P. Henry, better known as Captain 
Henry, was a native of Ohio. He was born at Marietta in Washington 
county. He was a veteran of the Civil War, having been in service 
with Company B, Thirty-sixth Ohio .Infantry, commissioned as lieu- 
tenant. Captain Henry came to Bates county, Missouri in 1869, at 
about the same time the Garrisons settled here. He was united in 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 6oi 

marriage with Gertrude Garrison and to them were born the follow- 
ing children: Alice, the wife of Dr. J. T. Hull, Butler, Missouri; Bertha, 
the widow of Judge J. S. Francesco, a late ex-judge of the probate court 
of Butler, Missouri; Charles E., who is engaged in farming on the home 
place northeast of Butler, adjoining the city; Walter, the subject of this 
review; and one child, a daughter, died in infancy. Captain Henry was 
for several years engaged in the real estate business at Butler, Mis- 
souri, associated in partnership with Mr. Hartwell under the firm name 
of Henry & Hartwell. His name has been inseparably connected with 
the early history of the development of Butler. Captain Henry was 
one of the promoters of Butler Academy, one of the organizers of the 
Butler Presbyterian church, and one of the first interested in the old 
Bates County Bank at Butler. He took a keen interest in horticulture 
and an active part in the horticultural society, the members of which 
used to meet at the farms of the members, and he did much to promote 
orchard growing in Bates county. To encourage clover raising. Captain 
Henry purchased a clover huller and hired a man to operate it in order 
that clover growers might without incurring this expense thresh and 
save their seed. Captain Henry was an excellent citizen, public spirited, 
enterprising, and industrious. He did all in his power to help his fellow- 
men and how well he succeeded in his most laudable desire was attested 
by the universal esteem and respect in which he was held by his neigh- 
bors and friends. E. P. Henry died and was taken to his last resting 
place in the cemetery at Butler in 1889. 

Walter Henry attended the public schools of Butler and Butler 
Academy. He resided on the home place with his mother and his brother, 
Charles, until 1907. Mr. Henry is the pioneer garage man of Butler. 
He opened his present place of business on North Main street in Febru- 
ary, 1911 and for the past three years has had the agency for the Dodge 
Brothers' automobiles. Mr. Henry has been very successful as a sales- 
man and is selling cars as fast as he can obtain shipments. In addition 
to holding the agency for the Dodge cars, general repair work of a high 
order is done at the Henry garage. 

In April, 1907, Walter Henry and Hope Stubblefield were united in 
marriage. Mrs. Henry is a native of Bates county, a daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. R. N. Stubblefield, of Butler, Missouri. Mr. Stubblefield is 
a native of Missouri and for many years was actively and successfully 
engaged in farming in this county. To Walter and Hope Henry have 
been born three children: Robert E., Walter F., and an infant son. Mr. 



602 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and Mrs. Henry number their friends in Butler and Bates county by 
the score and they are very popular with the young people of their com- 
munity, moving in the best social circles of the city, 

J. K. Norfleet, a prominent merchant of Butler, Missouri, the senior 
member of the firm, Norfleet & Ream, is one of Bates county's best 
business men. Mr. Norfleet was born in Kentucky in 1846, a son of 
Larkin and Frances (Gann) Norfleet, both of whom were natives of 
Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Norfleet were the parents of ten children: 
Mrs. L. M. Phillips, Higginsville, Missouri; Mrs. J. J. Bell, Little River, 
Texas; Mrs. Rosaline Blevins, who resides in Arkansas; Rev. L. P., 
Sedalia, Missouri; A. L., a prosperous banker of Oklahoma City, Okla- 
homa; J. K., the subject of this review; Mrs. E. E. Wheatley, deceased; 
Mrs. Fannie Dickson, deceased; T. I., deceased; and one child died in 
infancy. The mother died about 1890 and the father followed her in 
death in 1909. Larkin Norfleet died at Mayview in Lafayette county. 
Both parents are buried in Marvin Chapel cemetery in Lafayette county. 

When J. K. Norfleet was a child six years of age, he came to Mis- 
souri with his parents and they located in Miller county. He attended 
school at Knob Noster, Missouri, whenever the opportunity presented 
itself and though Mr. Norfleet is the only member of his father's family 
who was not given many educational advantages, who received but little 
schooling, he is probably as successful as any in the business world. At 
the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Norfleet enlisted with the Confed- 
erates and served four years under General Price in Arkansas, Louisiana, 
and Missouri. Mr. Norfleet was at Baton Rouge, Louisiana when the 
war ended. He returned to Miller county, Missouri, and remained there 
two nights, going thence to Saline county, where he resided for a short 
time. From Saline county, J. K. Norfleet went to Knob Noster, Mis- 
souri, where he made his home with his parents for four years, and then 
with them to Lafayette county near Mayview, where both mother and 
father died. Mr. Norfleet was engaged in the hardware business at Inde- 
pendence, prior to coming to Butler in 1901 and entering his present 
business which he has so admirably organized. 

In 1869 J. K. Norfleet and Laura McClellan, daughter of Doctor 
McClellan, of Versailles, Missouri, were united in marriage and to this 
union have been born nine children, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. 
C. M. Brosins, Kansas City, Missouri; Clyde K., a traveling salesman. 
Independence, Missouri; C. V., Sanford, Florida; J. D., Carl, and Roy, 
who are associated in business with their father in the firm of Norfleet 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 603 

& Ream; and Mrs. Birdie Pauline Ream, Butler, Missouri. Those 
deceased are : Mrs. Leona Monroe and Ella Ruby, who died at the age 
of five years. Mr. and Mrs. Norfleet reside in Butler. 

Norfleet & Ream, dealers in groceries, hardware, automobiles, and 
Case threshing machines, began business in the city of Butler in 1901. 
They first rented a store room, 14 x 60 feet in dimensions, located on 
the west side of the public square and began in the mercantile business 
as a Racket store. At the time of this writing in 1918, the site of the 
establishment is two doors north of the former location, the present build- 
ing having a frontage of fifty-seven feet and a depth of one hundred feet. 
The Norfleet & Ream garage is located on Ohio street, the room being 
50 X 100 feet in dimensions. The north room of the building on the public 
square, a building two stories in height, is used for the offices on the 
second floor and for salesrooms on the first floor. Norfleet & Ream own 
all the buildings in wdiich they transact business. They purchased the 
building on the public square ten years ago and the garage building three 
years ago, dating from 1917. The members of the firm of Norfleet & 
Ream are, as follow: J. K. Norfleet, F. C. Ream, J. D., Carl M., and 
Roy J. Norfleet, sons of J. K. Norfleet. This is the largest business con- 
cern in Butler and the annual budget of business amounts to two hun- 
dred fifty thousand dollars. 

J. K. Norfleet is one of the most enterprising and progressive citi- 
zens of Bates counuty. His soundness of judgment and clearness of fore- 
sight have won for him the highest regard of the leading business inter- 
ests of this part of Missouri. 

Jacob R. Baum, proprietor of "The Baum Stock Farm" in Mount 
Pleasant township, is one of the progressive "hustlers" among the suc- 
cessful agriculturists and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Baum is a 
native of Ross county, Ohio. He was born in 1867 near Chillicothe 
and in Ross county was reared and educated. Practically all his life 
has been spent in agricultural pursuits. 

"The Baum Stock Farm" produces high-grade Percheron horses 
and white-face Hereford cattle, which Mr. Baum began breeding about 
eight years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918. This stock 
farm is located three miles northwest of Butler, in Mount Pleasant town- 
ship, and comprises one hundred sixty acres of valuable farm land. 
originally known as the "McFarland Farm." John Baum, father of 
Jacob R., purchased "The Baum Stock Farm" in 1886, but never came 
to Bates county, and spent all of his life in Ohio, dying in 1898. Jacob 



6C4 HISTORY OF BATl'.S COUNTY 

R. Baum came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1889 and assumed control 
of the stock farm and has been profitably managing it ever since. His 
father would never leave Ohio to come West, and the son states that if 
a man once "drinks from the ]\Iiami river he either never leaves or 
always returns." Mr. Bauiii has at the present time on the farm thir- 
teen head of registered Percherons, the largest herd perhaps in Bates 
countv. eleven head of registered Herefords and good grade cows, and 
ten head of good grade horses. "Jonas," an imported registered stallion 
formerly owned by W. H. Bayliss, of Bluemound, Kansas, heads the 
Percherons and "Subject, the Forty-first," registered steer purchased in 
Iowa and owned by Mr. Baum for eighteen months, heads the Herefords. 
He does not ship his products but finds a ready market at home for all 
he is able to produce. "The Baum Stock Farm" is equipped with a large 
stock barn, 36 x 71 feet in dimensions, having a shed attached for stock, 
hav, and strain, a hav barn, 36 x 48 feet in dimensions, tool shed, corn- 
cribs, hog houses, and all modern facilities for handling stock. Mrs. 
Baum has charge of the poultry industry and is making a name for her- 
self as a successful fancier, raising pure-bred \\'hite Leghorn chickens 
and Toulouse geese. 

Jacob R. Baum was first united in marriage with Maggie Carr, of 
Ross county, Ohio. To Jacob R. and Maggie (Carr) Baum was born 
one child, a daughter, Nettie. Mrs. Baum died in 1905. Mr. Baum 
and May McCann, of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage in 1906 
and Miss Nettie makes her home with them at "The Baum Stock Farm." 

Fraternally, Mr. Baum is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accep- 
ted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern 
Woodmen of America. Mr. Baum is devoting his life to the ancient and 
honorable pursuit of agriculture and the farming and stock interests of 
Bates countv are represented in this volume by no more worthy man. 

Clark Wix, the widely-known justice of the peace of Deepwater 
township, ex-judge of the county court of Bates county, Missouri, 
ex-deputy internal revenue collector of Missouri, and ex-postmaster of 
Butler, Missouri, proprietor of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" in Hudson 
and Deepwater townships, is an honorable representative of one of the 
prominent pioneer families of w^estern Missouri. Mr. Wix was born 
February 5, 1850, on his father's farm in Pleasant Gap township, Bates 
county, Missouri, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix, the former, 
a native of Tennessee and the latter, of Kentucky. Joseph Wix was born 
in Overton county, Tennessee, on June 15, 1820. In 1835. the Wix 




CLARK WIX. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 605 

family left Tennessee and settled on a tract of land in Fulton county, 
Illinois, a farm located near Fulton. One year later, Joseph Wix left 
the homestead in Illinois to try his fortune in the West, as Horace 
Greeley aptly said, "to grow up with the country," and in 1836 came 
to Bates county, Missouri, with a cattleman, who brought stock to 
Polk county in this state, helping him drive the cattle. At Bolivar, 
Missouri, they encountered the surveyors returning from old Papinsville, 
who told Mr. Wix that the country from which they came was as fine 
land as they had ever carried a chain over and for him that was suffi- 
cient recommendation. Joseph Wix parted with his friend, the cattle- 
man from Illinois, and set out for Papinsville. On his arrival in Bates 
county, he found that the Indians of this part of the state were cele- 
brating with a drunken jubilee, and — knowing from experience the sav- 
age characteristics of an intoxicated red man — Mr. Wix became alarmed 
about his own safety and started to go on farther north, when, a few 
miles out from the site of Papinsville and just north of the site of Pleas- 
ant Gap, he saw a horse coming which he recog'nized as belonging to 
an old friend and neighbor, an Illinois man, and he inquired of the boy- 
driver to whom the animal belonged. The lad replied that the horse 
was owned by "Dick" Elliott, a settler from Illinois. Mr. Wix's sur- 
mise was proven correct. Mr. Elliott assisted the newcomer in locating 
and he settled on the farm, where he made his home the remainder of 
his life, in Bates county, on the place now owned by his son, Seth Wix. 
Joseph Wix was one of the first settlers of this county and of the town- 
ship, in which his farm lay, one of the first merchants. There was a 
small store at Pleasant Gap at the time of his settling in Missouri and 
he opened one at his country home and for it hauled his merchandise 
from Boonville, Cooper county, Missouri, employing yokes of oxen, 
traveling by way of Dayton and Boonville. Mr. Wix was one of the 
leading men of affairs in western Missouri, a man of much intelligence 
and skill, an exceptionally capable workman in those days before the 
cry for specialization and in 1841 and 1842 his abilities were recognized 
as far as Fort Scott, Kansas, where he was called to assist in roofing 
the fort. He served his township, Pleasant Gap, for twenty years as 
justice of the peace, he was judge of the Bates county court from 1861 
until 1863 and again from 1866 until 1869, and he was a member of 
the Missouri State Militia in Capt. John B. Newberry's company. For 
three years, during the Civil War, Squire Wix and his family resided 
in Jefferson county, Kansas. They returned to their home in April, 



6o6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

1865, to find all the buildings on the farm had been burned, the fences 
destroyed, and their stock gone. It was not a pleasant scene or a 
happy outlook for the future, but Joseph Wix was a true, brave, 
undaunted pioneer and he nobly set to work to begin life anew. To 
Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix were born the following children: 
Sarah Elizabeth, deceased ; John D., who was accidentally killed while 
serving with the Missouri State Militia during the Civil War ; Perry, 
who died about 1855; Clark, the subject of this review; Thomas H., 
Yates Center, Woodson county, Kansas; A. L., Butler, Missouri; and 
Rev. Lewis L., a well-known minister and successful farmer of Deep- 
water township, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. 
The mother died May 8, 1857, when her youngest born w^as a babe three 
days old. Interment was made in Deweese cemetery in Bates county. 
Sarah (Beatty) Wix was a daughter of Robert Beatty, a native of 
Kentucky, who located in Saline county, Missouri, in the earliest days 
of the history of Missouri and from Saline county came to Bates county. 
Mr. Beatty died in 1853 and his remains were laid to rest in Smith 
cemetery in Bates county. Mrs. Wix was one of the bravest of Bates 
county's pioneer women. Joseph W^ix remarried, his second wife being 
Mrs. Eliza A. Cox, and to this union were born two children: Joseph 
P., who resides on the home place in Pleasant Gap township; and Mrs. 
Fannie A. Pherrington, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. By a third mar- 
riage, Joseph Wix and Rosanna Deweese were the parents of four 
children, who are now living: Benjamin F., who is engaged in the 
teaching profession and at present is employed in teaching the 
Cumpton school; B. M., the merchant and postmaster of Pleasant Gap, 
Missouri; Seth, who is engaged in farming on the home place in Pleas- 
ant Gap township; and Mrs. Minnie Ballweg, of Pleasant Gap township. 
Joseph Wix died February 26, 1895, at the Wix homestead. He was 
seventy-five years of age and, with the exception of three years resi- 
dence in Kansas during the Civil War, the greater part of his life after 
attaining maturity was spent within the geographic limits of Bates county, 
Missouri. His career was a busy and useful one and a striking example 
of honorable dealings, steadfastness of purpose, and invincible courage 
that is well worthy of emulation by the young man oblig-ed to rely upon 
his own resources for a start upon the rugged highway which leads to 
success. Interment was made in Myers cemetery in Hudson township, 
Bates county. 

Clark Wix obtained his elementary education in the "subscription 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 607 

schools" and the pubHc schools of Bates county. When he was twenty- 
one years of age, he began life independently engaged in the pursuits 
of agriculture and stock raising. He farmed on the home place for 
three years and then purchased a part of his present farm in Deep- 
water township. C. E. Sharp entered from the government that part 
of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" upon which the Wix residence is 
located and 240 acres of the farm were entered by B. Reed, a speculator 
from Tuscarawas county, Ohio. Ninety acres were entered by Mr. 
Dinsmore, of Ohio. "Walnut Grove Stock Farm," so-called from the 
grove of walnut trees planted on the place by Mr. Wix, comprises seven 
hundred sixty-five acres of choice land in Deepwater and Hudson town- 
ships. Mr. Wix has himself improved the farm, adding a handsome resi- 
dence, a house of eight rooms, in 1887; a new barn, 60 x 60 feet in 
dimensions, constructed of native timber sawed on the farm, which is 
probably the largest, best-built, most substantial barn in Bates county; 
a second barn, 24 x 30 feet in dimensions, with two twelve-foot sheds 
attached; a stock barn, 24 x 50 feet in dimensions; and numerous other 
farm buildings needed in the efficient handling of large herds of stock. 
There are three different sets of improvements on "Walnut Grove Stock 
Farm." Mr. Wix has on the farm, at the time of this writing in 1918, from 
twenty-five to thirty head of horses and mules, perhaps seventy-five head 
of cattle, and twenty-five head of sheep. He raises only high grade 
Hereford cattle, the head of the herd being registered, and Duroc Jersey 
hogs. He is the owner of a splendid registered jack, also. Three hun- 
dred acres of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" are in bluegrass and pasture 
land. 

The marriage of Clark Wix and Caroline E. Brown was solemnized 
February 26, 1871. Caroline E. (Brown) Wix is a daughter of John W. 
and Elizabeth (White) Brown and a native of Champaign county, Ohio. 
Mrs. Wix's parents came to Missouri in 1866 and settled in Bates county 
on a farm in Hudson township and they are both now deceased. John 
W. Brown was an elder of the Methodist church for forty years and the 
leader of the movement which resulted in the building of Brown's 
Chapel in Hudson township, a church named in honor of the founder. 
He was the father of nine children, two daughters being the sole survivors 
of the entire family, namely: Mrs. Clark Wix, the wife of the subject 
of this review; and Mrs. George W. Pharis, of Hudson township. Mr. 
Browm died in 1900 at the age of eighty-six years. The remains of both 
the mother and father lie interred in Myers cemetery in Bates county. 



6c8 lllSTlM^V or IIATI-o CDl'NTV 

To C'lark ami L'arolinc \-.. {\U-o\\\\) W i\ ha\o boon horn niiio chiKlron: 
Ida May. docoascd ; Nellie V., the wife of Charles lUiij^e. of l-onj;- P.eaeh. 
California; Bessie, ileeeased : Le\ i. deeeased ; Sarah !■!.. the wife of 
Cdiarles R. 1 lollowa}-. a i)rofessor in the Portland hij^h school, Port- 
land. Oregon; .Mrs. Albert (.'ox. l.oni;- I'eaeh. (."alifornia ; lohn \\.. Sail 
Lake City, Utah; Joseph Hilton, recently married and living- on the 
home farm; and one child die^l in infancy. 

1"\m' many years. Clark Wix has been a citizen of distincti\e i)restiL;e 
in [>ates connty. lie has held sexeral clitTerent otVices of pnblic honor 
and trnst and he has inxariably pro\ en himself io be a capable anil trnst- 
northy ofticial. He has tilled the ot'lice oi jnstice of the peace in Deep- 
water township for man\- years, tints following- in the fi>otsteps of his 
honored father, has serxed as jndge of the connty conn from I880 nntil 
188^\ was depnt\- internal re\enne collector oi Missonri for fne vears. 
dnring the adniinistraticMis of McKinley and Roosevelt, and for fonr 
}"ears was the efficient postmaster oi Bntler. Missonri. Mr. \\ ix is 
one of Pates comity's most prominent and intlnential citizens, a man 
of many excellent ipnilities. a citizen of marked abilitx. a wortlu' son 
of c^ne of Missouri's noblest pioneers, jiulge Wix is a stockholder and 
director of the Missonri State I'ank anil the Walton Trust Companx . 

T. C. Pollard, the well-known anil energetic i>\\ ner. manager, and 
"li\e wire ' oi Ihe Pollard Agenc\' oi I'ntler. the largest insurance agencx' 
in southwestern Missouri, is a native of West \'irginia. Mr. Pollard 
was born in 1874 near Powhatan, \\ est \'irginia, a son of Thomas T. 
and Phoebe (Ball) Pollard, who were the parents of the following chil- 
dren; Mrs. Mary llamm. Hopkins, Missouri; Mrs. Ida M. Haird, Pan- 
croft, Iowa; Mrs. Luella M. Baird, Pawpaw. Illinois; Mrs. litiie J. 
Barnes, Hopkins, Missouri; and T. C, the subject of this review. The 
father died about 1874 and in 1880 Mrs. Pollard came to Hopkins. Mis- 
somi with her children and at that place her death occurred in PM4. 

W hen T. C. Pollard was a babe, six months of age, his father died 
and. thus, the boy was early in life placed upon his own resources. 
Since he was a lad. elexen \ears old, ]\lr. Pollard has made his own 
way in the world. Seventeen years ago. he began his insurance work 
w'ith L. C. Gray, the present state agent for the Springtield Fire Insur- 
ance Company of Springfield, Massachusetts for Missouri and Kansas, 
at Kansas City. Missouri. Mr. Pollard has been writing- insurance con- 
stantly since that time. He left Kansas Citv in PHVi and went ti^ 



inSTOKV OK BATES COUNTY C)Or) 

Greeley, Colcjrado, where he (;|)ene(l an ai[^ency, or rather organized an 
insurance company, the ("olony Investment Company, which is still 
doing a thriving business in that state. Seven years later, Mr. Pollard 
left Greeley and went to Rolla, Missouri, where he followed the insur- 
ance business for two years, in charge of the Livingston Clino jjland 
Insurance agency. In June, 1916, he came to lUitler, Missouri, when 
he purchased his present agency. He attends personally to every policy 
written, keeping close account of the policy and date of expiration. Mr. 
Pollard has traveling men looking after new business as well as the ohl, 
when losses occur, he is just as desirous to adjust and pay the insurance 
as to write a new policy. All losses are adjusted at Mr. Pollard's own 
office and his maxim of business is, "Do it now." 

In April, 1900, T. C. Pollard was united in marriage with Nora L. 
Lancaster at Ada, Kansas. Mrs. Pollard is a daughter of John G. and 
Alpha Lancaster, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Lancaster died 
at Boulder, Colorado on October 17, 1912 and five years later, to the 
day, he was joined in death by his wife. Mrs. Lancaster died October 
17, 1917. To T. C. and Nora L. Pollard have been born four chilrlren: 
Charles L., Naomi B., Harold C, and Donald N. Mr. and Mrs. Pollard 
reside in Butler at 112 West Fort Scott street. 

The Pollard Agency was first established by Thomas Evelsizer 
about 1890 anrl was then known as the Continental Insurance Agency. 
Mr. Evelsizer sold the agency after several years. Later it was acquired 
by Ben Canterbury. Mr. Canterbury and Mr. Travis conducted the 
business in partnership for many years under the firm name of Canter- 
bury & Travis. The latter ])artncr sold liis interest back to Mr. Canter- 
bury, from whom T. C. Pollard purchased the agency in June, 
1916. The Pollard Agency has now thirteen companies and is doing 
the largest insurance business in this part of the country, covering the 
counties of P>ates, Cass, St. Clair, and Vernon for two fire insurance 
com])anies, one life insurance compjany, and r)ne casualty insurance 
company. 

Although T. C. Pollard is a very recent addition to the good citi- 
zenship of Butler, he has in the brief period of his residence in this city 
won a conspicuous place in the respect and esteem of the business men 
of Bates county and is now classed with the most valued, substantial, 
and intelligent citizens. 

^ E. D. Wilcox, a successful farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant 

(39) 



6lO HISTORY OF JIATES COUNTY 

township, is one of the excellent citizens of Bates county who are widely 
and favorably known beyond the confines of their immediate community. 
Mr. Wilcox is a native of Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie county, Iowa. 
He was born in 1865, an only surviving child of Milo W. and Mary 
(Weldon) Wilcox. Milo Wilcox was a native of Ohio and Mrs. Wilcox 
was born in Kentucky and in youth came from her native state with her 
parents to Ohio. Milo Wilcox and Mary Weldon were united in marriage 
at Springfield, Illinois, and immediately afterward located in Iowa, where 
their son, E. D., was born. They moved from Iowa to Bates county, 
Missouri, in 1866 and in September of that year settled on a tract of 
land in Mount Pleasant township, the northwest quarter of section 8, for 
which Mr. Wilcox paid five dollars an acre. Mrs. Wilcox did not live 
long to enjoy the new home. Two years after their coming West, in 
1868, she died, leaving her son a babe then but three years of age. In 
1869 Milo Wilcox was united in marriage with Mary Ashley, a native 
of Bates county, and to them were born five children: Mrs. Lillie 
Silvers, Springfield, Missouri ; Roy, Butler, Missouri ; Manning, But- 
ler, Missouri; Newton, Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Nellie Huffmain, 
Springfield, Missouri. Mary (Ashley) AVilcox died in 1895. Mr. 
AVilcox continued to reside on the 'farm, \vhere ilie had settled in 
1866, until his death in 1906. He was highly respected in his township, 
where he was numbered among the leading citizens. Mr. Wilcox was 
public-spirited and enterprising and deeply interested in educational 
work, serving faithfully and well on the district school board for many 
years in his community. He and Isaac Conklin built the school house, 
located near the Wilcox home, which was named in honor of Mr. Wilcox. 
The school was organized about 1866 and there all the Wilcox children 
attended school. In all that constitutes genuine manhood and good 
citizenship, Milo Wilcox occupied a conspicuous place among his fel- 
lowmen. Honest and upright in all his dealings, with integrity unques- 
tioned and a record untinged by the breath of suspicion or calumny, Mr. 
Wilcox fully merited the esteem and confidence in which he was held 
by the people of his township and county. 

The old Butler and West Point trail ran due west of the Wilcox 
homestead, in the early days. The land was practically all open prairie 
when the Wilcox family settled in Bates county and the traces of the 
old trail may still be seen in the pasture at the Wilcox home. Milo 
Wilcox drove a span of mules to Missouri from Iowa and the year fol- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 6l I 

lowing his coming west he disposed of his team for five hundred dollars. 
E. D. Wilcox recalls the many deer he saw in the county in the days of 
his boyhood. He remembers hearing his father relate how he hauled the 
lumber for the two rooms of the Wilcox residence from Pleasant Hill, 
Missouri. In a pioneer home, amid pioneer surroundings. E. D. Wilcox 
was reared to manhood and was educated. He obtained his education 
at the Wilcox school house, attending no other school. 

Milo Wilcox made it a rule that when his sons had attained the age 
of eighteen years they were to begin life for themselves and thus, at 
the age of eighteen years, E. D. Wilcox began to make his own way 
in the world. He rented land and engaged in farming and then after 
several years was enabled to purchase a farm in Sheridan county, Kan- 
sas, to which he moved in 1902. After three years, Mr. Wilcox returned to 
Bates county and purchased one hundred twenty acres of land lying direct- 
ly north of his old home place, forty acres of which he afterward sold. 
He then purchased additional land on the east side of his farm, complet- 
ing an eighty-acre tract, forty acres of which were inherited by Mr. 
Wilcox from his father's estate. Seventy acres of this east eighty-acre 
tract were formerly a part of the home farm. Mr. AVilcox is successfully 
engaged in general farming and stock raising. He keeps on the place 
an excellent grade of Poland China hogs, which have proven in recent 
years to be a profitable investment. 

In 1890, E. D. Wilcox and Mary Walton were united in marriage. 
Mary (Walton) Wilcox is a daughter of T. J. and Allie Walton, of 
Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Walton died in 1894 and Mr. Walton still resides 
at Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox have been born two children : Irene, 
the wife of Carl Thompson, of Passaic, Missouri; and Walton, who 
resides at home with his parents. 

With the energy characteristic of a Wilcox, E. D. Wilcox has 
improved his farm and put the place in splendid condition, constantly 
adding to the beauty and attractiveness of his country home until now 
the Wilcox place is one of the most comfortable, desirable rural resi- 
dences within the boundaries of the township. Mr. Wilcox is a quiet, 
plain man of tlie people, one noted for good sense and broad, intelli- 
gent views of men and affairs. Honorable and upright in all his deal- 
ings, aiming to do right as he sees and understands the right, his life 
has been far above criticism. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox are well-known 
and highly valued by the best families of Bates county. 



6l2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

James H. Rayboum, ex-deputy clerk of Bates county, Missouri, 
ex-assessor of Deepwater township, ex-secretary and a present member 
of the board of directors of the Mutual Fire and Lightning Insurance 
Company of Bates county, is one of the brave clan of noble pioneers 
of this county and a representative of one of the oldest families of 
western Missouri. Mr. Raybourn is a native of Missouri. He was born 
in Henry county on his father's farm near Calhoun in 1843, a son of 
John C. and Sarah P. (Pinkston) Raybourn, natives of Madison county, 
Kentucky. John C. Raybourn came to Missouri among the earliest set- 
tlers and located on a tract of land in Henry county near Calhoun, where 
his son, J. H., the subject of this review, was born. The Raybourns set- 
tled in Missouri about 1840 and Mr. Raybourn lived but a few brief 
years to enjoy the new Western home. He died in Kentucky, while on 
a visit to the old homestead, in 1845 and interment was made in that 
state. John C. Raybourn w^as one of the leading business men of Henry 
county in his day and although he was a resident of the county but 'a 
short time before his death his future career appeared bright and promis- 
ing, when in early, vigorous manhood he w^as cut down by the Grim 
Reaper, leaving a wndow and five little ones, J. H., then a babe two years 
of age, in a strange country and with little financial support. J. C. 
and Sarah Raybourn were the parents of the following children: Mrs. 
Elizabeth M. Myers, Everett, Washington; Elihu G., who died at Apple- 
ton City, Missouri, in 1911, at the age of seventy-four years; W^illiam 
B., who is engaged in farming in Hudson township on land entered 
from the government by their stepfather, John D. Myers; J. H., the sub- 
ject of this review; and George W., of Sedan, Kansas. John C. Ray- 
bourn was a member of the jury in Henry county that sentenced the first 
man to be hanged in that county. The cabin home built by him in the 
early forties on his land two or three miles northeast of Calhoun is still 
standing. There is the birthplace of J. H. Raybourn. Mrs. Sarah P. 
Raybourn remarried, her second husband being John D. Myers. Mr. 
Myers and Mrs. Raybourn were united in marriage in 1847 and to them 
were born four children, all of wdiom are now deceased: Clay F., who 
died at Appleton City in the eighties; Dewitt Clinton, who died about 
1879; Oscar E., deceased; and Sarah, who died in infancy during the Civil 
War and is buried in a cemetery near Dresden, in Pettis county. Mis- 
souri. John D. Myers was a native of Pennsylvania, but he was reared 
to maturity in Virginia. He came to Missouri in the early days and set- 
tled in Bates countv, where he was for years one of the leading citizens 




JAMES H. RAYBOURN AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 613 

and a prominent man of affairs. He served two or more terms as mem- 
ber of the county court and was presiding judge at the time of the out- 
break of the Civil War. In the years immediately following the Civil 
War, Mr. Myers served as county clerk of Bates county. Mrs. Sarah 
P. Raybourn Myers died at Appleton City, Missouri, in July 1890. 

When J. H. Raybourn was a small lad, he recalls being taken on 
horseback with his stepfather, Mr. Myers, to Butler to attend the county 
court in the days before the prairies were taken up by the early settlers 
and that they would not pass a dwelling on the way. Mr. Raybourn 
came to Bates county, Missouri with his mother and stepfather, about 
1847, and they settled on land, section 6, in Hudson township, which 
is now occupied by William B. Raybourn, This land was entered by Mr. 
Myers, who died in the seventies and was buried in High Point ceme- 
tery in Hudson township. J. H. Raybourn obtained his education in 
the "subscription schools" of Bates county, in the "log college" of Hud- 
son township, as he himself states. His stepsister, Catherine Myers, 
was his first instructor. Mr. Raybourn afterward attended school at 
Dresden and Knob Noster. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, 
Mr. Raybourn left Bates county and took up his residence with his uncle 
in Henry county for three months and then joined his parents at Smith- 
ton in Pettis county. They returned to their home in Bates county in 
1862 and in August of the same year Mr. Raybourn returned to this 
county. The First Iowa Cavalry were stationed at Butler and he joined 
the Missouri State Militia, enrolled under Captain Newberry, and served 
with his company until it was disorganized. Mr. Raybourn then joined 
the Fifth Provisional Regiment and, later, the Forty-fifth Missouri In- 
fantry, and with the latter remained until the close of the war in 1865. 
After the war, John D. Myers assumed his official duties as county clerk, 
circuit clerk and ex-ofificio recorder and J. H. Raybourn was appointed 
his deputy. They were in office at the time the Bates County Court 
was held at Pleasant Gap, in 1865, and in the spring of 1866 Mr. Ray- 
bourn hauled the records to Butler and placed them in the temporary 
office of the Bates county clerk, located on the southeast corner of the 
public square. He served faithfully and well for six years in the county 
clerk's office and. after vacating his official position, was employed as 
assistant in mercantile establishment in Butler for many years. Early 
in the seventies, he purchased his present stock farm in Deepwater town- 
ship, a place comprising one hundred fifty acres of land, and moved to 
it and there resided until 1912, when he moved to the country place 



6l4 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

located one mile south, where he has since resided. Mr. Raybourn 
still owns his original holdings, however. 

J. H. Raybourn's first wife was Ada V. Holloway, of Cass county, 
a daughter of Thomas Holloway, an early settler on Tennessee branch, 
which took its name from the fact that Air. Holloway came from Ten- 
nessee. Mr. Holloway planted one of the iirst orchards in Cass county 
of apple trees grown from the seed taken from apples he had brought 
from Tennessee; but no two trees bore fruit alike or like the original 
apples. Ada V. Raybourn was a good, devoted wife. The marriage of 
J. H. Raybourn and Telitha V. Van Hoy was solemnized January 1, 
1879. Mrs. Raybourn was born in 1851 in Henry county, Missouri, a 
daug-hter of Capt. John M. and Mary (Ludwig) Van Hoy, the former, 
a native of North Carolina and the latter, of Pennsylvania, both of whom 
are now deceased. The Van Hoys were honored pioneers of Henry 
county. Capt. John M. Van Hoy was an officer in the Federal army 
in the Civil War and he served as sheriff of Henry county for many 
years prior to the war. He was a prominent and influential politician 
of Henry county. His death occurred in Pettis county and his wife 
died in Bates county. To J. H. and Telitha Raybourn have been born 
the following children: Paul D., who died January 24, 1903 at the age 
of twenty-three years, while a student at Missouri State University, a 
graduate of Appleton City Academy; ■\Iabel. who died in infancy; Stella 
D., the wife of Payton R. Davis, of St. Clair county, Missouri ; Arthur, 
who died in infancy; Mary Alice, the wife of Lon Varus, Appleton City, 
Missouri; J. T., who is engaged in farming on the home place; C. \\, 
a well-known farmer of Deepwater township, and L. T., deceased, who 
were twins. By the former marriage, Mr. Raybourn is the father of three 
children, who are, namely: Mattie P., the wife of Henry Smizer, deceased 
about eight years, her death occurring at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 
Professor C. B., who has been superintendent of the Littleton Public 
Schools, Littleton, Colorado for the past fifteen years, in charge of the 
city and county schools; and D. C, Mountainburg, Arkansas. Mr. and 
Mrs. J. H. Raybourn are worthy and consistent members of the Pres- 
byterian church, and regular attendants of the Pleasant Ridge Presby- 
terian church. 

Mr. Ravbourn has for many years been a prominent citizen of his 
township. He has served the people of Deepwater township as assessor 
and as a member of the township school board. He was formerly sec- 
retary of the Mutual Fire & Lightning Insurance Company of Bates 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 615 

county and for the past eighteen years has been a member of the direc- 
torate of the company. He is numbered among the representative and 
substantial farmers and stockmen of Deepvvater township, in which 
township he owns two hundred twenty acres of valuable land. The hos- 
pitality and geniality of Mr. and Mrs. Raybourn are proverbial and there 
is no more highly respected and esteemed family in Bates county, 
Missouri. In point of years of residence in Bates county (seventy-one 
years) Mr. Raybourn is the oldest pioneer. He has continuously resided 
in this county for seventy-one years. 

James Hardin, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant 
township, is one of the honored and respected pioneers of Bates county. 
Mr. Hardin is a native of Nicholas county, Kentucky. He was born 
October 16, 1845, a son of Wesley Hardin, a native of Virginia. Wesley 
Hardin had, in early manhood, moved with his parents to Kentucky and 
in that state was married. From Kentucky, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley 
Hardin went to Illinois and settled in Menard county in 1854 and 
there reared and educated their son, James, the subject of this review. 

In February, 1865, at Springfield, Illinois, James Hardin enlisted in 
the Civil War and served until the close of the conflict in Company A, 
One Hundred Fifty-second Illinois Regiment of Infantry. Mr. Hardin 
was sent to Tullahoma, Tennessee and from there to Memphis, Ten- 
nessee, where he remained until mustered out at the end of the war. 
He had done guard duty in the war, principally. After the war had 
ended, Mr. Hardin returned to Springfield, Illinois, and from there went 
back home. In 1868, he came to Bates county, Missouri, and purchased 
his present home place in September of that year and in September, 
1870, moved to it. He paid seven and a half dollars an acre for eighty 
acres of land and ten dollars an acre for ten acres of timberland at that 
time. The Hardin place was raw prairie at the time of the purchase. 
Mr. Hardin built a post and rail fence enclosing his land, the rails being 
nailed on the posts with old iron nails. This improvement was made the 
first year of his residence. A house, 14 x 22 feet in dimensions, was 
built of pine timber, the lumber for its construction hauled from La- 
Cygne, Linn county, Kansas. It required two days to make the trip. 
The first year, Mr. Hardin raised -twenty-five bushels of sod corn per 
acre and he has continued to improve his land and bring it up to a high 
state of cultivation through all the succeeding years. In the early days, 
a stage line operated from Butler to LaCygne, Kansas. 

October 17, 1867, James Hardin and Mary A Stone were united in 



6l6 HISTORY OF TJATES COUNTY 

marriage at Lincoln, Illinois. To this union have been born five chil- 
dren: Fred L., at home; Edwin, Butler, Missouri; Katie Frances, at 
home; Frank S., at home; and Hugh, Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hardin celebrated their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary on October 
17, 1917. 

Mr. Hardin rebuilt the residence in 1907 and the Hardin home is 
now a comfortable, convenient house of seven large, well-lighted rooms.. 
A silo was erected in 1917. The farm is w^ell supplied with barns, hav- 
ing a commodious horse barn, cattle barn, and implement and crib barn, 
in addition to numerous sheds to facilitate the handling of stock, Mr. 
Hardin keeps registered Poland China hogs, which stock he has found 
to be the most profitable investment on the place. He milks ten head 
of Red Polled cows and ships the milk to St. Joseph, Missouri. Although 
Mr. Hardin personally oversees the work of the farm, he is not now 
actively engaged in agricultural pursuits but is quietly spending the clos- 
ing years of his life on the home place, leaving the immediate supervision 
of the farm work to his sons, Fred L. and Frank S. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hardin have w^orked hard in the days gone by and no people in Missouri 
more deserving of the comfort and ease with which they are surrounded 
can be found. 

The worthy pioneers of Mount Pleasant township are represented 
by no more enterprising and successful farmer and highly esteemed 
citizen than James Hardin. Belonging to the large and honorable class 
of good yeomen, who by deeds not words have done so much to develop 
the resources of our great commonwealth and advertise its advantages 
to the world, he has long been a forceful factor in Bates county and by 
a life singularly free from fault he has wielded a wholesome influence 
for good upon all with whom he has had business or social relations. 

J. S. Brown, widely-known as the "Watermelon Man," of Butler, 
Missouri, propagator of the "Elsie Lee" watermelon, is the most noted 
plant breeder in this part of Missouri. Mr. Brown was born in Danville, 
Illinois, in 1851, a son of Shelby and Mary Brown, both of whom were 
natives of Tennessee. The Browns came to Missouri in 1869 and settled 
near Appleton City, where Mr. Brown engaged in general farming. To 
Shelby and Mary Brown were born the following children : Jacob, 
deceased; Abraham, a successful farmer of Pleasant Gap township; 
Dallas, whose address is unknown ; William, deceased ; J. S., the sub- 
ject of this review; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Armantha Neal, Montrose, 
Missouri; Ellen, deceased; Almona, deceased. The mother died at the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 617 

age of seventy-eight years at Appleton City, Missouri, on November 9, 
1895. Shelby Brown joined his wife in death in November of the 
ensuing year, 1896. 

In VermiHon county, Illinois, J. S. Brown obtained his education. 
He came West with his parents in 1869 and with them settled in Hud- 
son township at a time when practically all Missouri was an open prairie. 
Shelby Brown purchased a farm comprising one hundred sixty acres 
of land, where the Browns resided until about 1890. The Brown home- 
stead is still in the possession of a Brown, I. M. Brown, who, is, how- 
ever, no relation to the family with whom we are now concerned. 

J. S. Brown came to Butler, Missouri, in 1891, at which time he 
purchased his present country place from J. P. Edwards, a farm compris- 
ing one hundred acres of choice land, at that time but very poorly 
improved. The Brown farm lies two miles south of the Bates county 
court house and is now one of the nicely improved places in Mount 
Pleasant township. For several years, Mr. Brown has been engaged 
in stock raising and feeding, although he has always been interested in 
plant breeding and has raised watermelons in greater and lesser quanti- 
ties since he came to Bates county. About 1905, Mr. Brown began 
privately investigating and experimenting and he has secured a remark- 
able result in crossing watermelon plants in the "Elsie Lee" watermelon, 
a fine, long, dark-green melon having a delicious, juicy, red core, a 
melon now very famous in this vicinity. Mr. Brown began the improve- 
ment of the ''Elsie Lee" nearly eight years ago and he is still at work. 
The melon was named in honor of his only daughter, Elsie Lee. He 
had planted four acres of his farm in melons in 1917 and finds the grow- 
ing of them a very pleasant and profitable business, though involving 
much labor. He states that constant cultivation and care are the princi- 
pal things to observe in melon production. Mr. Brown plants twelve 
feet apart and thins the plants to one in a hill. He thinks the reason 
why so many successful agriculturists fail in producing a paying crop 
of melons is that they neglect the melon plants for a few days when other 
plants need attention and those few hours in a hot. dry summer may 
mean the loss of the entire melon crop. Eive of Mr. Brown's melons 
brought one dollar and twenty-five cents each on the Butler market 
last year, of 1917. 

January 22, 1880, the marriage of J- S. Brown and Annie Nettie 
Merryfield was solemnized at Appleton City, Missouri. Mrs. Brown is 
a daughter of Abraham and Mary J. (Moore) Merryfield. of Utica, New 



6l8 HISTORY or BATES COUNTY 

York. Mr. and Mrs. Merryfield came from New York to Rockford, Illi- 
nois, and to Missouri in 1868 and settled at Appleton City, where both 
later died. To J. S. and Annie Nettie Brown have been born four 
children: Alva O., Spokane, Washington; Elsie Lee, the wife of Thomas 
Stout, a well-to-do merchant of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; Lena, deceased; 
and Omer E., who recently married Marie Council a daughter of H. H. 
Council, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and 
Mrs. Brown reside on rural route 7. 

Actively interested in all that pertains to the public good and ready 
and willing at all times to put forth his best efforts to benefit his fellow- 
man and make the community wiser and better, Mr. Brown is a com- 
mendable example of the "self-made" man. He is the Luther Burbank 
of Bates county. 

Joseph Tipton, a highly respected farmer and stockman of Mount 
Pleasant township, is a member of one of the oldest pioneer families 
of Missouri. Mr. Tipton is a grandson of James Tipton, an honored pio- 
neer of Benton county, Missouri. James Tipton came from Tennessee 
to Missouri in a "prairie schooner," having four fine Kentucky horses 
for motor power. As far back as they are known, the Tiptons have 
been lovers of good horses and these particular ones were draft horses 
of the type used in the forties, strawberry roan in color, with proudly 
arched necks, they created quite an impression upon the early settlers 
of Benton county. Joseph Tipton was born in 1848 in Benton county, 
Missouri, a son of Thomas, Sr., and Nancy E. (Henderson) Tipton, both 
of whom were natives of Tennessee. Thomas Tipton, Sr., came to Mis- 
souri with his father, James Tipton, about 1840. James Tipton died 
many years ago in Hickory county, Missouri. To Thomas, Sr., and 
Nancy E. Tipton were born five children, three of whom are living: 
Thomas, Jr., Benton county, Missouri ; William, who resides at the Tip- 
ton homestead in Benton county, Missouri; and Joseph, the subject of 
this review. The father did not live long amid the pioneer surround- 
ings of their new western home. He died in Benton county. Mrs. Tipton 
remarried, her second husband being W^illiam Wright. To Mr. and Mrs. 
William Wright were born two sons and two daughters : John, who has 
been baggage master at Sedalia, Missouri, for the past twenty-five years; 
George, who is engaged in farming in Hickory county, Missouri ; Martha, 
deceased ; and Lucinda, deceased. Mrs. Nancy E. Tipton Wright departed 
this life in Benton county. 

Prior to the Civil War, there were no public schools in Missouri 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 619 

and Joseph Tipton was educated in the "subscription schools" of the 
early days in Benton county. In his boyhood days, the Indians of the 
vicinity frequently visited the Tipton home and traded their hand-woven 
baskets for articles which they wanted. Mr. Tipton remained at home 
with his parents until he was thirty-two years of age. He left home at 
that time and traveled in the West, staying six months in Oregon and 
two years in California. In the autumn of 1882, he returned to Mis- 
souri and located in Bates county near Appleton City. He rented land 
for a time and then purchased a farm, which he afterward sold and then 
went back to California. On his second coming to Bates county, Mis- 
souri, Mr. Tipton bought a farm located eight miles east of Butler. 
He again disposed of his land and left Missouri for California. In 1905, 
he returned to Bates county for the third time and at this time bought 
his present country home, a farm comprising forty acres located 
two and a half miles south of Butler on the Butler and x\ppleton City 
road. Mr. Tipton has himself improved the place, building and planting. 
He has a pleasant and comfortable residence of eight rooms, a large 
barn, and a smoke-house, now on the farm. 

The marriage of Joseph Tipton and Cynthia J. Taylor was solemnized 
in 1880. Cynthia J. (Taylor) Tipton is a daughter of James Wesley 
and Sarah (Rice) Taylor, of Benton county, Missouri, both of whom 
were natives of Kentucky. James Wesley Taylor was a cousin of Zach- 
ary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States, the soldier- 
statesman, who was born in Virginia in 1784 and died July 9, 1881, and 
he was a veteran of the War of 1812 and of the Civil War. In the War 
of 1812, Mr. Taylor and a comrade were so weak from prolonged march- 
ing that they were left behind by the troops to die. An acorn, which 
they divided, partially restored their strength and wnth a mighty effort 
they managed to regain their company the next day. In the Civil A\'ar, 
Mr. Taylor made up a company of men. Company I, Missouri State Mili- 
tia, and of it was chosen captain. In times of peace, he was engaged in 
the profession of teaching. Mr. Taylor was intensely interested in 
horticulture and planted the first orchard ever planted out south of the 
Osage river at Warsaw. He carried the trees on the back of his horse 
from Jefferson City to his home. Mrs. Tipton still has a variety of rose- 
bushes, which came from the Taylor homestead and were planted by her 
father there. Mrs. Taylor was always proud of the distinction of having 
been present to see the first steamboat sail up the Missouri river to 
Jefferson City, which was in her day as much of an event as the passing 



620 HISTORY OF BaTE.S COaNTY 

of the first aeroplane across our city would be to us. Mr. and Mrs. Tip- 
ton have no children of their own, but they have reared and educated 
as their own two girls : Jessie Miller, a niece of Mrs. Tipton, the wife of 
Fred Nickly, of Butler, Missouri; and Cecil Nickly, the oldest daughter 
of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Nickly, who is employed as teacher in the Apple- 
ton City High School and will graduate from the Warrensburg Normal 
School in the class of 1918. 

Joseph Tipton is a man of strong character, practical mind, and of 
enterprise and thrift. As citizens, both he and Mrs. Tipton are all, and 
more, that any community could desire, lending their support liberally 
and cheerfully to all good enterprises for the social, moral, and intellec- 
tual improvement of the township and county in which they reside. 

Bate Batchelor, a late prominent and influential farmer and stock- 
man of Deepwater township, was one of the substantial and leading citi- 
zens of Bates county. Mr. Batchelor was a native of Kentucky, born 
December 18, 1868, a son of John and Sarah J. (Allen) Batchelor, who 
came to Missouri and settled in Bates county on a farm located near 
Appleton City, when their son. Bate, was a child five years of age. 

Mr. Batchelor, whose name introduces this review, was reared on 
the farm near Appleton City and his youth was spent much as the aver- 
age lad on the farm spends his boyhood days. He assisted his father 
with the work on the home place and attended Oak Grove district school, 
applying himself assiduously to his farm duties and to his studies, grow- 
ing strong and vigorous mentally and physically. Mr. Batchelor was 
always interested in agricultural pursuits and in early manhood began 
farming and stock raising, which he followed the remainder of his life. 
In 1900, he and his wife located on the farm, which is the present home 
of his widow, located four and a half miles south of Spruce in Deep- 
water township and, as the place is well adapted to the production of 
both stock and grain, Mr. Batchelor became very successful in both 
general farming and stock raising. He was very prominently identified 
with the stock interests of Bates county, especially, and his stock farm 
became noted for the high grade Poland China hogs and white face 
cattle bred and raised there on. In matters of business. Bate Batchelor 
was careful and methodical, and all his dealings were marked by dis- 
criminating judgment and a high sense of fairness and honor. 

The marriage of Bate Batchelor and Clara Cumpton was solemnized 
June 1. 1898. Clara (Cumpton) Batchelor is a native of Deepwater 
township, born March 18. 1871. a daughter of W. G. and M. L. Cumpton. 




BATE BATCHELOR AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 62 1 

Mrs. Batchelor's father is a member of an honored pioneer family of 
Johnson county, Missouri, in which county he was born and reared. 
Mr. and Mrs. Cumpton are now living, he at the age of seventy-five and 
his wife is one year his junior. Mrs. Batchelor attended school in Cump- 
ton school district in Deepwater township, Bates county, Missouri. To 
Bate and Clara Batchelor was born one child, a daughter, Nina E., who 
was born May 13, 1900. Mr. Batchelor died December 22, 1910 and 
interment was made in Union cemetery. 

"Fairview Stock Farm" in Deepwater township, now owned by Mrs. 
Clara (Cumpton) Batchelor, widow of Bate Batchelor, is one of the 
pretty, rural homes of Bates county. The place is nicely located and 
well watered and the residence is situated at the highest point of the 
farm, affording a splendid view of the surrounding country, and thus 
the farm came by its name, "Fairview Stock Farm," which is registered. 
Mr. Batchelor purchased the land from Mr. Van Meter, of Butler, Mis- 
souri. The farm embraces two hundred acres of land, twenty acres of 
which are timber land. A barn, 32 x 42 feet in dimensions, having a 
capacity of sixty tons of hay, unbaled, has been added recently to the 
improvements of the place, the frame of which structure is of native 
timber, walnut lumber sawed for this purpose on the farm. All the 
pastures are enclosed with hog-tight fencing of wire. D. M. Cumpton, 
a brother of Mrs. Batchelor, has charge of the farm work. 

The citizen, to a brief review of whose life and achievements the 
reader's attention has been herewith directed, was for many years one 
of the progressive stockmen of Deepwater township, who by his tireless 
endeavors and up-to-date methods contributed in a material w^ay to the 
agricultural advancement of this section of Bates county and in the course 
of an honorable career did as much as any one man to improve the 
grade of livestock in Bates county. Mr. Batchelor was a gentleman of 
wide perspective, of intelligence, of countless praiseworthy qualities. A 
Democrat in his party affiliations and a firm believer in the principles 
he espoused, he was by no means an office-seeker. Mr. Batchelor was 
essentially a stockman and a business man and his life, though in many 
respects uneventful, was fraught with much good to his community 
and Bates county was proud to number him among the successful and 
substantial citizens, grieved to enroll him among those who have gone 
on before. 

Merle Simon, a prosperous, young agriculturist of Mount Pleasant 
township, is one of Bates county's successful citizens, a progressive farmer 



t22 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and stockman, and a comparatively new man in this part of the country. 
Mr. Simon is a native of Iowa. He was born in 1881 at Des Moines, 
a son of Martin and Margaret (Brown) Simon, both of whom were 
natives of Ohio. The mother died about 1890 and Mr. Simon resides 
in Oklahoma. 

When Merle Simon was a small child, his parents moved from Iowa 
to Kansas and in that state in the schools of Fort Scott, Bourbon county, 
and of Wichita, Sedgwick county, he received his education. Mr. 
Simon has followed stock raising for tw^enty years in the states of 
Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, and New Mexico. He 
slept for twelve years out in the open, while a "cowboy" on the plains. 
He came to Bates county, Missouri, on December 5, 1915, after pur- 
chasing his present country home in Mount Pleasant township in August 
of the previous year, a place formerly known as the Carpenter & Shafer 
farm, a dairy farm. This place is well supplied with water from a well, 
thirty-six feet in depth and eight feet in width, in which the water always 
stands within a few feet of the top, thus affording a bountiful supply 
in every pasture. Mr. Simon has placed a concrete cover on the well, 
the cover having an opening in which to insert the hose when filling, 
and this with an iron pump facilitates the handling of the tank prob- 
lem. Since coming to Bates county, Mr. Simon has given much atten- 
tion to sheep raising. He is a lover of fine horses and has on the farm 
an imported Percheron horse, weight two thousand pounds, a good 
grade Percheron, and a registered jack in addition to a herd of twenty- 
five good grade cattle. The stock barn is 50 x 64 feet in dimensions and 
has a concrete floor in the feeding stall. 

The marriage of Merle Simon and Addie Hawkins was solemnized 
March 14, 1906. Addie (Hawkins) Simon is a daughter of G. A. and 
Sarah Hawkins, both of whom were born in Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hawkins were formerly residents of Texas county, Oklahoma, and they 
are now residing at Tyrone, Oklahoma. Mrs. Simon was educated in 
private schools in Pendleton county, Kentucky, and in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
She was reared in Kentucky and she and Mr. Simon were married in 
Stephens county, Oklahoma. To Merle and Addie Simon have been 
born two children: Luther and Benjamin. Mrs. Simon is doing all in 
her power to make the farm pay, in addition to making the home attrac- 
tive, and she is capably managing the poultry industry, raising fine, large 
flocks of Buff Orpington chickens. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 623 

Bates county, Missouri, is noted for the many excellent stock and 
dairy farms within its boundaries and for the enterprise and progressive- 
ness of the county's husbandmen. Merle Simon is "doing his bit" to 
sustain this reputation. He is the owner of one of the prettiest country 
places in Mount Pleasant township and he will find that in the years to 
come his well-directed efforts have not been in vain but were amply repaid 
in the increased value of his property and in the respect and esteem in 
which he is held. Mr. and Mrs. Simon have made many friends in Bates 
county since taking up their residence among us and Mr. Simon is even 
now rated as a broad-minded, industrious, and honorable gentleman and 
he has won the confidence and good will of all who know him. 

Robert Sturgeon, a highly respected farmer and stockman of Sum- 
mit township, is a member of one of the prominent pioneer families of 
Carroll county, Missouri. Mr. Sturgeon is a native of Henry county, 
Ohio, a son of Rowland and Elizabeth (Barton) Sturgeon, natives of 
Starke county, Ohio. The Sturgeons came to Missouri in 1869 in an 
emigrant wagon and settled on the farm afterward known as the Sturgeon 
place in Carroll county. Rowland Sturgeon died at the Sturgeon home- 
stead in 1901. Mrs. Sturgeon makes her home at Hale, Missouri, and 
she is now eighty-four years of age, one of the most valued of the brave 
pioneer women of Carroll county. Mr. Sturgeon was a Union veteran 
of the Civil War. He enlisted in Henry county, Ohio, and served with 
Company D, One Hundred Eleventh Infantry. His son, Robert, was 
born April 1, 1853. 

Robert Sturgeon is the only son and oldest living child now of the 
five children born to his parents, Rowland and Elizabeth Sturgeon, the 
children being, as follow: John, deceased; Robert, the subject of this 
review; Mrs. Lillian Dailey, Hale, Missouri; Alice, who died at the age 
of sixteen years ; and Maggie, who died at the age of five years. Mr. 
Sturgeon attended the public schools of Ohio. He remained at home 
with his parents until he was twenty-two years of age and then he traveled 
in the West, spending two years in Colorado, 1878 and 1879. He 
returned to Carroll county from Colorado in 1880 and engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits there until 1909, when he came to Bates county. While 
a resident of the former county, Mr. Sturgeon filled the position of 
township collector for two terms in 1883 and 1884. Mr. Sturgeon 
purchased the R. J. Thomas farm, comprising two hundred acres origi- 
nally, which is located about two and a half miles east of Butler on 



624 HISTORY OF BATES COirNTV 

the Butler and Summit road. Mr. Sturgeon has since disposed of eighty 
acres of his farm and has now a tract of one hundred twenty acres, 
which he has improved. He has built a handsome residence, a structure 
of eight rooms, since he acquired the ownership of the farm. He is 
engaged in general farming and stock raising. 

Robert Sturgeon and Melcena Elledge, of Carroll county, Missouri, 
were united in marriage in 1883. Melcena (Elledge) Sturgeon is a 
daughter of G. M. and Mary J. (Parish) Elledge, natives of Illinois. 
Mary J. (Parish) Elledge was a daughter of Abednego Parish, a promi- 
nent citizen of Illinois. James Simms, a great-grandfather of Mrs. 
Sturgeon, was an emigrant from Scotland and he settled in Illinois in 
the earliest pioneer days of that state. Mrs. Elledge died in January, 
1900, and interment was made in the cemetery at Tina, Carroll county, 
Missouri. Mr. Elledge now resides at Halfway, Baker county, Oregon. 
Two brothers of Mrs. Sturgeon are still living: D. M., Bird City, Kansas; 
and Wesley, Powell, Wyoming. To Robert and Melcena (Elledge) 
Sturgeon have been born five children: Nellie, the wife of Fred Jeffries, 
Havelock, Nebraska; Elmer, Sterling, Colorado; Ray, Butler, Missouri; 
Jessie, the wife of G. G. Wirt, Harrisonville, Missouri; and Eulalie, 
who is a sophomore student in the Butler High School. 

Although Mr. Sturgeon keeps himself well-informed upon the 
important issues of the day and upon current events in general, his 
quiet, unobtrusive, domestic tastes have kept him from entering the 
arena of public affairs in Bates county. He defends his opinions intelli- 
gently, votes his sentiments fearlessly, and leaves public distinction and 
the emoluments of ofifice to others. The Sturgeons are numbered among 
the best families of Summit township. Robert Sturgeon is an excel- 
lent neighbor and true friend, esteemed by all who know him. In his 
mental and moral makeup are combined the intelligence, industry, sterling 
worth, and courtesy of the pioneer and gentleman. 

W. H. Deweese, a widely and favorably-known farmer and stock- 
man of Summit township, is a member of one of the worthy and pioneer 
families of Bates county. Mr. Deweese is one of the boys of yesterday 
of Bates county, an own product of Summit township. He was born 
March 19, 1859, at the Deweese homestead in Summit township, a son 
of William and Mary (Bruner) Deweese, natives of Kentucky. Mr. 
and Mrs. Deweese came to Missouri in 1856 from Illinois, in which state 
they had first located when they moved from Kentucky, and settled 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 62^ 

on a tract of land, comprising four hundred acres, which Mr. Deweese 
entered from the government. During the Civil War, when Order Num- 
ber 11 was issued, the Deweese family moved to Morgan and Moniteau 
counties, where they remained until the conflict had ended and then 
returned to Bates county to again take up their residence at their home 
place. They found only a portion of the homestead still standing. Mr. 
•Deweese contracted a heavy cold, which developed into pneumonia, 
while moving back home and from this he died in 1866. Interment was 
made in Glass cemetery in Summit township. Mrs. Deweese survived 
her husband until 1906, when she joined him in death. She died at 
the home of her son, W. H., and her remains were laid to rest in Elliott 
cemetery. William and Mary (Bruner) Deweese were the parents of the 
following children: David, of Lawrence county, Kansas; Catherine, the 
wife of James Rogers, Rockyford, Colorado; W. H., the subject of this 
review; Sallie, the wife of John Bristow, Pawnee county, Kansas; Isaac, 
a twin brother of Mrs. John Bristow, of Rockyford, Colorado. An uncle 
of the Deweese children, George W. Swink, donated the land on which 
Rockyford, Colorado is built. 

In the district schools of Summit township, Bates county, Missouri, 
W. H. Deweese obtained a good common-school education. When he 
was seventeen years of age, he assumed charge of the home place, which 
he now owns. The forty acres of land on which the house stood where 
he was born have never been mortgaged. Mr. Deweese now owns two 
hundred acres of land, located on the Butler and Appleton City road, 
five miles from Butler. He has himself improved the place, building 
the residence in 1880 and two good barns. The Deweese stock farm 
is one of the best in Bates county, the land slopes to the south, is well 
watered and supplied with all facilities for handling stock efficiently. Mr. 
Deweese has given special attention to raising registered Shorthorn 
Durham steers, Poland China hogs, mules, and horses and he has on 
the place, at the time of this writing in 1918, thirty head of cattle and 
nearly one hundred head of hogs. 

The marriage of W. H. Deweese and Emma Copeland w^as sol- 
emnized in August, 1880. Emma (Copeland) Deweese is a daughter 
of Davis and Eliza Copeland, formerly residents of Ohio and then of 
Kansas. The Copeland family moved to the northern part of Missouri 
from Ohio and located in Scotland county, where the father died. Mrs. 
Copeland departed this life in Greenwood county, Kansas. To W. H. 

(40) 



626 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and Emma Deweese have been born five children : Glenn, who is engaged 
in farming in Summit township, Butler, Missouri; Florence, the wife of 
Boone Smithson, Lone Oak township; Ada, the wife of Rome Daniels, 
of Hardy, Montana; Everett, now in the National Army service w^ith 
the Medical Reserve Corps of Cornell University from Ithaca, New 
York; and ]\Iarie, a graduate of the Butler High School and a former 
student of the Warrensburg State Normal School, who is at home with 
her parents, now teaching in Bates county. 

Whatever success W. H. Deweese has achieved in life is due almost 
entirely to his industry, energy, and well-directed efforts. In early man- 
hood, he began to make his own way in the w^orld with little aid and a 
limited allowance, and by resolute purpose, indefatigable thrift, and 
sound judgment he has acquired a comfortable competence and has 
worked himself up to a position of afifluence. 

Albert Argenbright, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Summit 
township, is one of the successful citizens of Bates county, a member of 
a sterling pioneer family of this section of Missouri. Mr. Argenbright 
was born in Morgan county, Missouri, in 1861, a son of Preston and 
Rebecca (Harrison) Argenbright, the former, a native of Virginia and the 
latter, of Tennessee. ]\Irs. Argenbright was reared and educated in 
Missouri. Preston Argenbright came with his family to Bates county 
in 1865 and they settled on a farm near Altona in Grand River township, 
twenty miles northeast of Butler. Their trading point was Austin in Cass 
county. Mr. Argenbright purchased a tract of eighty acres of land, 
when he first came, and to this he constantly added until at his death 
in 1904 he was the owner of four hundred acres of valuable farm land 
in Bates county. To Preston and Rebecca (Harrison) Argenbright were 
born eight children: Albert, the subject of this review, who was born 
November 20. 1861; John A., Little Rock, Arkansas; J. E., Adrian, 
Missouri; C. H., Butler, ]\[issouri; Anna Steele, deceased; Lena May, 
the wife of J. E. Hook, Rockville, Missouri; Daisy, the wife of Joe 
Gardner, Little Rock, Arkansas; and Mrs. Bertha Hardin, deceased. 
Mr. and i^Irs. Argenbright moved from the farm to Butler in 1899 and 
in this city Mr. Argenbright died April 19, 1904. Mrs. Argenbright 
did not long survive her husband. She departed this life February 1, 
1908. The father and mother were laid to rest in the cemetery at 
Butler. 

Albert Argenbright received an excellent conlmon-school education 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY (^2^ 

in the public schools of Grand River township, attending at Mingo school 
house. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-five 
years of age and then began farming in Grand River township, where he 
was a resident for eighteen years. Mr. Argenbright purchased and 
improved a ninety-five-acre farm in that township, made it one of the 
best stock farms in the county, and then sold it. He purchased his present 
country home in 1905 and since he acquired the ownership of this place, 
he has been tirelessly at work improving it until he now has one of the 
finest rural homes in this part of the state, the well-planned arrange- 
ment of the buildings, the nicely-kept, high-grade stock, the general neat 
appearance of the surroundings silently bespeaking the industry, thrift, 
and care of the owner. 

February 9, 1885, the marriage of Albert Argenbright and Katie 
Gloyd, daughter of Daniel and Katie Gloyd, of Cass county, was solem- 
nized. Mr. and Mrs. Gloyd entered land from the government in the 
days prior to the Civil War. They are both now deceased and their 
remains are interred in old Dayton cemetery in Cass county. To Albert 
and Katie Argenbright have been born seven children : Cleo, the wife 
of W. A. Eichhorn, of Pilot Grove, Cooper county, Missouri; Grover C, 
who enlisted in the service of the United States in August, 1917, and 
is at present with Company One Hundred Twenty-eight, at Fort 
Sill, Oklahoma; O. R., a successful farmer of Summit township; Lyle, 
Walter, Celeste, and Glenn, all at home with their parents. Mr. and 
Mrs. Argenbright have been married thirty-three years and in that time 
they have changed their place of residence but twice, which is an unusual 
record in this age of restlessness and discontent. 

The Argenbright farm in Summit township embraces two hundred 
acres of land, conveniently located, well watered and drained, and splen- 
didly improved. Mr. Argenbright has himself placed all the buildings 
on the farm, including a beautiful residence, a ten-room structure, modern 
throughout, a barn, 56 x 54 feet in dimensions, used for stock and grain 
and with a silo attached, 16 x 32 feet in dimensions, a barn 38 x 54 feet 
in dimensions, with a silo 14 x 30 feet in dimensions and covered with 
sheet iron, in addition to numerous other buildings needed in the hand- 
ling of stock. The place is well stocked with seventy head of cattle, 
(of which Mr. Argenbright is at present milking six Jersey cows) sixty 



628 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

head of Poland China hogs, eighteen head of high-grade horses, and one- 
hundred turkeys. The Argenbright place is situated on the Summit 
road on the way from Butler to Clinton and was formerly owned by Mr. 
Smith. The highest point on the farm is in the center and there are 
more than four hundred rods of tile used on the place. Mr. Argen- 
bright pumps the water to the stock yards by means of a gasoline engine. 

Albert Argenbright is a gentleman of remarkable industry and 
energy. He has improved and developed considerable land in Bates 
county and incidentally has accumulated a goodly competence. A pro- 
gressive husbandman, an upright, public-spirited citizen, a courteous 
gentleman, Mr. Argenbright has made an enviable reputation in Bates 
county. 

Elder Lewis L. Wix, proprietor of "Lone Elm Farm" in Deepwater 
township, a well-known and highly respected minister of the Church 
of Christ of Bates county, is a member of one of the sterling pioneer 
families of Missouri. Mr. Wix is a native of Bates county. He was 
born May 5, 1857 at the Wix homestead in Pleasant Gap township, the 
youngest son of Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix, a sketch of whom 
appears in connection with the biography of Clark Wix, which will be 
■found elsewhere in this volume. 

When Lewis L. Wix was a babe, three days of age, he was left 
motherless and dependent upon the care of his uncle and aunt, Joseph 
and Fannie Beatty, who reared him to maturity. Joseph Beatty came to 
Bates county in his boyhood days with his father, Robert Beatty, who 
had moved from Kentucky to Saline county, Missouri and thence to 
Bates county in the early thirties. Robert Beatty died in Bates county 
in 1853 and interment was made in Smith cemetery on the Beatty home 
place. Joseph Beatty entered a tract of land in Bates county, a farm 
comprising three hundred twenty acres, of which two hundred forty 
acres now form the country place owned by Rev. Lewis L. Wix. On 
this farm in Deepwater township he was reared, here were spent his 
happy childhood days, this is the only home he has ever known and around 
it are woven myriads of fond recollections. There are four hills on 
"Lone Elm Farm" and Reverend Wix has at different times resided 
on each one of them. Joseph Beatty died December 9, 1876 and inter- 
ment was made in White cemetery in Deepwater township. Fannie 
Beatty was a native of Ohio, a daughter of Joseph and Julietta (Corbin) 
Beaver, and she came to Bates county when she was a girl, nine years 




ELDER LEWIS L. WIX AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 629 

of age. Joseph Beaver was an early-day pioneer preacher of the Chris- 
tian church. He died in Texas in 1875, to which state he had gone 
on missionary work, Mrs. Joseph Beatty died April 4, 1913. She was 
one of the noblest pioneer women, who ever came to this part of 
Missouri. 

Lewis L. Wix attended the country schools of Bates county and, 
by applying himself assiduously to his studies in his youth and by close 
observation, extensive reading, and concentration in his mature years, 
he has acquired a fund of knowledge the average college graduate might 
well strive to attain. The pioneer homes of Missouri were not supplied 
with the multitude of conveniences now found in even the humblest 
rural home in Bates county. Such a thing as electric lights were unheard 
of by the wildest dreamer, lamps had not yet come into use, and few 
homes were supplied with candles, although they were used extensively 
in some parts of the United States. The light from the large, open 
fireplace was usually all the light needed, but when it was necessary 
a sort of lamp was made by saturating a twisted rag in melted lard and 
placing it in a dish. Many and many a night, young Lewis L. Wix 
mastered his lessons for school the next day studying by such a lamp. 
Reverend Wix was ordained a minister of the Church of Christ thirty 
years ago and he has been engaged in ministerial work in this state and 
in Texas ever since. In the early days, he traveled on horseback or 
in a "prairie schooner" on his evangelical tours throughout the country. 
Reverend W^ix has made two trips across the plains. He made the first 
trip on a mule in 1874 and the second at a later date in a "prairie 
schooner." 

The marriage of Elder Lewis L. Wix and Emma Hall was solem- 
nized in August, 1876. Emma (Hall) Wix is a daughter of William and 
Martha Hall, who came to Bates county from Moniteau county in the 
days prior to the Civil W^ar. AA'illiam Hall was a veteran of the Union 
army in the Civil War, having served four years. Both he and Mrs. 
Hall died in Washington county, Arkansas many years ago. To Rev. 
Lewis L. and Emma (Hall) Wix have been born eight children: Lillie, 
the wife of Richard Johnson, of Great Falls, Cascade county, Montana; 
Rosa, the wife of Lewis G. Wix, a well-to-do farmer of Hudson town- 
ship. Bates county; Joseph W., who resides in Montana; Salley E., the 
wife of D. G. Smith, of Lone Oak township. Bates county; Mary V., 
the wife of William F. Graves, and she is now deceased: Maud L., the 



630 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

wife of O. E. Job, of Sisters, Crook county, Oregon; Martha Stella, the 
wife of Howard W. Smith, of Lone Oak township, Bates county; and 
Lewis A., at home with his parents. 

Politically, Reverend Wix is affiliated with the Democratic party. 
He has never aspired to hold political office but has been content to 
confine his energ"ies to the manifold duties of an evangelist and minister 
of the Church of Christ and the only office he has ever held has been an 
office in the church. He is successfully engaged in general farming 
and stock raising at "Lone Elm Farm," a beautiful country place located 
on Deepwater creek nine miles east of Butler, and among the progres- 
sive agriculturalists of the county takes high rank. Reverend Wix is 
a gentleman of exceptional oratorical ability, remarkable memory, and 
countless excellent qualities. As a citizen, he is a man of honor, upright- 
ness, and stern morality, a true leader of men. 

George K. Newlon, one of the most progressive and successful young- 
citizens of Summit township, is a native of Winterset, Iowa. He is a 
son of Samuel J. and Ellen (Seevers) Newlon, the former, a native of 
Ohio and the latter, of Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Newlon were born eight 
children, who are now living: Daniel, Ballard, Missouri; Dr. J. S., a 
prominent physician of Butler, Missouri, a sketch of whom appears else- 
where in this volume; Lorraine, who resides at home with her widowed 
mother; Edith, the wife of H. O. Welton, Butler, Missouri; George K., 
the subject of this review; Thomas D., a salesman for the Motor Machin- 
ists Supply Company, of Kansas City, Missouri; Selina, who is a stu- 
dent at the Warrensburg State Normal School; and Alfred, a motor 
machinist, of Kansas City, Missouri. S. J. Newlon left his native county 
in Ohio, Marion county, in early manhood and went to Madison county, 
Iowa, and from there moved with his family to Nebraska. The New- 
Ions resided in Nebraska but a short time, when they returned to Iowa, 
in which state they made their home until 1902, at which time they 
came to Bates county, Missouri, and the father purchased the farm in 
Summit township, which is now the property of Mrs. S. J. Newlon 
and is known as the "Newlon Brothers' Stock Farm," a place comprising 
two hundred twenty acres of valuable land, lying four and a half miles 
northeast of Butler, formerly the Mitchell farm. S. J. Newlon died at 
his country home in Summit township in 1912 and interment was made 
in Oak Hill cemetery. His widow still resides at the home place with 
her son, George K., and her daughter, Lorraine. Thomas D. Newlon 
was until recently associated with his brother, George K., in farming 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 63 1 

and stock raising, but he retired from the farm and accepted a position 
as salesman in Kansas City, Missouri. 

George K. Newlon attended the city schools of Winterset, Iowa, 
and the Butler High School. Since leaving school, he and his brother 
have been engaged in the stock business at the home place in Summit 
township. This farm is otie of the excellent stock farms of Bates county, 
well equipped with modern facilities for handling stock and abundantly 
watered. Mr. Newlon has high-grade cattle and hogs on the place, at 
the time of this writing in 1918, in addition to twenty head of yearling 
mules. He is giving special time and attention to the last-named stock, 
the product which has made Missouri famous in this country. The 
"Newlon Brothers' Stock Farm" is nicely improved and the neatness 
and well-kept appearance of the general surroundings bespeak the care 
of an expert agriculturist. The residence, a house of ten rooms, was 
new when the Newlons came to the farm and since their coming Mr. 
Newlon has built two stock barns, one 48 x 50 feet in dimensions, the 
other 50 x 60 feet in dimensions. 

Although George K. Newlon is a comparatively newcomer in Bates 
county, few men of twice his age and years of residence in Summit 
township have as excellent standing as has he. His record for fair 
dealings has been far above criticism and in every relation of life his 
upright conduct has commended him to his fellowmen as a young gentle- 
man of intelligence, industry, and irreproachable character. 

T. D. Embree, ex-clerk of the circuit court of Bates county, Mis- 
souri, was born December 27, 1867, in Bates county, a son of M. L. and 
Alice (Hulse) Embree, one of the pioneer families of this part of Mis- 
souri. M. L. Embree was born in 1841 in Pettis county, Missouri, at 
the Embree homestead located twelve miles west of Sedalia, a son of 
Thomas and Elvira (Butler) Embree. Thomas Embree came with his 
family to Pettis county, Missouri, in the early forties and in 1849 they 
settled in Bates county on a tract of land in Spruce township, which 
had been entered from the government by Samuel Pyle, to which was 
added eighty acres of prairie land entered by his wife. Thomas and 
Elvira (Butler) Embree were the parents of the following children: M. 
L., the father of T. D., the subject of this review; M. J., who died in 
Canada in 1903; and Mrs. Lucy A. Alexander, who resides in the state 
ot Washington. 

M. L. Embree was reared amid the stirring scenes of the pioneer 
period in Bates county, experiencing in his youth all the privations and 



632 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

hardships of life in a new country. He walked three miles to attend 
school, which was held in a little log school house, the only one in the 
township. John Reeder, from near Pleasant Gap, was the "master" 
and in the rude cabin M. L. Embree attended one term. There was a 
puncheon floor and puncheon benches and a large open fire-place in the 
room — the sum total of equipment and comforts. Mr. Embree attended 
school a few months during the winter seasons, the remainder of the 
time being devoted to hard labor on his mother's farm. He grew to man- 
hood strong of body and with a clear mind, he proved to be a most 
valuable assistant to his mother on the home place. He recalls the grief 
of the family upon receiving the news that his grandfather, Martillus 
Embree, had died on the way to California in 1850, his death being due 
to cholera. This was the time of the wild rush to the gold fields of that 
state and more than one household was grief-stricken in those days, for 
thousands died on the way there and the bones of human beings, horses, 
and oxen marked the pathway of the goldseekers. His father, Thomas 
Embree, died in 1852. Mrs. Embree survived her husband forty-three 
years, when in 1895 she died in the state of Washington. 

In 1861, M. L. Embree enlisted with the Confederates at Johns- 
town, Missouri, and he served throughout the Civil War in Parsons' 
Brigade, Sixteenth Missouri Infantry, under General Price. Mr. Embree 
took an active and important part in the battle of Carthage on July 5, 
1861, and in the engagements of his company in Missouri, Arkansas, 
and Louisiana. He was in Louisiana when General Lee surrendered in 

1865. When the war had ended, Mr. Embree returned to Bates county, 
Missouri, and again took up his residence at the home place in Spruce 
township, where he resided until 1893, at which time he left Missouri 
to make his future home in Garfield county, Oklahoma, and in that state 
he has ever since resided. 

The marriage of M. L. Embree and Alice Hulse was solemnized in 

1866. Alice (Hulse) Embree is a daughter of Daniel and Catherine 
(Cloud) Hulse, pioneers from Kentucky, who settled in Spruce town- 
ship in the early days. Mr. Hulse was a Confederate veteran of the 
Civil War, having served two years in the Southern army. To M. L. 
and Alice Embree have been born eight children, seven of whom are now 
living: T. D., the subject of this review; R. L., who died in Oklahoma, 
December 31, 1916; Mrs. Lizzie A. Barton, Grapevine, Texas; Mrs. 
Laura B. Cole, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Anna Fleming, Comanche 
county, Oklahoma; Mrs. Viola Woodson, Hunter, Oklahoma; Mrs. Ida 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 633 

Weger, Comanche county, Oklahoma; and George, Garfield county, 
Oklahoma. 

In 1849, in the boyhood days of M. L. Embree, he remembers that 
there were far more Indians than white settlers in Bates county, that 
deer and wild game of all kinds abounded, and that hunting was an occu- 
pation more than a pastime of the pioneers. He states that Major Glass, 
the Kennedys, and the Herrells were the only settlers on the prairie 
between Spruce township and Butler, though the city was not yet 
founded, the court house being located at Harrisonville. Mr. Embree 
has lived to see the removal of the county seat from Harrisonville to 
Papinsville and thence to Butler and the building of the three court 
houses in Butler. He was a witness of the first legal hanging in Bates 
county at Papinsville. Doctor Nottingham was hanged at the county 
seat for the murder of his wife. M. L. Embree is now seventy-six years 
of age and still enjoys fairly good health and possesses a remarkably 
retentive memory of early-day names, characters, and events. 

T. D. Embree is the only member of his father's family now resid- 
ing in Bates county, Missouri. He is the oldest of the eight children 
born to his parents and now the only one left in Summit township. He 
served four years as circuit clerk of Bates county, his term of office 
beginning January 1, 1907, and after retiring from this position he bought 
his present country home, a farm comprising eighty acres of land, 
known as the Orear farm, located six miles east of Butler in Summit 
township. 

In 1894, T. D. Embree and Cora Teeter were united in marriage. 
Mrs. Embree is a daughter of Darius and Emma (Abbott) Teeter, of 
Spruce township. Mrs. Teeter died in 1901 and her remains were laid 
to rest in Cloud cemetery. Mr. Teeter still makes his home on the 
farm in Spruce township. Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Embree are the parents 
of two children; one child died in infancy; and Alice Catherine, who was 
born in 1908, at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Embree are 
widely and favorably known in this section of the state and they are 
numbered among the best and most valued families of Bates county. 

John W. Harshaw, a pioneer of Bates county and one of the honored 
citizens of Deepwater township, is a native of Tennessee. He was born 
January 6, 1844. When he was a lad, fourteen years of age, he and his 
brother, Richard, or "Dick," as he was familiarly called, drove through 
from Tennessee to Missouri and they located first in Spruce, now Deep- 
water, township, moving shortly afterward across the Bates county line 



634 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

into Henry county, where they took up their residence with the Cald- 
wells. 

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Mr. Harshaw was but 
seventeen years of age. He enlisted with the Confederates in General 
Parson's Brigade in August of the ensuing year and served from that 
time until the close of the conflict in 1865. Mr. Harshaw took part in 
the battle of Lonejack, which occurred three days after his enlistment, 
serving under Captain Martin. During the remainder of the war, he 
was with General Price and saw active service in numerous important 
engagements, in the battles of Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, Wilson Creek, 
Jenkins' Ferry, Helena, Arkansas, July 4, 1863; and Mansfield, Louisi- 
ana. Mr. Harshaw was with Price at the time of the surrender at 
Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1865. 

After the Civil War had ended, John W. Harshaw was employed 
at St. Louis, Missouri, for a short time and thence came to Bates county, 
where he leased the Samuel Coleman farm for five years, and with the 
exception of three years he has been a resident of this county e^er 
since. He purchased his present home in 1907, a farm comprising eighty 
acres of land, from Frank Winn, a place which had been entered by 
one of the Colemans and improved by Elvin Wilson, an excellent stock 
farm in numerous respects. The Harshaw place has the triple advan- 
tages of productive soil, convenient location from the county seat, and 
an abundance of water and fine shade. The farm buildings are all situ- 
ated upon an eminence, from which one can look upon the surrounding 
country and there distinguish the dome of the court house at Butler, 
fourteen miles aw^ay. The residence is a beautiful rural home, a house 
of seven rooms, having verandas upon three sides and surrounded with 
handsome, old shade trees. This is one of the best, most neatly-kept 
country places in the township. The Harshaws spent three years in 
Yakima county, Washington state, and prior to that time Mr. Harshaw 
had at different times owned three farms in Bates county, namely, the 
McCork place; the Cutsinger farm; and the Hyatt farm, lying three 
miles east of Butler, which place he purchased from George Holland. 
The first farm he owned was located just east of Spruce now the W. 
A. Fads farm, and bought from William Price in 1878. 

The marriage of J. W. Harshaw and Eliza McGlothlen was 
solemnized February 28, 1872. Eliza (McGlothlen) Harshaw is a daugh- 
ter of George and Elizabeth (Cain) McGlothlen, born on June 2, 
1854, in Monroe county, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. McGlothlen were 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 635 

reared in Indiana and from that state moved to Monroe county, 
Iowa, thence to Lucas county, Iowa, coming thence to Bates 
county, Missouri, in 1870 and locating in Spruce township near 
the town of Spruce. They later returned to their old home in Iowa 
and from that state went to Washington, where Mr. McGlothlen died 
in Yakima county. To J. W. and Eliza Harshaw have been born seven 
children, five of whorh are now living: Laura Elizabeth, who died in 
infancy; Harlan H., in the West, married Dora Slayback, and has two 
children; Mattie L., the wife of C. T. Norton, of Deepwater township; 
John, who died in infancy; Mary, the wife of D. W^ Newlon, of Spruce 
township; Stella C, the wife of Claude Hoover, of Hanford, Washing- 
ton; and Nita R., at home with her parents. The three eldest daughters 
of Mr. and Mrs. Harshaw were, prior to marriage, school teachers and 
Miss Nita R. was for two years the postmistress at Spruce. All the 
girls attended the Warrensburg State Normal School and the youngest 
daughter took in addition a business course, studying stenography and 
typewriting. Miss Nita R. Harshaw was a student at Draughton's 
Practical Business College, Fort Scott, Kansas, and of the North Yakima 
Business College in Washington. 

Among the old settlers along the line between Bates and Henry 
counties were, in 1860 and in the years prior to that, Hiram Snodgrass, 
William Baskerville, Barney Fereck, David Clark, Barber Price, James 
White, Mr. Treman, Mr. Tyree, Mr. Ludwick, and several different 
families of the Colemans, all of whom Mr. Harshaw vividly recalls. 
He did his trading at Johnstown in 1858, when there was but one good 
town in western Henry and Bates counties and that was Johnstown. 
There were several flourishing mercantile establishments at Johnstown 
in those days : Messrs. Warrens, Cummins, and Harbert, each had a 
prosperous store; old Mr. Chard conducted a drug store; Mr. Sayers 
owned a tin shop ; Howard 8z Willard had a carriage shop ; John How- 
ard was the village blacksmith; and James H. Calloway was the genial 
and popular innkeeper. Ann (Ludwick) Howard, the widow of John 
Howard, still resides at Johnstown. The town was burned during the 
Civil War and has never been rebuilt. 

Mr. Harshaw will be seventy-five years of age in January, 1919, 
and he still reads with comfort without the aid of glasses. He is a 
typical pioneer, one of the prominent men of Bates county who have 
done so much to advance the agricultural interests of this section of 
the state. 



636 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

George W. Borland, a highly honored and valued Union veteran 
of the Civil War, an enterprising farmer and stockman of Deepwater 
township, is a native of Pennsylvania. Mr. Borland was born October 
22, 1841 in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, a son of James and Mar- 
garet (Barr) Borland, who were natives of Allegheny county and Jef- 
ferson county, Pennsylvania, respectively. James Borland was born 
in 1818 and died in January, 1891. Margaret (Barr) Borland was born 
in 1821 and died in 1904. Both parents died in their native state. Mrs. 
Borland was laid to rest in a burial ground in Ross township, Allegheny 
county, located near Pittsburg. 

In the public schools of Pennsylvania, George W. Borland received 
a good common school education. He enlisted in the Civil War in 1863 
and served with Company K, Sixty-first Pennsylvania Infantry, taking 
part in about twenty-five engagements. Mr. Borland was in the battles 
of the Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864; Spottsylvania Court House, May 8 
to 21, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864; and with Sheridan in the Shen- 
andoah valley. From the Rapidan to the James river. Grant's list of 
casualties in the campaign of The Wilderness was fifty-four thousand 
nine hundred twenty-nine men. Lee lost probably nineteen thousand. 
Mr. Borland was mustered out and honorably discharged at Braddock 
Barracks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1865. 

In April, 1866, George W. Borland left Pennsylvania and came to 
Missouri, where he located on a farm in St. Louis county. He was a 
resident of that county for thirteen years before coming to Bates county, 
Missouri in February, 1879. At that time, Mr. Borland purchased the 
Slayback farm, which comprised two hundred acres of land located one 
mile west of Spruce in Deepwater township. Since, he has added to 
his holdings and now the Borland place embraces two hundred seventy- 
one acres of choice land in Bates county, forty acres of which are ''bot- 
tom land" and the remainder upland. Mr. Borland has himself placed 
upon the farm every tree and building now there. The improvements, 
which are of the very best, include a nice residence, a house of seven 
rooms, two and a half stories, built in 1879 and remodeled in 1890; a 
barn, 32 x 60 feet in dimensions, constructed of a native timber, a general- 
purpose building, built in 1891; a feeder; a tenant house; and four 
splendid wells and an excellent cistern. The Borland place is one of 
the most attractive rural homes in the township and one of the finest 
stock farms in the county. Mr. Borland had more than one hundred 
acres of land in corn this past season of 1917. He recalls that when 




GEORGE W. BORLAND AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 637 

he and his family came to Bates county in 1879 they were obliged 
to travel a distance of ten miles across the prairie weekly to Butler to 
obtain their mail. Now, their mail is delivered daily at their door. In 
1879, there was no store at Spruce. Within a few years after the Bor- 
lands settled in Bates county, Mr. Smith opened the first mercantile 
establishment at that place. 

The marriage of George W. Borland and Doretta Puellman was 
solemnized October 21, 1869 in St. Louis county, Missouri. Mrs. Bor- 
land is a native of St. Louis county, a daughter of Lewis and Doretta 
Puellman, who emigrated from Germany to the United States and set- 
tled in St. Louis county, Missouri, about 1837. One sister of Doretta 
(Puellman) Borland is now living, Johanna, the wife of James Collins, 
of St. Louis county, Missouri. Mr. Collins was born in Ohio near 
Ravenna. To George W. and Doretta Borland have been born four 
children: Joseph A., who married Mary E. Cumpton and they reside 
on a farm in Deepwater township; George W., Jr., who died December 
8, 1906 and is buried in White cemetery in Bates county; Margaret 
Jane, deceased, the wife of W^ E. Dickison, of Deepwater township; 
and Cora Belle, who is at home with her parents, the sunshine and 
comfort of her father's household and her mother's invaluable helper. 

Throughout his long life of three score years and seventeen George 
W. Borland has discharged the duties of citizenship with the same 
loyalty and zeal which characterized him on Southern battlefields when 
he followed the Stars and Stripes to victory. He has endeavored to 
live up to the highest ideals of manhood, to discharge with fidelity and 
honor all obligations incumbent upon him and he is well worthy of the 
universal respect and confidence accorded him by his fellowmen. 

S. B. Kash, a prominent farmer and stockman of Deepwater town- 
ship, is one of the prosperous citizens of Bates county. Mr. Kash is 
a native of Wolfe county, Kentucky. He was born in 1860, a son of 
W. L. and Debby Jane (Swango) Kash, both of whom were natives 
of Wolfe county, Kentucky. W^ L. Kash came to Bates county, Mis- 
souri, with his family in 1872 from their plantation home near Hazel- 
green, Kentucky, and located on the Redmond farm, which Mr. Kash 
rented. He afterward purchased a tract of land, embracing one hundred 
twenty acres, located one and a half miles from old Johnstown. Mr. 
and Mrs. W. L. Kash were the parents of the following children: S. 
B., the subject of this review; Mrs. Ora Ann Gutridge, deceased; David, 
who resides in California; James E., Eldorado Springs, Missouri; Mrs. 



638 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mary E. Simpson, who resides in California; Mrs. Lillie Moore, Mont- 
rose, Missouri; and Joseph M., Johnstown, Missouri. W. L. Kash was 
a well-to-do and influential citizen of Bates county, one who always 
took an active and keen interest in the public welfare and in political 
matters. He served several years as member of the township board and 
invariably gave his support to all worthy enterprises. He was one of the 
leading stockmen of the county in his day and at the time of his death 
was owner of two hundred acres of valuable land in this county. Mr. 
Kash died July 9, 1916, at the Kash homestead near Johnstown. His 
wadow still survives him and she is now eighty years of age. Mrs. 
Kash makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Lillie Moore, in Henry 
county. 

When S. B. Kash was a lad twelve years of age, his parents moved 
from Kentucky to Missouri, so he had received the beginning of his 
education in the schools of Wolfe county, Kentucky and after coming 
to Bates county, Missouri, attended Elm Grove school. He remained 
with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age and then he began 
farming independently on the S. W. Gutridge farm, the owner giving 
Mr. Kash one-fourth the produce and his board. Later, Mr. Kash rented 
land for several years and for two years operated a threshing machine 
in the county. He moved to his present country place in 1883 and 
farmed thereon for ten years before he purchased it. The original pur- 
chase included five hundred eighty acres of land, to wdiich Mr. Kash 
has since added a tract of two hundred twenty acres, and his place now 
comprises eight hundred acres of choice land in Deepwater township 
and Spruce township. For many years, Mr. Kash has been widely 
recognized as a most progressive and energetic stockman and his stock 
interests in recent years have been very extensive. He considers that 
the breeding and raising of hogs has been his best and most profitable line 
and he now has on his place a large herd of big-bone Poland China 
hogs, which are of good grade. Mr. Kash began with pure-bred stock 
and he has kept up the grade to a high standard. H«=' raises horses 
and mules, also. 

The marriage of S. B. Kash and Susan E. Coleman was solemnized 
in 1883. Susan E. (Coleman) Kash is a daughter of Bonaparte and 
Elizabeth (McCombs) Coleman, the former, a native of Kentucky and the 
latter, of Missouri. The Colemans came to Bates county, Missouri, in 
1855, and settled on the farm which is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. 
S. B. Kash. Mrs. Coleman died in 1860 and the father died in 1891. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 639 

Both parents are interred in Coleman cemetery. Mrs. Kash is the only 
living child born to her parents and she was born on the farm where 
she now resides. To S. B. and Susan E. Kash have been born four 
children: R. A., who is engaged in farming on the home place and who 
married Lela Stevens and to them have been born two sons, William 
Carl and Roy Donald; two sons died in infancy; and O. N., who is at 
home with his parents. 

The Kash family settled in Bates county, Missouri, when the farm, 
which S. B. Kash has so well improved and cultivated, was prairie land 
upon which herds of Texas cattle grazed in the summer time and the 
ffrst home between the present Kash place and Butler was the home of 
old Mr. Barr, one of the earliest settlers of the county . The Kash family 
were residing on the Redmond farm in the memorable year of 1874, 
when the grasshoppers dispensed with all difficulties and perplexities 
as to the disposition and transportation of crops for that year and in 
the spring of 1875. The uninvited and most unwelcome pests took their 
departure in June, 1875, and an excellent crop of corn was raised that 
summer by the elder Mr. Kash, who sold twelve hundred bushels of 
corn at twelve and fifteen cents a bushel in the autumn of 1875. In 
speaking of the early days, S. B. Kash recalled a most striking example 
of the irony of fate and of how mistaken the judgment of the best of 
men may at times be. In the fifties, John Beaman was the owner of a 
tract of land in Bates county, a part of which is now the townsite of 
Butler. H-e traded his farm for another, near old Johnstown, which 
was at that time the big town of the county. John Beaman died at 
Johnstown when he was ninety-three years of age. He lived to see 
Butler growing into a city and Johnstown dwindling into a deserted 
village. 

Although his father was a prominent Democrat of his township, 
S. B. Kash has never taken much interest in politics except to perform 
his duty as a public-spirited citizen and cast his vote. Mr. Kash long 
ago made it his policy to meet all business obligations when due and in 
no manner has any confidence or trust in him been betrayed. He has 
long ranked with the best and most enterprising men of this part of 
Missouri. 

J. H. Baker, proprietor of "Gold Medal Stock Farm" in Deepwater 
township, is one of twelve worthy descendants of a good, old, sterling 
pioneer family of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Baker is widely known 
in this part of the state as a successful and prosperous agriculturist 



640 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and stockman. He was born May 8, 1870, in Pleasant Gap township, 
a son and seventh child of Zephaniah and Martha Ellen (Hale) Baker, 
the former, a native of Indiana and the latter, of Iowa. Zephaniah 
Baker brought his family to Missouri in the early fifties and they settled 
on a tract of land located near the present townsite of Butler. When 
the Civil War broke out in 1860, on account of the terrible drought 
of that year, the Bakers moved back to Iowa, where they remained dur- 
ing the four years of the conflict. They returned to Bates county, Mis- 
souri, in 1866 and Mr. Baker sold his farm, which was near Butler, and 
located one mile north of Pleasant Gap and about two years afterward, 
on a farm lying three and a half miles southwest of Pleasant Gap in 
March, 1872. To Zephaniah and Martha Ellen Baker were born twelve 
children, all of whom were reared to maturity and are now living, the 
youngest child being thirty-eight years of age at the time of this writing 
in 1918: J. W., the capable sheriff of Bates county, Missouri; Mrs. 
Lillie Ferrell, Rich Hill, Missouri; John T., a well-to-do merchant of 
Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Grififin, of Pleasant Gap township; Mrs. 
Anna Olan, who resides in Oklahoma; W. A., a well-known farmer and 
stockman of Pleasant Gap township; J. H., the subject of this review; 
Mrs. Parthena Beard, Parsons, Kansas; Mrs. Ella Dillon, Southmound, 
Kansas; Charlie Z., of Pleasant Gap township; Mrs. Ida Davis, Enid, 
Oklahoma; and George W., of Summit township. Mr. Baker, father of 
the children, was a highly respected, industrious citizen. He was for 
many years employed in hauling merchandise for Brooks & Mains, 
merchants of Pleasant Gap, from Pleasant Hill to Pleasant Gap and he 
was known to practically everyone in his township. Zephaniah Baker 
died at his country home in February, 1907. A few years prior to his 
death he moved to Butler but became dissatisfied and bought a farm of 
forty acres near his son, W\ A., where he died. The widowed mother 
survived her husband but a short time, wdien they were united in 
death. Mrs. Baker, one of Bates county's noblest and bravest pioneer 
women, died in 1910. Both father and mother are interred in Rogers 
cemetery in Bates county. 

J. H. Baker received a good common-school education in the public 
schools of Pleasant Gap township in Bates county. His boyhood days 
were spent in assisting with the work on his father's farm and in attend- 
ing the country school near their home. Mr. Baker remained with his 
parents until he was nearly twenty-one years of age and then he began 
farming independently on the home place, a part of which he rented 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 64I 

for some time and then purchased a tract of one hundred twenty acres 
of land formerly belonging to his father. Mr. Baker, in early manhood, 
left Missouri and went to Oklahoma, where he took up a claim in Gar- 
field county. After relinquishing his claim in Oklahoma, he returned 
to Bates county, Missouri, and in 1900 again located on a farm near 
the Double Branches church in Pleasant Gap township, where he resided 
for six years. He then disposed of that place to his brother, W. A. 
Baker, and purchased his present country home in Deepwater township, 
about ten years ago. 

The marriage of J. H. Baker and Alma Edith Beard was solemnized 
December 17, 1890. Alma Edith (Beard) Baker is a daughter of Henry 
and Eliza (Kretzinger) Beard, a highly valued and worthy pioneer 
family of Deepwater township. The Beard family came to Missouri 
from Ohio, of which state Henry Beard was a native. He was a mem- 
ber of a family that had settled in Ohio among the first pioneers of the 
Northwest Territory and in that state was reared and educated. The 
Beards later moved to Indiana and there the father and mother of 
Henry Beard died. He then came West and located in Kansas, where 
he was united in marriage with Eliza Kretzinger and in the years imme- 
diately following the Civil AVar they settled in Bates county, Missouri, 
on a farm in Deepwater township, a place comprising one hundred 
eighty acres of land. To Henry and Eliza Beard were born ten chil- 
dren: Charles F., Parsons, Kansas; Mrs. Emma Frost, of Deepwater 
township; Mrs. J. H. Baker, the wife of the subject of this review; J. A., 
of Summit township; L E., of Deepwater township; Ava M., Lone Oak 
township; Mrs. Minnie Ferris, who resides (in Canada; Mrs. Maud 
Parker, of Deepwater township; Mrs. Dora Thomas, of Pleasant Gap 
township; and Mrs. Nina McKinley, of Hudson township. The father 
died in 1895 and the mother remained on the farm and alone reared 
and educated their children. Mrs. Beard still resides at the old home- 
stead in Deepwater township and she is now sixty-seven years of age, 
one of the most honored residents of Bates county. Mr. Beard was 
interred in Smith cemetery in Bates county. To J. H. and x\lma Edith 
Baker have been born nine children : Roy Castle, who married Stella 
Ritchey and resides on a farm in Summit township; Ethel Viola, wife 
of Omer B. Randall, of Shawnee township; Ira Henry, of Summit town- 
ship; Oscar Leland; James Lloyd; Z. Z. ; Vera Laverne; Arlie, deceased; 
and an infant son. deceased. Four of the children are at home with 
their parents. 
(41) 



642 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

"Gold Medal Stock Farm" in Deepwater township was purchased 
by J. H. Baker in the autumn of 1907 from C. F. Beard, who had 
bought it from Joseph W. Webb. Mr. Webb had obtained the place 
from Mr. Matchett and he, in turn, had secured it from the one who 
entered the land from the government. This farm comprises two hun- 
dred twenty acres of choice farming land in Bates county, one hundred 
acres of the tract lying north of the Butler, Spruce, and Johnstown 
road and one hundred twenty acres lying south of the road and nine 
miles east of Butler. In point of location, no better could be desired 
and the land is chiefly prairie and well drained and watered. The soil 
is very productive, but Mr. Baker is as much interested in stock raising 
as in farming and at the time of this writing in 1918 he has on the place 
from eighteen to twenty head of Percheron horses, one of which is a 
registered animal, and jacks, and jennets, also registered; twenty-five 
head of cattle ; and fifty head of pure-bred Poland China hogs. Mr. 
Baker has built a new stock barn in recent years and the residence, 
which was originally built by Mr. Matchett forty-five years ago out of 
lumber hauled from Pleasant Hill, has been remodeled and all the other 
buildings on the farm put in good repair and all are now neatly kept. 

I. M. Kretzinger, ex-trustee of Deepwater township, and a well- 
to-do farmer and stockman of Bates county, is a native of Warren 
county, Iowa. Mr. Kretzinger was born March 24, 1865, a son of 
Nicholas and Margaret (Kingery) Kretzinger, a prominent pioneer 
family of Bates county. Nicholas Kretzinger came to Missouri with 
his family in 1867 and they located on a farm one mile north and one 
mile east of Spruce, on the place known as the Payne farm, which 
comprised forty-six acres of land. Mr. Kretzinger sold this place after 
a short time and purchased a tract of land embracing one hundred forty 
acres, a farm lying on the south side of Deepwater creek, and before 
he had had an opportunity to carry out his plans in improving the land 
death came in 1872. This latter farm owned by Nicholas Kretzinger 
was known as the "Dick" Choate farm. Mr. Kretzinger was laid to 
rest in Dickison cemetery in Bates county. Nicholas and Margaret 
(Kingery) Kretzinger were the parents of the following children: Mrs. 
Eliza Beard, the widow of Henry Beard, a resident of Deepwater town- 
ship. Bates county, further mention of whom will be found in connec- 
tion with the biography of her son, J. A. Beard, which appears elsewhere 
in this volume; Van, who resides in Oklahoma; John, who is engaged 
in farming in Deepwater township; George, Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 643 

Emma Cunningham; I. M., the subject of this review; and William, of 
Vernon county, Missouri. The mother, one of the county's most estemed 
pioneer women, died in 1911 and her remains lie beside those of her 
husband in Dickison cemetery. 

I. M. Kretzinger attended school in Deepwater township, Bates 
county. His educational advantages were not great, for he was obliged 
to assist with the work on the farm at a very early age and could attend 
school only occasionally during the winter seasons. His father died, 
when I. M. Kretzinger was a child live years of age and there were 
seven children left for the widowed mother to rear and educate. Mr. 
Kretzinger remained with her on the home farm until he was twenty- 
six years of age and then rented a tract of thirty acres from his mother, 
where he resided for a short time. He then moved to the Newberry 
farm and resided thereon for nearly eight years, when he purchased 
his present country home, a place comprising one hundred ninety-three 
acres of land located one and a fourth miles east of Spruce, Missouri. 
Mr. Kretzinger has improved the farm, rebuilding the residence, now 
a pretty cottage of eight rooms, and building three barns. This farm 
lies on the north side of Deepwater creek on the Butler-Clinton State 
highway. Mr. Kretzinger is interested in both general farming and 
stock raising and usually cultivates about fifty acres of the farm, leav- 
ing the remainder in bluegrass and pasture land. He has on his place, 
at the time of this writing in 1918, twenty head of Shorthorn cattle, 
eight head of horses, and a large herd of Poland China hogs, each herd 
headed by a registered male. 

April 24, 1891, I. M. Kretzinger and Susie Newberry, a daughter 
of Capt. John B. and Elizabeth Newberry, were united in marriage. 
Mrs. Kretzinger died in 1900 and interment was made in the cemetery 
at Butler. Mr. Kretzinger remarried, his second wife being Ona Stark, 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stark, of Warrensburg, Missouri. 
Mr. Stark is now deceased. Ona (Stark) Kretzinger is a graduate of 
the Warrensburg State Normal School in the class of 1900. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Kretzinger has been born one child, a daughter, Madge, born 
December 20, 1910. 

In the public affairs of his township and county, I. M. Kretzinger 
takes a most commendable interest and he has served as township trus- 
tee of Deepwater township. He and Mrs. Kretzinger are valued citi- 
zens of Bates county. 



644 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Thomas Humphrey Dickison, an honored pioneer of Bates county, 
Missouri, a member of one of the oldest and best famihes of the state, 
ex-trustee of Deepwater township, is a native of Bates county, Mis- 
souri as its boundaries were at the time of his birth, December 23, 1846, 
or of what is now Little Osage township, Vernon county. Mr. Dicki- 
son is a son of Humphrey and Elvira Goff (Perkins) Dodge Dickison. 
Humphrey Dickison was a native of Licking county, Ohio. He came 
to Missouri in 1839 and settled on a tract of land, comprising one hun- 
dred sixty acres, in what was then Bates county. Mr. Dickison's 
wife, Myra (Goff) Dickison, whom he married December 6, 1821, died 
the year after their coming West on August 27, 1840 and her remains 
were interred in the Dickison cemetery on their farm, the first burial 
made there. To Humphrey and Myra (Goff) Dickison were born the 
following children: Ruth Anne, born October 16, 1822; Caroline, born 
December 22, 1824; William GofT, born March 11, 1827; Sarah Ann, 
born September 16, 1829; Anson, born March 4, 1832; Louisa, born 
June 1, 1836; Albert, born August 15, 1840. Mr. Dickison remarried, 
his second wife being Mrs. Elvira Goff (Perkins) Dodge, and to this 
union were born two sons: Thomas H., the subject of this review; 
and Edwin James, born November 17, 1852, who died in 1891 at Cats- 
kill, New Mexico and was buried at Trinidad, Colorado ; and a daueh- 
ter, Myra H., born in 1844, died in infancy. Mrs. Dickison, the mother 
of Thomas H. and Edwin James, was a native of Vermont, a highly 
intellectual and well-educated woman, who came to Missouri in 1833 
and was employed as teacher at the old Harmony Mission school as 
long as the mission was maintained. She was a widow at the time of 
her marriage with Mr. Dickison. Her first husband, Nathaniel B. 
Dodge, was killed in 1838 in a battle with the Indians on the island of 
the Marais des Cygnes. The savages of the forest had been killing the 
cattle and hogs of the early settlers of that vicinity for some time until 
the annoyance had become unendurable. The hardy, fearless frontiers- 
men mustered a small band of thirteen men to teach the Indians a 
lesson in the only terms which they seemed to understand. The for- 
mer demanded of the red men that they give over the marauders to be 
punished and this the Indians refused to do. In the battle which ensued, 
two Indians w^ere killed and others seriouslv wounded. Nathaniel B. 
Dodge was the only settler killed, but three others were wounded, 
among them two brothers of Mr. Dodge: Newell and Edward, both of 
whom recovered. The first burial made in the Balltown cemeterv, nine 




THOMAS HUMPHREY DICKISON. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 645 

miles north and east of Nevada, Missouri, was made for the remains of 
Nathaniel B. Dodge, the first husband of Thomas H. Dickison's mother. 
Mrs. Dickison died in October, 1862. Humphrey Dickison died Novem- 
ber 7, 1867. 

There is a strange fascination about the horrible in life v^diich draws 
both young and old to witness the most revolting sights of our civiliza- 
tion and it is not all queer that young, ten-year-old Thomas H. Dicki- 
son should have been heartbroken and have wept bitterly for one whole 
day when his father firmly and sternly refused to allow him to attend 
the hanging of Dr. Nottingham at Papinsville in the autumn of 1856. 
It is not possible to put old heads on young shoulders and judgment and 
control of one's natural impulses come only with years of experience — 
and there is no doubt that there were hundreds of wise, old heads pres- 
ent at Papinsville that day to see the doctor's swing from the gallows, 
a sad but true comment \ipon curious human nature. A downpour of 
rain can't change it. 

Thomas H. Dickison obtained his education in the "subscription 
schools" of Vernon county. The hard, primitive life of the early pio- 
neers afforded but little opportunity for schooling and with the out- 
break of the Civil War in 1861 the majority of the few poor schools 
were obliged to close their doors. Mr. Dickison was reared on the 
farm and his youth was chiefly spent in assisting with the work on the 
home place and as most of his young life was spent out-of-doors he grew 
rapidly into a strong, vigorous, normal manhood. He resided in Ver- 
non county until 1867, when he came to Bates county. Humphrey 
Dickison had entered a vast tract of land in this county and his son, 
Thomas H., was given one hundred acres. Mr. Dickison is now the 
owner of one hundred ninety-one acres of land in Bates county, a farm 
lying one and three-fourths miles east of Spruce, Missouri. He left 
this state in 1870 and took up his residence in Texas, where he remained 
for six years and then returning to his present home in 1876 he has 
rebuilt the residence, a house of two stories, and placed all the improve- 
ments on the farm. 

The marriage of Thomas H. Dickison and Emma Caroline Snod- 
grass was solemnized in 1873 in Fannin county. Texas. Mrs. Dickison 
was a daughter of Isaac and Martha (Stubblefield) Snodgrass. To this 
union were born nine children, five of whom are now living: Walter 
Edwin, farmer near Spruce, Missouri ; Isaac Humphrey, a well-known 
merchant of Spruce, Missouri; Ennis Pearl, the wife of C. A\\ S^ephe-")- 



646 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

son, of Deepwater township; Ethel C, the wife of Arthur Strode, and 
they reside with Mr. Dickison on the home farm; and Cyrus B., who 
resides on a Scully lease in Bates county. Mr. Dickison has seven 
grandchildren, of whom he is very fond: Ophelia Fay and Omeda May 
Dickison, children of Mr. and Mrs. Walter E. Dickison; George Hum- 
phrey, Hazel Pearl Dickison, children of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Humphrey 
Dickison; and Lois Alene Stephenson, the only daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. C. W. Stephenson; Walter Lee and Velnia Ruth are children of 
Cyrus B. For three generations of the Dickisons, there has been a 
Humphrey Dickison in the family, a noble, old name wdiich the bearer 
should be proud to bear and ashamed to tarnish by a single unworthy 
act. The saddest event in the life of Thomas H. Dickison occurred 
October 27, 1917, when death entered the Dickison home once more 
and again broke the family circle. Mrs. Dickison, her husband's faith- 
ful and brave helpmeet and beloved companion for forty-three years, 
the loving mother of their children, answered the last summons last 
autumn. 

Mr. Dickison has always taken a deep interest in the general 
growth and development of his county and state and has manifested a 
most commendable interest in the public and political affairs of his 
township. He has served one term in the ofifice of township trustee of 
Deepwater township. He has watched Bates county steadily emerge 
from an unsettled wilderness and prairie and become one of the best 
and most prosperous sections of Missouri and during all these years 
he has contributed his full share toward bringing about this marvelous 
development. Thomas H. Dickison is one of the county's most excel- 
lent citizens, a noble son of a noble father. 

William Y. Osborne, a prominent citizen of Butler, a retired farmer 
and stockman of Charlotte township, is a native of West Virginia, a 
descendant of one of the leading colonial families of the South. Mr. 
Osborne was born July 19, 1847 at Franklin in Pendleton county, AVest 
Virginia, a son of J. AV. and Rachel Griggsby (Hamilton) Osborne. 
J. W. Osborne was one of the beloved Methodist ministers of the 
South, one who was engaged in ministerial work for fifty years. His 
son, W. Y., treasures among his priceless possessions the Bible which 
Reverend Osborne had when he entered the ministry at the age of 
twenty-five years. J. AA'". Osborne was a son of Joseph Osborne, a 
veteran of the War of 1812, who took an important part in the battle 
of Baltimore, who was a son of an English of^cer that had been in the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 647 

siege of Yorktown, the turning point in the Revolutionary War of 1776, 
when Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781 with his eight thou- 
sand men. Rachel Griggsby (Hamilton) Osborne was a daughter of 
a wealthy plantation owner and slaveholder, John Hamilton. W. Y. 
Osborne has been given a book by his mother's sister, Mrs. Henrietta 
(Hamilton) McCormick, which volume contains the genealogy of the 
Hamilton family, tracing the lineage of Mr. Osborne back to ancestors 
of prominence in the Civil War, in the War of 1812, in the Revolutionary 
War, and in Scotland. Two brothers of Mrs. J. W. Osborne, the mother 
of W. Y. Osborne, were active participants in the War of 1812. The 
Griggsbys, Hamiltons, and McCormicks were of the "F. F. V.'s." Mrs. 
Henrietta McCormick has in her possession the powder horn carried 
by Alexander McNutt in the battle of the Cowpens, fought January 17, 
1781, one of the most important engagements of the Revolutionary War. 
Rev. J. W. Osborne departed this life in April, 1881 at Baltimore, Mary- 
land. He was seventy-five years of age. To Rev. J. W. and Mrs. 
Osborne were born the following children, who are now living: W. 
Y., the subject of this review; Dr. Oliver, a well-known attorney of St. 
Paul, Missouri; John H., a prosperous capitalist of Elk Falls, Kansas; 
and Virginia Elizabeth, of Chicago, Illinois. 

W. Y. Osborne attended the city schools of Chicago, Illinois and 
Bryant & Stratton Commercial College of Chicago. He was employed 
in commission houses in Chicago for six years and then retired from 
business and began farming in Illinois near Chicago and in other parts 
of the state. Mr. Osborne left Illinois in March, 1875 and went to 
Texas, in which state he was for six years employed in the sheep rais- 
ing business on a large ranch, having at one time a herd of seven 
thousand sheep on the range. He has in his early manhood traveled 
extensively, visiting and residing in many different states, and since 
June, 1881 he has been the owner of a valuable farm comprising one 
hundred twenty acres of land in Charlotte township. Bates county, 
Missouri. To his original holdings in this county, Mr. Osborne has 
since added a tract of forty acres of land and on this farm of one hun- 
dred sixty acres his son, William E.. now lives. W. Y. Osborne was 
for many years one of the successful and influential farmers and stock- 
men of his township. He moved from his country place to Butler in 
December, 1914 and now resides at 310 Fort Scott street in this city. 
He and Mrs. Osborne are spending the closing years of their lives, 
which have been spent in hard but honorable labor, in quiet comfort 



648 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and ease. Their home in Butler is a beautiful, modern residence and 
Mr. Osborne enjoys working in his garden and in reading when he can 
no longer be employed out-of-doors. He has traveled over all the plains 
of the Southwest and wdiile in the business of sheep growing was located 
at Colfax county, New Mexico. He is a most interesting conversa- 
tionalist and the relation of his travels and experiences on the plains 
would make a remarkably valuable, instructive, and delightful book. 

The marriage of W. Y. Osborne and Eliza E. Cowgill was solem- 
nized December 21, 1881. Eliza (Cowgill) Osborne is a daughter of 
James and Anna Barbara (Schaub) Cowgill, of Mount Carmel, Bates 
county, Missouri. Mr. Cowgill died in New Mexico in 1895 and Mrs. 
Cowgill joined him in death in July, 1898. The remains of each parent 
were brought back to Bates county, Missouri for burial and they are 
interred in Morris cemetery. To W. Y. and Eliza E. Osborne have 
been born six children: Mary M.. the wife of Jesse Lynds, deputy 
United States marshal, Muskogee, Oklahoma; Perry H., of Mount 
Pleasant township; William E., of Charlotte township, on the home 
place ; Grace M., the wife of Logan Cope, New Home township ; Robert 
George, of St. Paul, Minnesota, who has been called for service in the 
army of the United States; and Lillian, who is at home with her parents. 
The Osbornes are widely and favorably known in this part of the state 
and in Bates county there is no family of higher standing. 

Jesse E. Smith, cashier of the Missouri State Bank of Butler, Mis- 
souri, is one of Bates county's most enterprising, young "hustlers." 
Mr. Smith is a member of a highly respected and prominent family of 
Butler, a native of Saline county, Missouri, a son of John W. and Susan 
P. (James) Smith, who came from Kentucky to Missouri in 1870 and 
located in Saline county, coming thence to Bates county in January, 
1888, settling at Butler, where Mr. Smith followed the livery business 
and blacksmithing and later the stock business, buying and selling horses 
and mules. John W. and Susan P. Smith were the parents of the fol- 
lowing children: James H., Arkansas City, Kansas; John R., Arkansas 
City, Kansas; Jesse E., the subject of this review; Mrs. J. A. Carey, 
Pittsburg, Kansas; Dr. G. R., a successful dentist of Duncan, Okla- 
homa; and Mrs. C. W. Knipple. Wichita, Kansas. The father died at 
Butler in May, 1916 and interment was made in Oak Hill cemetery. 
The widowed mother now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. 
C. W. Knipple, at Wichita, Kansas. 

Jesse E. Smith received the first part of his elementary education 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 649 

in the public schools of Saline county, Missouri. He later attended 
the city schools of Butler for four years. Mr. Smith began his business 
career in the employ of W. G. Womack, a grocer of Butler, Missouri, 
about 1892. He was for six years employed by Deacon Brothers and 
ten years by F. H. Crowell, agent for the Scully lands in Bates county. 
In 1908, Mr. Smith accepted a position with the Missouri State Bank 
of Butler as assistant cashier and five years later, in 1913, was appointed 
cashier of the institution, which position he is capably filling at the 
time of this writing in 1918, one of the most responsible positions in 
Bates county. Since Mr. Smith entered the field of business at Butler 
several years ago, he has never had to ask for a position. The other 
man has always done the asking — a mute tribute to the intrinsic worth 
of this promising, alert gentleman, a tireless worker. 

Jesse E. Smith and Sallie L. Arnold, a daughter of John E. and 
Margaret (Allen) Arnold, a native of Lafayette county, Missouri, were 
united in marriage and to this union have been born two children: 
Arnold and Agnes. Mr. Arnold is deceased and Mrs. John E. Arnold 
is a resident of Butler, Missouri. The Smith residence is located at 
514 West Fort Scott street in Butler. 

The Missouri State Bank of Butler, Missouri was organized in 
1880 by William E. Walton, who was for thirty-seven years its well- 
known president and cashier. Mr. Walton also organized the Walton 
Trust Company, the latter financial institution in 1896, and was presi- 
dent of the same for twenty-one years, when at his rec[uest he was suc- 
ceeded by his nephew, J. B. Walton, on January 1, 1917. The capital 
stock and surplus funds of the Missouri State Bank of Butler and the 
Walton Trust Company exceed a half million dollars. The present 
capital stock of the former bank is fifty-five thousand dollars and the 
deposits at the time of the last official report published on March 4, 
1918 amounted to one million, eighty-seven thousand, four hundred 
seventy-three dollars and twelve cents. 

Alfred A. Miller, one of Butler's respected citizens and a repre- 
sentative of a sterling pioneer family of Bates county, Missouri, is one 
of the native sons of Mount Pleasant township. Mr. Miller was born 
June 23, 1860 at the Miller homestead, a son of Alpheus and Rachel 
Ann (Wright) Miller, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, of 
W^est Virginia. Alpheus Miller was born in 1817 at Gallipolis, Ohio 
and Mrs. Miller was born at Wheeling. West Virginia. They were the 
parents of the following children: G. C, who was born November 16. 



650 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

1846 and is now deceased; J. T., who was born January 3, 1848 and 
now resides at Altoona, Kansas; Sarah E., the wife of J. E. Thompson, 
who was born September 16, 1850 and now resides at Washington, 
Iowa; Martha E., who was born July 22, 1852; Emma M., the wife of 
WilHam R. Huffman, who was born June 16, 1854 and was the mother 
of two children. Lulu B. and Anna E., and the mother and younger 
daughter are both now deceased; John R., who was born April 7, 1856 
and died January 31, 1918; W. W., who was born March 23, 1858; and 
Alfred A., the subject of this review. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were united 
in marriage October 16, 1845 and for ten years following they were 
residents of Gallipolis, Ohio, coming to Bates county in 1855. Mr. 
Miller entered from the government a large tract of land located in the 
center of the county in Mount Pleasant, Summit, and Lone Oak town- 
ships. During the Civil War. the Millers moved from their farm to 
Calhoun in Henry county, Missouri, returning to this county in 1865. 
Alpheus Miller was an industrious and prosperous farmer and stock- 
man in the early days and at the time of his death w^as owner of three 
hundred fifty acres of choice land in Bates county, a farm now in the 
possession of his children and grandchildren. He died in September, 
1892 and interment was made in Fairview cemetery in Lone Oak town- 
ship. Bates county. The widowed mother, one of the most beloved 
and bravest of Mount Pleasant township's pioneer women, survived 
her husband twenty-one years, when in 1913 they were united in death 
and she was laid to rest beside him in Eairview cemetery. 

Alfred A. Miller attended the district schools of Mount Pleasant 
township in Bates county and acquired a good common school educa- 
tion. In early manhood, he began farming and stock raising. Mr. 
Miller recalls the days in Bates county when deer could be seen fre- 
quently from the doorway of his old home and when cattle roamed at 
large over the wide, unfenced prairie. The Miller children all attended 
school at Miller school house located in the vicinity of their home. This 
school building was the first to be erected in the neighborhood and it 
was built in 1870. The lumber and seats were hauled from Pleasant 
Hill, Missouri and Alfred A. Miller recalls how he was taken along on 
the three-day journey to herd the oxen when they were turned loose 
at the noontimes. Jefferson Aldridge, a cripple, was employed at Miller 
school house to "keep school" for the first two terms and he was in 
turn succeeded bv M. A. Stewart. The old school house was torn 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 65 1 

down in 1916 and a modern building erected on the site of the old one, 
the new school house being known as Prairie Rose. 

In 1886, Alfred A. Miller went to Leadville, Colorado and for six 
and a half years was employed in the mines there. Mr. Miller suc- 
ceeded well in Colorado and was prospering when the word came to 
him that his father was dead. He then returned home to care for his 
widowed mother and together they resided at Butler from 1897 until 
1913, when death entered their home again and she was taken from 
him. Mr. Miller disposed of his farm two years ago, selling the place 
to his brother, and he is now living in quiet retirement in Butler. He 
is the owner of his home in this city, a residence of six rooms, modern 
throughout, which he purchased in 1897. Mr. Miller has been a most 
devoted son and he is a man highly honored in Butler because of his 
unselfish devotion to duty, a citizen who occupies a large place in the 
respect and esteem of his fellowmen. Mr. Miller has never married. 

R. C. Hays, manager of "Maple Grove Stock Farm" in Spruce town- 
ship, a well-known and successful breeder of registered Hereford cattle, 
is one of Bates county's enterprising, young agriculturists and stock- 
men. Mr. Hays is a son of J. B. and Ruth E. Hays, the father, a native 
of Saline county, Missouri and the mother, a native of Lafayette county, 
Missouri. The maternal grandparents of R. C. Hays were among the 
first settlers of Lafayette county and J. B. Hays is a son of William 
Hays, who was one of the leading pioneers of Saline county. J. B. Hays 
settled in Bates county, Missouri in 1874 on the farm in Spruce town- 
ship, now operated by his son, R. C, the subject of this review, when 
the land for nearly eight miles north to Grand river was all open prairie. 
He began the breeding and raising of registered Hereford cattle in 
1897 and for many years was wddely known in the county as an exten- 
sive feeder. His son, R. C, has continued the work begun by his father 
and they have on the farm, at the time of this writing in 1918, thirty 
head of fine registered Herefords, twenty-two of the herd being cows, 
and he and his father but recently sold twenty-seven head of cattle. 
"Maple Grove Stock Farm" in Spruce township comprises two hundred 
fifty-two acres of valuable land. T. B. Hays has retired from the active 
pursuits of farming and stock raising and since October, 1916 has been 
a resident of Adrian, Missouri. Mr. Hays, Sr. is now at the advanced 
age of seventy-four years, but a fairly well-preserved gentleman for one 
of his age, and he is numbered among the honored and invaluable citi- 



65- HISTORY OF BATES COUXTY 

zens of Bates countv. His name has long been connected with all worthy 
enterprises, having for their object the upbuilding of the material and 
spiritual interests of his community and no man in Spruce township is 
more deserving of commendation in a work of this character than is 
he. J. B. Hays will long be remembered for the gift of one acre of land 
upon which the Fairview Baptist church was erected in 1882. He was 
for many years clerk of the church and his son, R. C. now holds the 
same position. Apparently, the father's mantle has fallen upon worthy 
shoulders. 

The marriage of R. C. Hays and Miss Iva Evans, a daughter of 
George H. Evans, of Shawnee township, a sketch of whom appears else- 
where in this volume, was solemnized March 1, 1914. ^Ir. and Mrs. Hays 
are highly respected and esteemed in their community and they number 
their friends by the score in Bates county. As a citizen. R. C. Hays 
has always been a stanch advocate of progress and improvement. 

Capt. John B. Newberry, the oldest living pioneer citizen of Bates 
county, ^lissouri. ex-sheritt of Bates county, ex-senator and ex-repre- 
sentative of the Missouri State Legislature, proprietor of "'Evergreen 
Liberty Bell Farm" in Bates county, is a native of Orange county. Xew 
York. Captain Xewberry was born May 25, 1829, a son of Joshua and 
Elizabeth (Stevins) Newberry, both of whom were natives of Xew 
York. Mr. and Mrs. Joshua X'ewberry moved with their family to 
Broome county. Xew York and there the parents died and are buried. 
They were the parents of seven children, of whom Captain X'ewberry 
is the sole survivor. 

In the public schools of Orange and Broome counties. X'ew York. 
Captain X'ewberry obtained his education in the elementary' branches 
of learning. He later entered Harfard Academy, Susquehanna county, 
Pennsylvania and was a student at that institution for one session. In 
his youth, he mastered the trade of blacksmithing and when he came 
to Missouri in 1853 he located at Papinsville, at that time the flourish- 
ing county seat of Bates county, and for four years followed his trade 
at that place. In 1857, Captain X'ewberry purchased his present coun- 
try place in Bates county, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres 
located two and a half miles southeast of Spruce. He recalls among 
the heads of families, that were residents of Papinsville in 1853, when 
he — a young man twenty-four years of age — came to this county, the 
following men: F. F. Eddy. F. H. Eddins. S. H. Loring, James McCool, 
George L. Duke. Stephen S. Duke, and D. B. McDonald. Captain Xew- 




CAPTAIN JOHN B. NEWBERRY. 



PIISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 653 

berry can not recall one family, or one single member of any family, 
keeping house in Papinsville in 1853 who is now living. 

"Uncle James" Hook hewed the timbers for the residence built 
on Captain Newberry's farm in 1844, a building which has been since 
remodeled by Captain Newberry. The frame of this building was built 
of hewed lumber, the lath and weatherboarding all hand-rived, the 
floors made of pecan lumber hauled from Ball's Mill on the Osage in 
Vernon county, the woodwork of the interior made from pine hauled 
by oxen from Boonville, Missouri. The road from Papinsville to Boon- 
ville passed Captain Newberry's farm and the primitive log cabin on 
the place was known far and wide as "The House with the Glass Win- 
dow." It stood just a few feet northeast of the site of the present 
residence and Captain Newberry describes it as having a puncheon floor, 
and a ceiling of hickory bark, and a roof covering made of rived clap- 
boards. The cabin was eighteen feet square. In 1873, the captain 
planted two Norway spruce evergreen trees on the lawn of his home 
and he has carefully and painstakingly trained them and one is so 
shaped as to present a marvelous resemblance to the famous Liberty 
Bell. It is a strangely beautiful tree and immediately attracts the atten- 
tion of the passerby. Captain Newberry has the eye of an artist in 
matters pertaining to landscape gardening and the lawn of "Evergreen 
Liberty Bell Farm" is the most delightful feature of the place. 

At Butler, Missouri, in 1862 Capt. John B. Newberry enrolled in 
Company F, Sixtieth Enrolled Missouri Militia in the Civil War and 
of this company was elected captain, and served as captain until the 
company was mustered out of the service. When Bates county was 
ordered evacuated in 1863, on account of Order Number 11, Captain 
Newberry's company was stationed in Henry county, in which county 
he remained after the war had ended until the autumn of 1865. During 
the summer of 1865, he worked at his trade of Ijlacksmithing in Clinton. 
When he returned home, he found his house still standing, Init found 
it with much difficulty as it was completely hidden by a rank growth of 
weeds. 

In the election of 1870, Captain Newberry was elected on the Demo- 
cratic ticket sheriff and collector of Bates county. He served faithfully 
and efficiently two years and did not ask for re-election. At that time 
he and his family resided at Butler. In the autumn of 1874, Captain 
Newberry was elected senator of the Missouri State Legislature to rep- 
resent the district composed at that time of the counties of Bates, Cass, 



654 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and Jackson. He served one term of four years during Governor Wood- 
son's administration and again did not ask for re-election. In 1888, 
Captain Newberry was elected representative of the Missouri State 
Legislature and after serving one term in this official capacity he for 
the third time refused to ask for re-election. While a member of the 
House of Representatives in the Missouri State Legislature, Captain 
Newberry introduced a bill providing for the inspection of coal mines 
and the bill became a state law and it has countless times since proven 
to be a most valuable one, resulting in the saving of hundreds of lives. 

On December 10, 1854, the marriage of John B. Newberry and Eliza- 
beth Drake was solemnized. Mrs. Newberry was a native of Ohio, born 
July 12, 1833, a daughter of George Drake, who located in Bates county 
in the days before the Civil War. He returned to Ohio at the time of 
the outbreak of the war and in that state remained until the conflict 
had ended, when he came back to Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Drake 
died at Johnstown in Bates county. Elizabeth (Drake) Newberry was 
residing at the time of her marriage with her widowed aunt, Sarah 
Drake, in the same homestead in which she died. To Capt. John B. and 
Elizabeth Newberry have been born live children, two of whom are now 
living: Mrs. Charles Ewin, Butler, Missouri; and George W., a graduate 
of the Butler high school, a former student of a business college of 
Sedalia, Missouri, now with the Houchin Loan & Collection Agency, 
Chicago, Illinois. Those deceased are: Susie, the wife of I. M. Kret- 
zinger ; Jessie, the wife of Arthur L. Gilmore ; and one, who died in 
infancy. Mrs. Elizabeth Newberry died February 22, 1893. 

The second marriage of Captain Newberry occurred on October 8, 
1902, with Mary Van Hoy, of Deepwater township, a daughter of John 
M. and Mary (Ludwick) Van Hoy, deceased pioneer settlers of Bates 
county. John M. Van Hoy resided in Henry county at the time of his 
marriage. He was captain of a company of Union soldiers during the 
Civil War. He died during the Civil War. After the war Mrs. Van 
Hoy located in Bates county and died at the age of ninety-four years. 
Mary (Van Hoy) Newberry was born May 4, 1856. 

There is no better authority in Missouri on the conditions of pioneer 
life in Bates county than Captain Newberry. He retains a vivid remem- 
brance of the early days — of the dense and gloomy shade of the primeval 
forest along the streams of water ere the clearings had been made and 
of the opportunities afforded one to conceal himself in the shelter of the 
tall prairie grass while awai-ting a shot at a deer, wild turkeys, or prairie 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 655 

chickens, for which the family were waiting to make an appetizing and 
savory breakfast. He has many times brought home three wild turkeys 
before the morning meal.' Captain Newberry states that meat was 
plentiful in those days, that even the hogs ran at large through the 
winter, though each hog had an earmark to designate its owner. He 
recalls the days of the well-developed mosquito, when a smudge fire at 
night and a mosquito net over the bed were the only measures to take 
if one wished for comfort and sleep. Horseflies, "greenheads," were so 
annoying in the summers that it was impossible to travel across the 
prairie with horses and so people obliged to travel went at night in 
order to escape the pests. Captain Newberry used to own an Indian 
pony named "Tom," wihich he used in all his travels over the country, 
and when leaving Butler all that was necessary was to give the pony 
the rein and he would bring his master safely home, a distance of twelve 
miles, crossing intervening streams cautiously, even on the darkest nights 
arriving at "Evergreen Liberty Bell Farm" in safety. "Tom" was pur- 
chased from Thomas Goulding. In the daytime, a traveler would be 
able to locate himself by marks upon trees along the way and would 
always "cut across" the prairie the nearest way. 

Captain Newberry is eighty-eight years of age at the time of this 
writing and in a very few months will have lived four score years and 
ten. He has during his long life of usefulness experienced the toil, the 
sacrifices, the hardships, and the many happy hours of pioneer life in 
Missouri and he has seen Bates county in embryo, then gradually emerge 
from a most primitive condition to one of the most advanced in the 
country. He has done his part nobly and well in bringing about the 
marvelous development and is spending the closing years of his career 
enjoying the comforts and luxuries of our present-day civilization. It 
is a wonderfully fine thing to have had the privilege to have a life which 
has spanned more than man's allotted three score years and ten, to 
have lived in two different centuries, and that in itself is sufficient evi- 
dence of a good, pure life well lived. Although Captain Newberry's 
eyesight is poor, preventing reading, he is otherwise in perfect possession 
of all his physical and mental powers, as active and alert as many 
who are a score of years younger than he. 

Rising above the heads of the masses are a few men of sterling 
worth and value, who by sheer perseverance and pluck, have conquered 
fortune and by their own unaided efforts have risen from the ranks of 
the commonplace to positions, of eminence in a business world and state, 



656 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and at the same time have commanded the universal respect and trust 
of all with whom they have come in contact. Among those earnest 
men of Bates county, whose strength of character and strict adherence 
to honorable principles, whose upright morality excite the admiration of 
their fellowmen. Captain Newberry is prominent and no biographical 
compendium of Bates county, Missouri, would be complete without his 
life-story. 

Del Lutsenhizer, a prominent farmer and stockman of Bates county, 
Missouri, is a member of an honored pioneer family of this section of 
the state. Mr. Lutsenhizer was born September 17, 1878 on the farm 
where his grandfather, Jacob Lutsenhizer, had settled in 1839. He is 
a son of Thomas and Sallie (Ewin) Lutsenhizer. Thomas Benton 
Lutsenhizer was born in Bates county, March 29, 1842, a son of Jacob 
Lutsenhizer, a son of Henry and Judith (Marchand) Lutsenhizer, and 
who came to Missouri from Ohio with his family and settled on a tract 
of land located three miles southeast of the present townsite of Spruce, 
Missouri, which land he entered from the government in 1839. The 
forerunner of the Lutsenhizers in Bates county, Missouri was Henry 
Lutsenhizer and with him came William Lutsenhizer, brother of Jacob 
and they settled on land entered from the government in 1837, a tract 
located in Deepwater township two miles southeast of the present 
townsite of Spruce. Henry Lutsenhizer laid out the road from Johns- 
town to Pleasant Gap, and near the latter place his brother, William, 
died. Jacob Lutsenhizer came two years later than did Henry and 
William and soon became one of the leaders of the settlement. He 
served as the first county judge of Bates county. He lived but five 
years after- coming West, his death occurring in 1844. Henry Lutsen- 
hizer went to California in 1848, at the time of the excitement over 
the discovery of gold in that state, and when he left this country his 
home was situated in Vernon county, as the boundaries were in those 
days. Mr. Lutsenhizer returned to Missouri after fifty years and, 
much like Rip Van Winkle and not having been in touch with the 
progress of the county, he sought in vain for his old home. During 
his absence, the natural changes of a half century of progress had 
taken place. Bates county had been formed. His relatives at Butler, 
learning of his return, located him at Nevada, where he, an old man 
of ninety years, was patiently searching for some trace of his old home- 
stead and his friends. He came to Butler and visited his people for 
many weeks and spent the rest of his days with Thomas Benton Lut- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 657 

senhizer and died in 1902. His farm is now owned by Del Lutsenhizer. 

Jndith (Marchand) Lutsenhizer was a daughter of David March- 
and, of French-Huguenot descent, and who served in the Revolutionary 
War. He was a native of Pennsylvania. The Lutsenhizers were Penn- 
sylvanians also. David Marchand was a surgeon with rank of captain. 
He was a son of Dr. David Marchand, whose ancestry goes back to 
1700. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Lutsenhizer were the parents of five daugh- 
ters, all of whom were early-day school teachers of Bates county, 
namely: Mrs. Sarah Durand, deceased; Margaret, deceased; Esther, 
deceased; Susan, deceased; and Abiah, the wife of J. R. Simpson, and 
the only one now living. Mrs. Lutsenhizer and her children were 
obliged to move from their home place near Spruce to Henry county, 
Missouri, on account of Order Number 11 and she died in Flenry county 
two months after they had moved. 

In 1875, Thomas Benton Lutsenhizer and Sallie Ewin, a daughter 
of William Ewin, were united in marriage. Sallie (Ewin) Lutsenhizer 
is a descendant of one of the first families of Missouri. Her father 
was born April 13, 1819, in Howard county, Missouri, a son of Watts 
Ewin, who came with his wife to this country when it was still a terri- 
tory and they settled near Fort Homestead in 1817. Mr. and Mrs. 
Watts Ewin brought with them from Kentucky a setting of eggs which 
they hatched in a chimney corner by keeping them warm as they had 
no hen to sit upon them. This was probably the first incubator, and 
the finest in its day, in use in Missouri. To Thomas B. and Sallie 
(Ewin) Lutsenhizer were born the following children, who are now 
living: May, Kansas City, Missouri; Del, the subject of this review; 
and Jessie B., the wife of Walter B. Kelly, of Kansas City, Missouri. 
Thomas B. Lutsenhizer was a veteran of the Confederate army in the 
Civil War. He was taken prisoner from his own home by the Union 
forces and placed in prison at St. Louis, where he was confined for 
three or four months before he was exchanged and thus given his lib- 
erty. He then enlisted with the Confederates and served until the 
close of the war, serving with General Parson's brigade, the Sixteenth 
Missouri Infantry, and he was at Shreveport, Louisiana, at the time 
of the surrender in 1865. Thomas Benton Lutsenhizer died June 21, 
1900. The widowed mother makes her home at Kansas City, Mis- 
souri, with her daughter, Mrs. Walter B. Kelly. 

Del Lutsenhizer received his education in the district schools of 

(42) 



658 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



Deepwater townshjp, Bates county. He remained at home with his 
parents until he was twenty-one years of age. Mr. Lutsenhizer's farm 
comprises one hundred sixty acres of land, formerly owned by his 
great uncle, Henry Lutsenhizer, and formerly known as the William 
Ludwick place. He is profitably engaged in raising cattle, hogs, sheep, 
and mules and is prominently identified with the agricultural interests 
of Bates county. 

"The marriage of Del Lutsenhizer and Blanche Price, a daughter 
of Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Price, of Summit township, a sketch of whom 
appears elsewdiere in this volume, was solemnized June 22, 1904, and 
to this union have been born two children: Hazel Fern, who was born 
September 19, 1905; and Howard Benton, who was born August 18, 
1911. Mr. and Mrs. Lutsenhizer are highly respected in their com- 
munity and they are numbered among the valued citizens of Bates 
county. 

Clay S. Cumpton, a progressive agriculturist and stockman of Bates 
county, was born in 1879 on the farm which was entered from the gov- 
ernment by his grandfather, Thomas S. Cumpton, in 1853, a son of 
John M. and Angelina E. (Hedrick) Cumpton, the former, a native of 
Howard county, Missouri, and the latter, of Law^rence county, Indiana. 
John M. Cumpton was born in 1833 and until he was ten years of age 
resided with his parents in Howard county, Missouri, and then moved 
with them to Johnson county, whence they came to Bates county, Mis- 
souri, in 1853 and the father, Thomas S. Cumpton. entered the land 
above mentioned. The elder Cumpton died on his farm in Bates county 
in 1862 and interment was made in Dickison cemetery. 

The marriage of Thomas S. Cumpton's son, John M., and Angelina 
E. Hedrick, daughter of William and Elizabeth Hedrick, was solem- 
nized in 1860. Angelina E. (Hedrick) Cumpton came to Morgan county, 
Missouri, with her parents when she was a child two years of age and 
thence to Bates county, Missouri, in 1846. The Hedricks settled at Round 
Prairie in Hudson township. Mrs. Hedrick died in 1874 and interment 
was made in Myers cemetery in Hudson township. She was survived by 
her husband twenty-nine years, Vk^hen in 1903 he joined her in death at 
the noble age of ninety-nine years, one month, and sixteen days. Mr. 
Hedrick was laid beside his wife in Myers cemetery. To John M. and 
Angelina E. Cumpton were born ten children, five of whom are now liv- 
ing: Orvil W., Spruce, Missouri; Dr. Victor J.. Pleasant Gap, Missouri; 
W^illiam E., Spruce, Missouri; Mary Elizabeth, the wife of J. A. Borland, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 659 

of Spruce, Missouri; and Clay S., the subject of this review, on the home 
place of the Cumptons, the homestead of his grandfather, the birth- 
place of his father and of himself. John M. Cumpton has long since 
answered the last summons and the widowed mother, now at the 
advanced age of eighty years, makes her home with her son, Clay S., 
at the Cumpton homestead. Mrs. Angelina E. Cumpton is one of the 
most honored and beloved of Bates county's pioneer women and she 
talks entertainingly of the days of her youth in Bates county, of the 
hard but not unhappy times of the long ago, when there was always 
plenty food but little money, more than enough work for all but few 
pleasures or recreations. She recalls how they were obliged to travel 
across the prairie to Papinsville once a week to obtain their mail. 
Mrs. Cumpton is the proud grandmother of seventeen grandchildren, 
all of whom reside in Bates county. 

Clay S. Cumpton received his education at Cumpton school house 
in Bates county, Missouri. The Cumpton school house was named in 
honor of the Cumpton family. Practically all his life, Mr. Cumpton 
has been interested in farming and stock raising and since attaining 
maturity he has established a splendid reputation for himself in this 
part of the state as an exceptionally successful, careful breeder and pro- 
ducer of high grade hogs, cattle, and horses. He has on the farm, at 
the time of this writing in 1918, seventeen head of good Shorthorn 
cattle. Twenty acres of the Cumpton place are in timber and the past 
season, of 1917, Mr. Cumpton had twenty acres of the farm in wheat 
and had planted some oats and corn. 

June 5, 1912, Clay S. Cumpton and Ada Silvers, a daughter of Clint 
and Martha Silvers, of Rich Hill, Missouri, were united in marriage. 
To this union have been b'orn two children : Mary Belle and Lloyd 
Lawrence. 

Clay S. Cumpton occupies no small place in the public esteem, being 
an active and earnest supporter of all worthy enterprises which have 
for their object the material and spiritual advancement of the community. 

James A. De Armond. — Born at Greenfield, Missouri, November 
28, 1873, oldest son of Judge David A. De Armond. Educated in com- 
mon schools and Butler High School; Wentworth Military Academy, 
Lexington, Missouri ; Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Vir- 
ginia ; Missouri State University, Columbia, Missouri. Admitted to the 
bar at Butler in 1901. Practiced law in Butler until 1904, when he 
purchased the "Bates County Democrat," daily and weekly, and owned 



660 HISTORY OP' BATES COUNTY 

and conducted the same until 1910. In 1912 resumed the practice of law 
and is now located at Butler. Held the office of city attorney of Butler 
by appointment and election in 1903 and 1904. Was tendered the 
appointment of adjutant-general of Missouri by Governor Folk in 1905 
although not a candidate for that or any other appointment from the 
governor of whom he had been an active supporter. Held the office 
until expiration of his term in 1909. Elected mayor of Butler in 1918 
without opposition. Active in military affairs from the age of seven- 
teen when he joined the National Guard as a private. Retired as 
brigadier-general in 1909. Served in the Spanish-American .War as 
first lieutenant and captain in Company B, Second Missouri Infantry. 
Married in 1901 to Nancy Lee Bell of Liberty, Missouri. Five children 
born to marriage: David A., Jr., who lost his life in a fire in 1909 together 
with his grandfather, Congressman David A. De Armond; Alice Irene; 
Ann Landis; James A., Jr.; and Helen. Member of Masonic and Odd 
Fellow lodges. 

W. H. Charters, Jr., proprietor of "Charteroak Stock Farm" in 
Bates county, is one of the successful and most prominent stockmen of 
this part of Missouri. Mr. Charters is a native of Bates county. He was 
born October 26, 1885, in Deepwater township, a son of W. H., Sr., and 
Margaret (Carroll) Charters. \\\ H. Charters, Sr., was born in Ireland 
in 1856. When he was an infant, he came with his parents to America 
and they located in New York, later in Ohio, and finally W^ H. Charters, 
Sr., settled in Bates county, Missouri, about 1880 on a farm of one hun- 
dred acres in Deepwater township, where he engaged in farming and 
stock raising. Margaret (Carroll) Charters is a native of Champaign 
county, Ohio. To W. H., Sr., and Margaret Charters were born the 
following children: L. J., Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. J. A. Hermann, Culver, 
Missouri; Mrs. W. B. Young, who resides on the home farm in Deepwater 
township; Mrs. Grady Smith, Spruce, Missouri; and W. H., Jr., the sub- 
ject of this review. The father died in 1916 and the widowed mother 
makes her home at Butler, Missouri. 

W. H. Charters, Jr., attended the country schools of Bates county. 
His boyhood days were spent much as are the days of the average boy 
on the farm. Since he was twelve years of age, Mr. Charters has been 
self-supporting. He remained at home with his parents and assisted 
in the management of the home place until he was twenty-four years 
of age. In 1904 he went to Salt Lake City and spent one year in that 
city and Denver Colorado. About thirteen years ago, "Charteroak Stock 






W. H. CHARTERS, JR. 



HlSTORy OI" IJATKS COUNTY 66l 

Farm" was established by Mr. Charters and he has since been constantly 
occupied in the management of the same. 

April 3, 1910, VV. II. Charters, jr., and May iiliz/.ard were united 
in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Charters have two children: Margaret JJernece, 
born March 19, 1911 ; Mildred Irene, born May 15, 1917. May (Blizzard J 
Charters is a daughter of Wesley and Mary (iiaunke) Blizzard. Mr. 
l>lizzard is now deceased and his widf^w resides at Butler. Mr. and 
Mrs. Charters reside at "Charteroak Stock Farm," which is located 
northwest of the city limits of Butler. The Charters' residence is situ- 
ated on an eminence overlooking the city of Butler. Though in the 
country, this lu^me is supplied with all the conveniences of the most 
up-to-date city residence, 

"Charteroak Stock Farm" comprises one hundred twenty acres of 
land lying just northwest of the city limits of Butler. This stock farm 
has been established thirteen years, dating from the time of this writing 
in 1918. Thirteen years ago, Mr. Charters leased three brood sows, 
big bone Poland Chinas, under contract for two years and at the end 
of that time his half interest in the herd of one hundred fifty head of 
hogs was sufficient to enable him to labor independently in the future. 
The first sale was held in 1908. W. H. Charters, Jr., is the first man 
in Bates county to use the single or double vaccine treatment for cholera 
and since he first tested the treatment he has constantly kept it up and 
now offers for sale only immune hogs. On February 7, 1918, Mr. Char- 
ters held a sale which was a world record sale in two respects. It was 
the largest pure-bred sow sale ever held in America, and in addition 
to this the greatest number was sold within a given time, eighteen head 
being sold in two hours and eighteen minutes. The total amount 
of the sale was eleven thousand two hundred flollars, an average of one 
hundred seventeen dollars each. Eight states were represented among 
the buyers at this sale. The Charters' herd is the oldest and largest herd 
of Big Bone Poland Chinas in Missouri. Mr. Charters has kept his 
hogs graded as to age and size anrl he has followed the rule of never 
crowding his stock in pasture. He always feeds some corn supplemented 
with tankage and shorts. "Charteroak Stock Farm" is well equipped 
to care for a large herd of hogs, being supplied with two stock barns, 
two hay barns, one sale pavilion, and ten other necessary buildings. 
Mr. Charters has exported hogs to Havana, Cuba, one shipment of three 
head, the only shipment of the kind ever made by a Missouri breeder. 
Mr. Charters is also interested in breeding registered Shorthorn cattle. 



662 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

He has a small herd of high-class stock headed by "Premier Marshall" No. 
519833, a pure-bred white Scotch bull which was purchased from J. M. 
Patterson, Liberty, Missouri. 

Mrs. Charters is interested in poultry raising and about six years 
ago began raising pure-bred Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. This 
branch of the farm work at ''Charteroak Stock Farm" has grown and 
developed until it has proven as successful and remunerative as hog rais- 
ing. Mrs. Charters has, at the time of this writing, about two hundred 
head of chickens on the place. The fowls are sold at "Charteroak," for 
prospective purchasers, knowing the quality of the Charters' Rocks, are 
only glad to go to the farm for them. Mrs. Charters is a lady of much 
energy and intelligence and she is as thoroughly alive to the possibili- 
ties of this profitable industry as Mr. Charters is to the raising of pure- 
bred Poland Chinas. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charters are typical Americans and worthy representa- 
tives of eminently honorable Bates county families. Mr. Charters 
deserves all the success which has attended his efforts in the past and 
will continue to attend in the future for it is almost entirely due to his 
industry, energy, resolute purpose, and indefatigable persistence. He 
and Mrs. Charters are highly respected and valued in their community. 

George H. Gutridge of Deepwater township, was born in a log 
cabin, on the farm which he now owns, April 27. 1863, and has the dis- 
tinction of being the only "old settler" living in Bates county who was 
born nearest the time of the issuance of Order Number 11 by Gen. 
Thomas Ewing in 1863. He is the son of Peter Gutridge, a native of 
Muskingum county, Ohio, who was born in 1822 and made a settlement 
in Deepwater township as early as 1845. He was married in Henry 
county, Missouri, in 1849, to Angelina Dickison, who was born in Lick- 
ing county, Ohio. During the Civil War period, Peter Gutridge re- 
turned to Ohio and was in that state when Order Number Eleven was 
issued. Mrs. Gutridge took her children and returned to her old home 
in Henry county, remaining there until after the close of the war. When 
the family returned to the cabin, the live stock had disappeared and 
the house had been looted of its contents and it was necessary for them 
to make a new start. Peter Gutridge died on his homestead in 1877. 
Mrs. Gutridge died in 1898, and the remains of both are interred in 
Dickison cemetery. They were parents of children as follow: Joanna, 
wife of Samuel S. Stapleton, deceased; Minerva, wife of Jonathan Jack- 
son, Deepwater township; Samuel W., living at Bliss, Idaho; Susan 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 663 

A., wife of William Fletcher, Oregon; Lewis, deceased; George H., 
subject of this review; Mary M., wife of Grant Thornberg, Oregon; 
John and JefTerson, died in infancy. 

George H. Gntridge was educated in the district schools and But- 
ler Academy and also pursued a course of study in Bucks County 
College located in Muskingum county, Ohio. Mr. Gutridge has spent 
twenty-four years of his life in Oregon. He first went to that state 
in 1887 and remained for seven years employed in placer mining. In 
1893, he washed out six thousand, two hundred thirty-six dollars in gold 
dust from his mines. He returned home and lived on the home place and 
engaged in mercantile business in Spruce until 1899 and again went to 
Oregon, this time remaining in the mining country of that state for eight 
years. On his first trip he became owner of or part owner of a gold mine 
and operated it on his own account. After a return trip home he journeyed 
a third time to the mining region and remained for only one year in 
Baker county on a ranch. His first home was located two and one- 
fourth miles from Spruce, a farm which he owned for some years, and 
he eventually became owner of the Gutridge home place consisting of 
one hundred and nine acres, partly through inheritance and partly by 
purchase of the interests of the other heirs. Mr. Gutridge remodeled 
his residence in 1909 and has done considerable improving about his 
property. He keeps good grades of cattle, hogs and horses, and is 
thrifty, and industrious. 

Mr. Gutridge was married in 1893 to Miss Lydia M. Durrett, of 
Bates county, a daughter of Henry M. and Susan Caroline Durrett, 
the former of whom was a native of Virginia and the latter a native 
of Kentucky. The Durretts came to Missouri and first located in Cass 
county. After a residence of some years in that county they came 
to Bates county, and are now residing near Johnstown. Mr. and Mrs. 
Gutridge have an adopted daughter. Ermine, born July 9, 1911. 

During the Civil War a company of soldiers who were a part of 
the command of General Price were passing through the country, camp- 
ing in the Spruce neighborhood, and stopped to gather apples from 
the Gutridge orchard. As they were stripping the trees, Peter Gut- 
ridge objected and warned them to desist as he did not want his fruit 
crop ruined. The soldiers continued to damage and strip the trees of 
their fruit, and seizing his gun, he fired over their heads with the inten- 
tion of showing that he meant to defend his property. A small shot 
happened to hit a soldier in the heel. Whereupon, Mr. Gutridge's 



664 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

arrest was ordered and he was taken to Balltown, Vernon county, but 
shortly afterwards turned loose and returned to his home. The first 
trading post of the Gutridges was at Johnstown and later at old Papins- 
ville, the first county seat. The elder Gutridge broke the prairie sod 
with ox-teams and the early life of the family in the rude log cabin 
which he erected upon his farm w^as lived amid primitive surround- 
ings and the accompanying hardships of the pioneer era of settlement. 
In the autumn of 1916, George H. Gutridge was awarded a lap robe as 
a prize, being the winner of a contest promoted in Butler to ascertain 
which old settler in the county was born here on the date nearest to 
the time when Order Number Eleven was issued. 

Moses S. Keirsey, a late prominent agriculturist and stockman of 
Bates county, Missouri, a leading man of his community in Spruce 
township, one of the honored and respected citizens of the county who 
have gone on before, was a native of Tennessee. Mr. Keirsey was 
born in 1851, a son of Drury and Agnes Keirsey, who came to Missouri 
in the days before the Civil War and settled on a farm in Polk county. 
M. S.. Keirsey was reared to manhood amid the scenes of pioneer life 
in Polk county, Missouri. He came to Bates county in 1871 and set- 
tled on the farm, which is the present home of his widow, in Spruce 
township, a place comprising one hundred seventy-one acres of choice 
land, now nicely improved. 

The marriage of M. S. Keirsey and Mary M. Williams, a daugh- 
ter of William and Susan (Hopkins) Williams, was solemnized in Polk 
county, Missouri in 1867. Mr. Williams died about the time of the 
marriage of his daughter, in 1867, and Mrs. Williams resides at Fair- 
play in Polk county, Missouri with her daughter, Addie. To M. S. 
and Mary M. Keirsey were born seven children, all of whom are now 
living: William D., *a well-to-do farmer and stockman, Butler, Mis- 
souri; George, Ballard, Missouri; O. Williams, who is engaged in farm- 
ing in Spruce township; Fred, a prosperous farmer of Summit town- 
ship; Ollie, the wife of Melford Richardson, Chico, Butte county, Cali- 
fornia; Addie, the wife of C. M. Decker, of Shawnee township; and 
Josephine, who resides at home with her widowed mother. The father 
died January 7, 1917. 

The Keirsey country place is one of the attractive rural homes of 
Spruce township. It is one of the prairie farms of Bates county and 
well improved with a comfortable residence, a structure of eight rooms, 
a stock barn used for horses, a feed barn, a cattle barn, and other 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 665 

needed farm buildings. Mr. Keirsey was a man of great energy and 
a progressive, industrious stockman, whose name was a familiar one 
to all the stockmen of Bates county for he had established a splendid 
reputation as a successful breeder of cattle and hogs and mules. He 
purchased the grain which he fed his stock from the farmers of the 
vicinity and was thus a boon to his neighbors, who would have other- 
wise had to haul their produce a long distance in order to ship it. Since 
he has been gone, Mrs. Keirsey and her daughter. Miss Josephine, have 
remained on the farm and have attended to the stock interests although 
they rent the land. Mrs. Keirsey is a highly respected lady of much 
intelligence and she deserves great commendation for the admirable 
way in which she is continuing the work of Mr. Keirsey. 

Like the majority of pioneers, M. S. Keirsey was a quiet, unobtru- 
sive gentleman, somewhat reserved in manner, but a larger-hearted, 
more kindly, more courteous man one could not find in this part of the 
state. His youthful experiences, his early life spent mostly out-of- 
doors, toughened and strengthened his physical and mental fiber and 
fitted him for the active pursuits of farming and stock raising which 
he followed in later years. He grew to maturity with a splendid, almost 
perfect, physique and in early manhood scarcely knew what fatigue 
or illness meant. Mr. Keirsey did not care for public honors or the 
emoluments of office but found happiness in his home in the associa- 
tions with his family, whom he loved with a deep devotion. He was 
an honorable, honest, upright citizen and the loss inflicted by the Grim 
Reaper has been and still is deeply felt in his community and in his 
home, but were he with us today he would no doubt counsel us, as 
did the poet many years ago counsel himself when he, too, was heart- 
broken with grief over the loss of a dear one : 

"Be still, sad heart, and cease repining; 
Behind the clouds the sun's still shining; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all : 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary." 

M. N. Teeter, an influential agriculturist of Shawnee township, is 
one of the successful sons of a sterling pioneer family of Bates county. 
Mr. Teeter was born December 9, 1878 at the Teeter homestead in 
Shawnee township, a son of C. N. and Eliza (Hill) Teeter, the father, 
a native of New York and the mother, of Pennsvlvania. The Teeters 



666 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

came to Missouri in 1865 and settled on a prairie farm in Bates county, 
after a few months residence in Butler. C. N. Teeter built their resi- 
dence in Butler from lumber which he hauled from Pleasanton, Linn 
county, Kansas and the old house still stands in this city, located about 
three blocks from the public square on the north side of the city. Mr. 
Teeter was an enterprising and capable farmer and stockman and suc- 
ceeded well in raising and feeding large herds of horses, cattle, and 
hogs. At the time of his death, in 1907, he was the owner of a valuable 
farm in Bates county, a place embracing three hundred twenty-three 
acres of land. The remains of C. N. Teeter were laid to rest in Cloud 
cemetery in this county. The widowed mother still resides at the old 
home place in Shawnee township. 

At Griggs school house in Shawnee township, a building named 
in honor of William Griggs on whose farm the school house was located, 
M. N. Teeter obtained his education. School was held in the same 
school house in the days before the Civil War, and Mr. Teeter attended 
school at the old school house. When he was thirteen years of age, 
he had mastered the trade of blacksmithing and for seven years was 
engaged in following his trade in Bates county. When he had attained 
maturity, Mr. Teeter moved on the farm which had formerly been his 
father's and entered the stock business, in which he has ever since been 
engaged. He raises, buys, and sells cattle, hogs, horses, and mules and 
is the owner of one of the nice country places in his township, a farm 
embracing one hundred twenty acres of valuable land located ten miles 
east of Adrian and two and a half miles northwest of Ballard. The 
Teeter farm is well improved and equipped for handling stock. 

The marriage of M. N. Teeter and Millie Gilbert, a daughter of 
J. F. and Jane (Hammond) Gilbert, of Grand River township, was 
solemnized December 24, 1899. Both the father and the mother of 
Mrs. Teeter are now deceased and their remains are interred in Hart 
cemetery in Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Gilbert were the parents 
of thirteen children, all of whom have been reared to maturity and are 
now living, the oldest being fifty-five years of age and the eleventh is 
Mrs. M. N. Teeter: William, John, Howard, Charles, Victor, William, 
Mrs. Florence Hammond, Mrs. Grace Russell, Mrs. Dora Witterman, 
Mrs. Ruth Burk, Mrs. Blanche Embree, Mrs. Hilda Shield, and Mrs. 
Millie Teeter. Mr. Teeter has only one sister living, Mrs. Ella Mosher, 
who resides in Shawnee township. To M. N. and Mrs. Teeter have 
been born the following children: Madge, a student in the Adrian 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 667 

High School; Gladys, Orpha, Don, and Hurley, all at home with their 
parents. 

The history of every community is but the aggregation of the biog- 
raphies of its citizens and the record of the relations which they have 
sustained one to another. Some may be of little interest to the casual 
reader, still they occupy important places in the record, and many lives 
that attract but slight attention from the world at large are often the 
most indispensable, being in many cases the lives of men and women 
who are moulding public sentiment and directing the destiny of their 
particular community. Mr. and Mrs. Teeter are widely and favorably 
known in the county and they are justly enrolled among its best and 
most representative citizens. 

W. S. Hurt, proprietor of "Valley Grove Stock Farm" in Spruce 
township, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Hurt was born in 1854 at Colum- 
bia in Adair county and thirty-six years ago, dating from the time of 
this writing in 1918, he came to Missouri and settled on a farm in Spruce 
township. He had twelve hundred dollars to invest at that time, the 
proceeds from the sale of his Kentucky land, a farm comprising one 
hundred twenty acres, and now, after nearly two score years in the 
West, he is the owner of one of the best and most attractive country 
places in Spruce township. Bates county. The sign of the "Valley Grove 
Stock Farm" is a pretty picture of two ears of Boone county white corn 
at the gate at the entrance of the driveway, a representation of the corn 
raised by Air. Hurt on this farm and of his artistic ability, for he painted 
the picture. 

When W. S. Hurt came to Bates county, Missouri in 1882, he pur- 
chased a tract of land in Spruce township, a small farm embracing forty 
acres, which he improved and then sold. He invested the proceeds of 
the sale in another forty-acre tract, which he afterward sold for eighty 
dollars an acre. Mr. Hurt retired from improving land, farming, and 
stock raising at this time and entered the mercantile business, in which 
he was engaged for nine years after buying the J. C. Noble stock of 
merchandise. Mr. Hurt was successful as a merchant, but he prefers 
the independence of the farm to the confinement of a store and in 1912 
moved to his present country home in Spruce township, where he has 
since been contentedly at work, clearing the timber land for pasture, 
improving the land and the soil, raising horses, cattle, mules, and hogs. 
"Valley Grove Stock Farm" lies four miles northwest of Johnstown and 
two and a half miles southeast of Ballard. It comprises one hundred 



668 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

twenty acres of land, forty acres of which are underlaid with a vein of 
coal from twelve to eighteen inches in depth. There are two ponds, 
four wells, and one cistern on the place, making it one of the most 
abundantly watered farms in Bates county. The improvements include 
a nice residence, a ten-room structure, well built with conveniently 
arranged rooms which are neatly kept, and a splendid barn, 40 x 60 feet 
in dimensions. Mr. Hurt is devoting his attention chiefly to raising 
roan Durham cattle and O. I. C. Poland China hogs, having about fort\- 
head of the latter on the farm at the present time, in 1918. 

In 1876, W. S. Hurt and Corinna Snow were united in marriage in 
Kentucky. To this union have been born eight children, seven of whom 
are now living: Mrs. Mertie Corwine, of Spruce township, Bates county; 
Montie, the well-known collector of Mingo township, Bates county; 
Otis, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Spruce township ; Pearl, de- 
ceased; Mrs. Laura Hill, who resides in Colorado; Loren, a successful 
farmer and stockman of Spruce towmship ; Ivy and Bryan, both at home 
with their parents. Kindly, hospitable, and generous, the Hurt family's 
popularity is as extensive as their acquaintance, and their southern 
courtesy has become proverbial. 

Among the progressive men of Bates county, who have assisted 
materially in developing the agricultural interests of this section of the 
state, W. S. Hurt takes high rank. 

Andrew Hanson, an industrious and thrifty farmer of Shawnee town- 
ship, was born near Eureka, Kansas, January 6, 1862, the son of Chris- 
topher and Mary Hanson, the former of whom was a native of Norway 
and was one of the first settlers near Eureka. He later located in St. 
Clair county, Missouri, where the mother of Andrew Hanson died in 
1868. Christopher Hanson departed this life in Jefferson City, Missouri, 
in 1876. The other children born to Christopher and Mary Hanson 
besides Andrew, are: Mrs. Sophia Evans, St. Clair county, Missouri; 
Mrs. Martha Silvers, Rich Hill, Missouri. By a second marriage the 
following children were born to Christopher Hanson and wife: Frank, 
Rich Hill, Missouri; Lonnie Cox, an adopted son; Mrs. Alice Jackson, 
St. Louis, Missouri. 

Andrew Hanson was reared in St. Clair county and there took up the 
vocation of farming. When seventeen years of age he came to Bates 
county and began working at farm labor on the farm of Adolphus 
Stuckey and remained on this farm for some time, eventually becoming 
the owner of the very place where he began his own career. On September 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 669 

17, 1885, he was married at the Stuckey homestead by Rev. A. H. Lewis 
to Mary E. Stuckey, the daughter of his employer, and for some time 
remained on the Stuckey farm. During his first year before marriage 
he raised a big crop of wheat on this farm, the yield averaging twenty- 
seven bushels to the acre. Prior to the advent of the railroad to Butler 
he raised a large crop of flax on land west of Butler. He hauled this 
crop to Rockville for shipment, the trip taking him two days for each 
load. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson have resided in Missouri, Kansas, and Okla- 
homa, and again came to the old Stuckey farm for a permanent stay in 
1903. They took a pre-emption claim in Meade county, Kansas, in 1887, 
and proved up on it and for some time Mr. Hanson followed stock rais- 
ing in Meade county and Clark county, Kansas. They lived in "No Man's 
Land," now Beaver county, Oklahoma, for a few years prior to returning 
to Bates county where they homesteaded land in 1888. Mr. Hanson owns 
a splendid farm of two hundred forty acres, which is a part of the Stuckey 
farm of three hundred twenty acres. 

Eight children have been born to Andrew and Mary E. Hanson, 
six of whom are living: Bertha, wife of Charles Stover, Shawnee town- 
ship; Alva, was killed by a stroke of lightning on June 25, 1910; Walter, 
married Maggie McGuire, and resides in Shawnee township; Lonnie, was 
killed by lightning on June 25, 1910 and Fonnie, twins; Hattie, Lloyd, 
and Edna at home. Mrs. Mary E. (Stuckey) Hanson was born February 
1, 1867, near Fairbury, Illinois, and is a daughter of Adolphus Stuckey, 
a native of England, who came to America when but a lad and later 
made a settlement in Bates county as early as 1873. Before coming to 
Bates county he had his home in Illinois and during the Civil War he 
served his country in an Illinois regiment of volunteers throughout the 
war. Mr. Stuckey began in a small way in Bates county and erected 
a box house on his prairie farm, improved the place and became well to 
do as the years passed. He returned to Illinois and after living there 
for twenty-two years, he came back to his farm and died there in March, 
1915. His wife was Nancy Cunningham before her marriage. She 
was born in Illinois, January 14, 1838, and died August 31, 1893. The 
Stuckey children were as follow: Mrs. Ida Shook, Fairbury, Illinois; 
Mrs. Hattie Vint, Walla Walla, Washington ; and Mrs. Mary E. Hanson. 

Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hanson it is interesting to 
note that Alva, Walter, Lonnie, and Fonnie were born in Beaver county 
Oklahoma. Hattie, Lloyd, and Edna, were born in Clark county, Kansas. 
The fine cedar trees growing in the yard of the Hanson farm and which 



670 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

add to the attractiveness of the place, were obtained by Mr. Hanson, 
who assisted in setting them out, when he was working for Mr. Stuckey 
in about 1880. The Hansons are industrious and honest people who 
have the good will and esteem of their neighbors and have many 
friends in their neighborhood. 

Nancy (Cunningham) Stuckey was the daughter of Mr. Cunning- 
ham, who was one of the early pioneers of Bates county and was one of 
the first settlers of Butler. 

J. W. Cole, merchant of Ballard, Missouri, is one of the successful 
business men of Bates county. Mr. Cole is the best authority on the 
history of the mercantile interests of Ballard and he states that the 
first store at Ballard w^as opened by Mr. Moreland in partnership with 
his two sons. It was he, who succeeded in having a postofiice estab- 
lished at this place, but which was discontinued several years ago when 
the rural routes were designated in Bates county. Mr. Moreland dis- 
posed of his mercantile interests after some time, selling to Dr. McFar- 
land, who in turn sold the establishment to Robert Beatty. Mr. More- 
land returned to Ballard from Urich, Henry county, where he had been 
for a short time, and purchased the store from Mr. Beatty. After- 
ward, he again sold out, this time Mr. Price being the purchaser, and 
he sold to Mr. Keirsey and Mr. Keirsey to "Mack" Greer and Mr. 
Greer to "Jake" Kedigh and Mr. Kedigh to J. W. Cole, the present 
owner, who bought the place of business in March, 1917. Mr. Cole is 
an experienced man in the mercantile business, having conducted a 
store at Culver for thirteen years prior to purchasing the business 
establishment at Ballard. Thus, the following men have consecutively 
been the leading merchant and mo?t prominent business man of Ballard; 
Moreland, McFarland, Beatty, Moreland, Price, Keirsey, Greer, Kedigh, 
and Cole. Mr. Cole has a nice, clean stock of merchandise and of suf- 
ficient quantity for the demands and he is enjoying an excellent patron- 
age, drawing trade from the entire surrounding country, and the satis- 
faction of his customers is sufficient evidence of his marked success. 

Mr. Cole is a native of Lafayette county, Missouri. His father, 
Henry Cole, was one of the first pioneers of that county and of Mis- 
souri. Henry Cole settled on a tract of land in Lafayette county in 
1818, two years before Missouri became a state. He came to Bates 
county, Missouri in 1876 and located on a farm in Spruce township, 
where he spent the closing years of a long life of usefulness, althoug'h 
his death occurred at Clinton in Henry county, to which place he had 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 67 1 

moved but a very short time prior to answering the death summons. 
Henry Cole died in 1892 at the noble age of eighty-four years and his 
remains were interred in Dover cemetery in Lafayette county beside 
those of his wife, Sarah Cole, who had preceded him in death thirty- 
two years before. Mrs. Cole died in 1860. Henry and Sarah Cole 
were the parents of five children, who are now living: Judge W. T., 
Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Rebecca Chirs, Eldorado Springs, Missouri; 
Robert, Santa Rosa, California; J. \y., the subject of this review; and 
Sallie, Sweetsprings, Missouri. 

J. W. Cole was born in 1857 and was reared on the farm in Lafay- 
ette county and educated in the district schools there. He was engaged 
in agricultural pursuits prior to entering the mercantile business at 
Culver in 1896, at which time he purchased the Charles Greer store 
and, as has been mentioned above, was engaged in conducting this 
general store at Culver for thirteen years. After disposing of his stock 
of merchandise at Culver, Mr. Cole entered the employ of "Mat" 
Rosier at Butler and was with him for two years, then spent two and 
a half years in California. On his return to Missouri, J. W. Cole located 
on a farm in Shawnee township. Bates county and for two years was 
again engaged in the pursuits of agriculture, interested in both general 
farming and stock raising. He traded his farm interests for the mer- 
chandise at Ballard in 1917 and, at the time of this writing in 1918, is 
profitably employed in conducting the general store at that place. 

In 1897, J. W. Cole and Julia Douglass, a daughter of Sydney and 
Melinda Douglass, were united in marriage. Sydney Douglass was one 
of the county's leading citizens and was at one time county recorder of 
Bates county. He is now deceased and Mrs. Cole's mother resides at 
Warrensburg, Missouri. To J. W. and Julia (Douglass) Cole has been 
born one child, a daughter, Lillian, who is at home with her parents. 
The Cole family stands high among the best families of Bates county. 

Darius Teeter, a late honored pioneer of Bates county, was a native 
of New York. Mr. Teeter was born in 1834 in Cayuga county, a son 
of Conrad and Mary (Hall) Teeter, the father, a native of New Jersey 
and the mother, of Cayuga county, New York. In the common schools 
of Wisconsin, Darius Teeter received his education. His parents moved 
to Wisconsin five years before it became a state, in 1843, and there the 
mother died when the son. Darius, was still very young. When he was 
twenty-one years of age, his father sold the homestead and Darius and 
his brother bought a tract of government land in the northern part of 



672 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the State of Wisconsin and engaged in farming. From there, Darius 
Teeter and a friend, Thomas Springsteen, started for Pike's Peak, Colo- 
rado in the spring of 1860 driving ox-teams. They arrived at Denver 
on July 4, 1860 and for tvs'^o years engaged in mining and freighting in 
Colorado. Mr. Teeter left Colorado once, going thence to Omaha, 
Nebraska and returning the following spring to Colorado with freight. 
In the summer of 1862, he went to Oregon with his oxen and was there 
outfitted for a prospecting tour in Idaho and in that state, then a terri- 
tory, he prospered, making enough money with which to get a "good 
start" in life. Mr. Teeter filed a claim to the land which is the present 
townsite of Boise, Idaho in Ada county and the log cabin built by Darius 
Teeter and William Richie, partners, is preserved by the Historical 
Society of Boise. A large influx of people from different sections of 
the United States soon settled the country. Charles Teeter, a brother 
of Darius Teeter, came to Boise, Idaho in 1863 and after the latter dis- 
posed of his land interests the two brothers engaged in the mercantile 
business at that place until Darius Teeter returned to Wisconsin in 
1866. His first partner never returned to the old home, the one with 
whom he left Wisconsin, Thomas Springsteen. Mr. Teeter remained 
in that state until 1870, wdien he came to Missouri and settled on land 
in Bates county, section 7 in Spruce township, a tract comprising one 
hundred six and two-thirds acres, which he purchased from James Arm- 
strong for eight dollars an acre. To his original holdings, Mr. Teeter 
added until he owned one hundred ninety-two acres of choice land in 
this county. He had been a resident of Bates county for forty-eight 
years and had been constantly at work all these years improving and 
bettering the condition of his farm. The improvements, which have all 
been placed on the land by Mr. Teeter, include a nice residence, a two- 
story structure built in 1894, two well-constructed barns, a granary, a 
tool shed, and a splendid windmill, which pumps the water, from a well 
that is never dry, into the feed lots for the stock. Mr. Teeter's first 
residence in Bates county was a house, 16 x 24 feet in dimensions, built 
by himself from lumber which he hauled from Holden, Missouri, forty 
miles away. One pleasing feature of the Teeter farm is the orchard, 
covering four acres of land, planted when he first came to this part of 
the country. 

In 1866, Darius Teeter and Emma Abbott, of Wisconsin, were united 
in marriage. Mrs. Teeter was born in Indiana. To this union were 
born three children, who are now living: Mrs. Cora Embree, of Butler, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 673 

Missouri; George D., who is engaged in the furniture and undertaking 
business at Apache, Caddo county, Oklahoma; and Clarence A., who is 
at home with his father and manages the farm in Spruce township. The 
faithful wife and loving mother, one of the bravest, noblest pioneer 
women who ever came to Missouri, died in 1901 in California, while 
she and Mr. Teeter were there on a visit. Her remains were brought 
back to Bates county, Missouri for burial and interment was made in 
Cloud cemetery. Mr. Teeter died in February, 1918. 

Few men in Spruce township were as well and favorably known 
as Darius Teeter. A gentleman, a representative of one of the old 
colonial families of New York, of a sterling pioneer family of the 
old Northwest Territory, a man, who by sheer pluck, industry, and 
will-power subdued adversity and concjuered fortune and won success, 
a pioneer, himself, of western Missouri surely deserves more than pass- 
ing notice in a work of this character. He was a life-long Republican. 
Mr. Teeter was in many ways one of the most remarkable men to be 
found in our county. He possessed many admirable traits of character, 
a high sense of honor, honesty, justice, and integrity, and he was always 
interested in the development and prosperity of his township and county 
and did his full share in laying broad and deep the foundations of the 
county's progress. Although Mr. Teeter w^as far past the allotted span 
of human life, he retained much of his youthful vigor, both physically 
and mentally, to the time of his last fatal illness. He lived his life in 
such an upright and exemplary manner that his soul was quietly gath- 
ered to the bosom of his Maker upon "sunset and evening star and one 
clear call." 

Benjamin Ireland, an honored and respected pioneer of Bates county, 
Missouri, one of the proprietors of "Ireland Brothers' Stock Farm" in 
Spruce township, is one of the successful stockmen of western Missouri. 
Mr. Ireland was born September 13, 1848 in Kentucky, a son of Samuel 
and Ann (Tyler) Ireland. The father died in Henry countv, Kentucky 
in 1866. Mrs. Ireland came to Bates county, Missouri in 1870 to make 
her home with her sons, Benjamin and Charles, who had come ^^'est 
the preceding year. The mother died at the Ireland homestead in Spruce 
township in 1885 and her remains were laid to rest in Bethel cemetery. 

In the public schools of Pleasureville, Henry county, Kentucky, 
Benjamin Ireland received a good common school education. He was 
a young man, twenty-one years of age, when he left his native state 
and came to Missouri with his brother, Charles, born in 1842, and set- 

(43) 



674 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

tied on the farm in Spruce township, where the two brothers have ever 
since resided with the exception of one year spent in Vernon county, 
Missouri. They purchased an eighty-acre tract of land in Vernon county 
and resided on it just one year and then returned to Spruce township 
and for five years were engaged in farming on the John Winegardner 
place, when they purchased one hundred sixty acres of their present 
home place for eleven dollars an acre. This tract of land had a ten-rail 
fence enclosing twenty acres of it. The Ireland brothers now own two 
hundred forty-five acres of land in Spruce township and eighty acres of 
land in Shawnee township, one of Bates county's prairie farms. Their 
neighbors in the days of the long ago were Mr. Loggins, the Shrews- 
burys, the Pogues, the Webbs, the Greers, the Johnsons, the Sheltons, 
the Pettis family, and the Andrews family, all of whom resided along 
the creek. In the year 1874, the Ireland boys were obliged to drive 
their cattle to Barton county, Missouri to winter them on account of 
the devastation wrought in Bates county by drouth and the grasshoppers. 
The two brothers, Benjamin and Charles Ireland, came together to this 
country and have remained together throughout all these years. The 
older brother, Charles, has never married and is now seventy-six 
years of age. They have been partners all their lives and have together 
resided on a farm in Bates county for nearly a half century. It would 
be difficult to find a similar case or two brothers like the Ireland brothers 
in the state of Missouri. The 'Treland Brothers' Stock Farm" lies twelve 
miles northwest of Montrose, twenty miles northeast of Butler, and three 
miles southeast of Ballard. 

The marriage of Benjamin Ireland and Callie Harmon, a daughter 
of Adam and Nancy Harmon, of Spruce township. Bates county, was 
solemnized in July, 1884. Both the father and mother of Mrs. Ireland 
are now deceased, their deaths occurring in old Indian Territory. To 
this union have been born seven children, all of whom have been rearc 
to maturity and are now living: Charles, a successful farmer of Spruce 
township; H. C, who is engaged in farming on the home place; Grover, 
a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Spruce township; Emzey Vest, a 
prosperous stockman of Spruce township; Carrie, the wife of Henry 
Jones, of Henry county, Missouri; James F., a well-known farmer and 
stockman of Spruce township ; and Sudie, at home with her parents. 
Emzey Vest and H. C. Ireland are prominent stockmen of Bates county 
and are widely known in western Missouri as successful breeders of big 
bone Poland China hogs. H. C. Ireland has a fine herd of eood sfrade 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 6/5 

cattle on the home farm in Sprnce township, in the raising of which he 
has been interested for several years. James F. Ireland has an estab- 
lished reputation for producing high grade Hereford cattle, having at 
the present time in 1918, twenty-five head of white face cows, four red 
Polled Herefords, and a pure bred Hereford steer, in addition to a 
splendid Percheron horse, "Komar," weight two thousand pounds, and 
two fine jacks, "Sam" and "Monte Cristo," each fifteen and a half hands 
high, a saddle stallion, and a herd of big bone Poland China hogs. James 
F. Ireland resides on the Catterlin place adjoining the "Ireland Brothers' 
Stock Farm" on the east. (The Irelands have sown two hundred acres 
of wheat in 1918.) He is one of the most enterprising stockmen in the 
township and enjoys his work. He purchased three jennets last season, 
of 1917. Each of the Ireland children is doing well in life, all are assum- 
ing honorable places of influence in their respective communities, sons 
and daughters of whom their parents may well be proud. The Ireland 
family has long been regarded highly and valued among the best fami- 
lies of this section of the state. 

W. H. Smith, proprietor of the Red Ball Garage in Butler, is one 
of the enterprising business men of Bates county. Mr. Smith is a native 
son of Butler. He was born August 13, 1879, a son of Frank and Eliza- 
beth Smith, the former, a native of Michigan and the latter, of Indiana. 
Frank Smith came to Montrose, Missouri, in 1866 and thence to Butler 
and for thirty-five years was engaged in the hardware business in this ciiy. 
a merchant widely and favorably known throughout the county. He 
now resides in the city of Butler at 312 Adams street, where he is liv- 
ing in quiet retirement after nearly two score years of active labor in 
the strenuous fields of merchandising. To Frank and Elizabeth Smith 
were born four children wdio are now living: W. H., the subject 
of this review; Pearl, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. P. A. Delameter, Winter- 
haven, Florida ; and Frank, Jr., w^ho is with his brother, W. H., in the 
garage business at Butler. 

Mr. Smith, whose name introduces this review, attended the city 
schools of Butler, Missouri, and later Butler Academy. Since 1908, 
Mr. Smith has been engaged in the garage business at Butler, Mis- 
souri. 

The marriage of W. H. Smith and Louise Endres, a daughter of 
Mr. and Mrs. John Endres, of Butler, Missouri, was solemnized in 
1901. John Endres was for many years one of the leading bakers 
of Bates county, conducting a bakery at Butler, and after his death 



676 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mrs. Endres conducted a restaurant in this city for several years. To 
Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Smith has been born one chikl, a son, "Billy," 
who is now eight years of age. The Smith residence is in Butler at 
19 South Main street. Both the Smith and Endres families are widely 
known and highly respected in Bates county. 

The Red Ball Garage was opened January 15, 1908, and is located 
at 17 and 19 South Main street. The building has a frontage of ninety- 
five feet and a depth of one hundred fifteen feet, and is constructed of 
reinforced concrete, with an iron roof, and not a post in the entire struc- 
ture. This building was erected in 1917 and is a strictly modern garage 
in every respect. The north apartment, a room 65 x 115 feet in dimen- 
sions, is used for storage and display and the south room, 30 x 115 
feet in dimensions, is used for shop purposes. Mr. Smith has a general 
repair shop in which all kinds of machine work is done, batteries 
recharged, cars put in first-class condition. He has installed a complete 
vulcanizing plant for casings and inner tubes and in addition carries a 
general stock of automobile accessories. The Red Ball Garage has 
tlie agency for the Buick automobiles. W. H. Smith is a wide-awake 
salesman, an expert mechanician, and a "hustler." He is making a 
deserving success in his line of work. 

William H. Gotten, a pioneer of Bates county, widely known and 
noted horseman, large land-owner of Osage township, is an individual who 
was not afraid to venture his capital in the early days of the develop- 
ment of southern Bates county. He had faith in the ultimate growth 
of population in this section of Missouri, and foresaw tlie time when 
land values would rise to undreamed of heights. Accordingly, he began 
accumulating land just as soon as he was financially aljle and for years 
was one of the shrewdest of Missouri traders. When he came to Bates 
county in 1870, he drove across country from Cooper county with an 
old and balky team of horses attached to a wagon of equal vintage fitted 
with wooden axles, and in debt to Abe Waite, of Cooper county, in the 
sum of $300. During the forty-seven years of his residence in this 
county, he has been successively school teacher, trader, farmer. Jive stock 
man, and won a fame for himself as a breeder of race horses which 
reached far beyond the borders of Missouri. The Gotten homestead is 
one of the finest in this part of Missouri. It is a beautiful residence 
situated upon a hill which overlooks a great stretch of country and gives 
a close view of Rich Hill, only one and one-fourth miles to the east- 
ward. This place consists of one hundred fifty acres of rich land. 




WILLIAM H. GOTTEN. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 677 

Mr. Gotten owns in all eight farms totalling eleven hundred acres, nearly- 
all of which are located in Osage township. Four farms are equipped 
with good buildings, and Mr. Gotten oversees the farming operations 
upon five hundred acres of this land directly, and handles and feeds over 
seventy-five head of cattle annually. 

W. H. Gotten was born in Miller county, Missouri, October 25, 
1840, the son of Gabriel and Margaret (Guy) Gotten, both of whom 
were born in this state, the children of pioneer parents. Gabriel Gotten 
was born in 1807 and died in 1875. He was the son of Benjamin Gotten, 
of Kentucky, who settled in Gooper county early in the nineteenth 
century, his first home being in the neighborhood of old Fort Boone, 
He ran away from home when still a very young man and thus became 
a pioneer of a great state. He later made a permanent settlement 
in Miller county, where William H. was reared to young manhood and 
later taught school in Gooper county. During the Givil War period 
William H. removed to Ganada, where he had the advantage of good 
school facilities and applied himself accordingly. After his return home 
he taught school in Gooper county. For two years after coming to 
Bates county in 1870 he also taught school at Old Rich Hill. Mr. Got- 
ten's first investment in Bates county was in forty acres in Osage town- 
ship, located near Old Rich Hill, at a cost of $15 per acre. He went in 
debt for this farm and sold it not long afterward at a profit of $200. 
He then began trading and dealing in livestock and made a success 
of this business. He made a good friend in Martin Perr}^, who had 
capital and usually financed young Gotten in his earlier ventures. Dur- 
ing 1872, when the grasshoppers ate most of his crops, Mr. Gotten 
paid as high as twenty per cent, interest for the use of borrowed money. 
He had a good crop in the following year and began to prosper. For 
two years he resided on his first farm and then leased a farm near 
that of H. P. Robinson for four years. For two years following he 
was engaged in the saw mill business. In the spring of 1880, land began 
to rise in value and he deemed it advisable to get possession of all the 
land which his capital would permit. In the spring of 1881, he bought 
two hundred forty acres in addition to a tract of two hundred 
forty acres which he had purchased in 1880. During the winter of 1880 
and 1881. he fed a large herd of cattle on the "Mound" and sold them 
at a considerable profit in the spring. He invested the proceeds in land 
and has continued to follow out a definite and well-defined course in 
land investments, and for land has paid all the w^ay from $15 to $60 



678 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

per acre. His home farm was purchased in 1903 and is worth at a fair 
valuation, over $100 an acre. 

Mr. Cotten's greatest accomplishment, however, was in the producing 
of a famous breed of race horses. From a dam purchased of the late 
Edward Crabb, of Osage township, he bred "Redwood Redman" in 1884 
and thus created the famous breed known by this name. The dam 
which foaled the noted race stallion was obtained from Mr. Crabb by 
a trade which involved but $80 in money values. Mr. Gotten produced 
from Redwood Redman, the following noted track winners: "Blondy 
Redwood," 2:08M; "Dewey Redwood," 2:16; "Woodshine," 2:08, a 
three-year-old which he sold for $1,000 and which had never been started 
in a race prior to the sale. Mr. Gotten also received $1,000 for "King 
Redman," 2:16. He made a number of track campaigns with "Redwood 
Redman" in Iowa, St. Louis and raced him at Terre Haute, Indiana. He 
sent "Blondy Redwood" to Dallas, Texas, for the races and the famous 
mare won three purses on the Dallas track. 

On February 8, 1871, Mr. Gotten was united in marriage with 
Amanda H. Ratekin, who was born in Gallaway county, Missouri, a 
daughter of Edward Ratekin, who came to Bates county in 1869 and 
spent the remainder of his days in this county. Mr. Gotten has one child, 
a daughter, Mrs. Ida Davis, residing at Rich Hill, mother of four chil- 
dren; Sydney Gotten, Lowell, Wiley, and Marcella Davis. Politically, 
Mr. Gotten is aligned with the Democratic party and has generally been 
a supporter of Democratic principles. He is a member of the Christian 
church. Notwithstanding his age, he is one of the most vigorous of 
men and leads an active, outdoor life, and takes a keen interest in every- 
day matters. He is a member of the Christian church. 

James A. Harrison, of Shawnee township, is one of Bates county's 
most successful agriculturists. Mr. Harrison was born in 1878 in Grand- 
River township, Bates county, Missouri, a son of Edmund S. and Sarah 
E. (Williams) Harrison, the former, a native of Morgan county, Mis- 
souri and the latter, of Pettis county, both members of sterling pioneer 
families of Missouri. The Harrisons came to Bates county in 1866 and 
located in Grand River township, moving thence to Shawnee township 
in March, 1879. In his later years E. S. Harrison was an honored resi- 
dent of Adrian, Missouri, where he died February 4, 1918 at the age of 
seventy-two years and two months. To E. S. and Sarah E. Harrison 
were born two children, who are now living: Mrs. J. W. McCombs 
and J. A., the subject of this review. Mrs. Sarah E. Harrison was born 
in September, 1855 and resides in Adrian. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 679 

J. A. Harrison was reared and educated in Shawnee township in 
Bates county. He attended school at Griggs school house in Shawnee 
township and acquired an excellent common school education. After 
leaving school, he became associated with his father in the business 
of farming and stock raising on the home place, which the son pur- 
chased in 1906. The Harrison farm, at that time, comprised one hun- 
dred ninety-one acres of land. It now embraces eight hundred eighty 
acres of valuable land, three hundred forty-one acres of which are located 
in Shawnee township and the remainder in Spruce township. Mr. Har- 
rison is engaged extensively in stock raising and his place is admirably 
suited to this purpose and well equipped with all the most modern con- 
veniences for handling large herds of stock. 

The marriage of J. A. Harrison and Stella Reeder, a daughter of 
R. D. and Emma Reeder, formerly of Mingo township but now residents 
of Adrian, Missouri, was solemnized in 1902. Mrs. Harrison was born 
in Mingo township. Bates county, Missouri and was educated at Edwards 
school house in the aforesaid township. 

There are four different sets of improvements on the Harrison 
farm. Mr. Harrison's home place has a beautiful, modern residence of 
eight rooms; three barns, 40 x 60, 60 x 72, and 54 x 60 feet in dimen- 
sions, respectively; two silos; a machine shop; a garage; a wood house; 
and an excellent hog house, 24 x 50 feet in dimensions, constructed 
with a concrete floor and supplied with water. The farm in Spruce town- 
ship has a comfortable, attractive residence, a house of six rooms, and 
a barn, 60 x 100 feet in dimensions, having a silo attached. All the 
feed lots on both farms are furnished with concrete watering tanks and 
all the buildings are painted white, kept in splendid repair, are neatly 
arranged, and present a striking appearance attracting the attention of 
all passersby. The thrift and care evidenced by the general surround- 
ings of the Harrison farm bespeak the intelligent, industrious, progres- 
sive husbandman. Mr. Harrison has on the place, at the time of this 
writing in 1918, one hundred and sixty- five head of two-year-old steers 
and four hundred head of Poland China hogs, in addition to a large herd 
of mules. During the harvesting season, he keeps eight mule-teams 
busy going from sunrise until sunset. Mr. Harrison employs three 
assistants all the time and all find plenty of work to do. 

The true western spirit of enterprise and progress is most strikingly 
exemplified in the busy life of J. A. Harrison, a gentleman whose ener- 
getic nature and laudable ambition have enabled him to subdue many 
adverse circumstances and advance steadilv until he has won and now 



68o HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

retains a conspicuous position in the business world. Mr. Harrison has 
never desired or sought pu1)hc honors or the emohinients of office, as, 
to use his own terse phrase, he has "been too busy to hold office." 

C. A. Allen, abstracter of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, 
proprietor of "Highland Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township, is 
one of the able financiers and progressive agriculturists of Bates county. 
Mr. Allen is a native of Iowa. He was born in 1870 in Warren county, 
a son of F. M. and Mary J. (Allen) Allen, who settled in Bates county, 
Missouri in 1876. F. M. Allen was one of the leading merchants of 
Butler, Missouri for twenty years, conducting a music store in this city 
from the time of his coming to Missouri until his death in 1895. Mrs. 
Allen joined her husband in death a few days after he died and inter- 
ment was made for both father and mother in the cemetery at Butler. 
F. M. and Mary J. (Allen) Allen were the parents of four children, who 
are now living: Mrs. W. E. Walton, Mrs. E. A. Bennett, Frank, and 
C. A., all of whom reside at Butler, Missouri. 

In the city schools of Butler, C. A. Allen received his elementary 
education. Later, he attended Butler Academy and was there instructed 
by Professors Naylor and Allison, and the Butler Commercial College. 
After completing a business course at the latter institution, Mr. Allen 
began life for himself employed as bookkeeper by the Butler National 
Bank and with that financial institution remained until it was merged 
into the present Missouri State Bank. For many years, he was treasurer 
of the Walton Trust Company of Butler and, at the time of this writ- 
ing in 1918, is the company's abstracter and is residing at "Highland 
Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township. 

C. A. Allen and Maud A. Porter, a daughter of Dr. H. P. and Mar- 
garet S. (Blakeslee) Porter, were united in marriage in 1891. Dr. 
Porter was one of the most prominent citizens of Butler, a late surgeon- 
general of the National Grand Army of the Republic at Butler. He 
died in 1912 and burial was made in Oak Hill cemetery. Mrs. Porter 
resides at Kansas City, Missouri. To C. A. and Maud A. Allen have 
been born two children : Horace, who is now a junior in the Butler 
High School ; and Mildred. Mr. and Mrs. Allen are widely and favor- 
ably known in the county and they are numbered among the best fami- 
lies of Mount Pleasant township and Butler. 

"Flighland Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township lies one mile 
north of Butler and is one of the best equipped dairy farms in the state 
of Missouri. Mr. Allen is the owner of probably the finest herd of Hoi- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 68 1 

steins in western Missouri. He l^ecame interested in keeping only reg- 
istered cattle in the autumn of 1917 and, at the time of this writing in 
1918, has ten head of remarkably good, registered dairy cows. The 
improvements on "Highland Stock Farm" are well worthy of notice 
and they include a handsome, modern, two-story residence, substantially 
built upon a stone foundation and having a roomy basement ; a dairy 
barn, having concrete floors and stanchions for sixteen cattle; a garage 
and machine shed; the best chicken house in Bates county, constructed 
of doubled matched lumber, with concrete floors ; a granary, a coal house, 
and a comfortable tenant house. "Highland Stock Farm" comprises 
one hundred sixty acres of land located on the JefTerson highway and 
is one of the beautiful country places of Bates county. Mr. Allen is 
an enterprising farmer and stockman, and his methods combined with 
his interest, industry, and thorough understanding of business prin- 
ciples have been rewarded by a large measure of well-deserved success. 

Arthur Ray Fox, the well-known proprietor of the Fox Studio at 
Butler, is one of the citizens of prominence in Bates county. He was 
born November 14, 1890 in Cass county, Missouri on his father's farm 
near Austin, a son of A. F. and Maggie (Black) Fox, both of whom 
are now honored residents of Butler, Missouri. A. F. Fox is a native 
of Woodford, Illinois. He came to Missouri in 1880 and in this state 
was united in marriage with Maggie Black, a native of Cooper county, 
Missouri, and after a few years residence in Cass county they came to 
Butler, where they now make their home, numbered among the most 
highly respected and best families of Bates county, Missouri. Arthur 
Ray Fox has one brother. Earl Fox, claim agent for the Nave McCord 
Wholesale Grocery Company of St. Joseph, Missouri and a resident of 
St. Joseph. 

In the city schools of Adrian and Butler, Arthur Ray Fox received 
his elementary education. Early in his career, he was interested in 
newspaper work, employed first on the "Republican Press" and later 
on the "Democrat" at Butler. Later, he entered the Southern School 
of Photography at McMinnville, Tennessee and at this institution com- 
pleted a course in the art of photography. After working at his pro- 
fession for several months at different places, Mr. Fox purchased the 
Earl A. Steward Studio at Butler, Missouri in 1913 and has since been 
engaged in business in this city. 

The marriage of Arthur Ray Fox and Birdie May Vantrees, a daugh- 
ter of C. and Emma (Thayer) Vantrees, of Butler, Missouri, was solem- 



682 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

nized August 6, 1911. Mr. Vantrees was born in Coles county, Illinois 
in 1860, a son of Hezekiah Vantrees, who came with his family to Mis- 
souri in 1868 and located in Vernon county. The elder Vantrees was 
a blacksmith by trade and he followed this line of work, blacksmithing, 
at Deerfield until 1895, when he moved to Bates county. Fourteen 
years later, in 1909, he died at Butler. The son, C. V^antrees, the father 
of Mrs. Fox, located at Butler, Missouri in the autumn of 1886, coming 
thence from Clinton, Missouri. He had mastered the blacksmith's trade 
in the early seventies and for many years worked beside the forge with 
his father at Deerfield. In 1881, he entered a carriage factory and servei 
as an apprentice until he had become proficient in the work of carriage 
making, when he came to Butler, in 1886, and is now engaged in black- 
smithing and in general repair work in this city. Mr. Vantrees has 
now been at the forge for forty-five years and he is widely recognized 
as one of the best, most skilled workmen in the county. Emma (Thayer) 
Vantrees is a native of Ohio. She and Mr. Vantrees reside at Butler 
and they are numbered among the citizens of Bates county of the high- 
est standing. Mrs. Fox attended the city schools of Butler and she is a 
graduate of the Butler High School. She is very talented in music and 
has been the organist of the Methodist Episcopal church of Butler ever 
since her girlhood days. 

The Fox Studio was opened March 1, 1913. Arthur Ray Fox pur- 
chased the interests of Earl A. Steward, a photographer located in the 
Williams building on the north side of the public square in Butler, the 
present location of the Fox Studio. The rooms occupied by the studio 
extend the full length of the building and are lighted from the front and 
from overhead. Since Mr. Fox has acquired the ownership of the gal- 
lery, new and expensive equipment have been installed, including an 
electric enlarger, an electric print machine, a cement sink, and a wash- 
ing system of his own devise, making the studio up-to-date in every 
particular and thus increasing the volume of work and the number of 
patrons in addition to improving the quality of work. The Fox Studio 
enjoys an immense patronage, the trade extending far beyond the con- 
fines of Bates county. Mr. Fox has always made it a point to secure 
photos of interesting gatherings and distinguished visitors of Butler 
and among his most recent ones are a photo of President Taft, when 
he was here November 5, 1917, and several different photos of Company 
B, taken when they were leaving for Camp Clark at Nevada, Missouri. 
Mrs. Fox was employed in the Fox Studio prior to her marriage, when 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 683 

it was owned by Mr. Steward, and she has won recognition as an artist 
of unusual abihty. Her work is distinguished for its delicate grace and 
simple charm in dealing with child life and, in fact, the popularity of 
the Fox Studio has come in a large measure because of its success with 
child photos. The display of these on the walls of the studio is one of 
the most attractive features of the gallery and the pictures clearly show 
the touch of a master hand, the appeal of the artist. An art critic once 
said, on looking at a wonderful little etching Rembrandt had made of 
his mother, that he had to close his eyes for a moment because of the 
tears wdiich rose unbidden at- the sight of it, every line of her face ex- 
pressing kindness, sweetness, thoughtfulness. Nothing could have been 
omitted; the etching is complete. So it is with the photos of the Fox 
Studio. Mr. and Mrs. Fox keep well abreast of the times in the work 
of photography, always adding to their store of knowledge by reading 
the best literature on photo work and their art has justly won popular 
appreciation, impressing all critics with its truth, interesting treatment, 
and high cjuality. Mr. Fox is a member of the Photographers' Associa- 
tion of America and Mrs. Fox is a member of the National Women's 
Federation of the P. A. of A. On March 11, 1918, Mr. Fox enlisted 
for service in the military aeronautics branch of the Signal Corps and 
immediately left for Cornell University to pursue a course of study in 
preparation for his work at the front in France. 

Daniel Cowan Jackling, son of Daniel and Lydia (Dunn) Jackling, 
was ])orn at Old Hudson, Bates county, Missouri, August 14, 1869. 
His father was in the general mercantile business at that place until his 
death, December 19, 1869, a few months after the birth of the boy. 
Soon after the death of his father, his mother moved to Knol) Noster, 
Johnson county, Missouri, at which place she lived but a short time, 
meeting with an accident by the explosion of a coal oil lamp, which 
resulted in her death, June 12, 1871, leaving the young Jackling, by 
the request of his mother, in the care of her sister, Abbie L. Dunn. 
The following November, Miss Dunn was married to J. T. Cowan, of 
Knob Noster, and the boy became the mutual charge of his new guar- 
dians. 

Mr. Jackling was reared partly in the country and later was taken 
to Sedalia, Missouri, where he completed the work in the grade school. 
When he was nineteen years of age he entered the State Normal School 
at Warrensburg, Missouri, but at the end of his first year he decided 
to take mining engineering; so in the fall of 1889 he entered the School 



684 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of Mines at Rolla, Missouri, and graduated from that school in the sum- 
mer of 1894. 

Owing to the financial stress at that time he failed to secure a posi- 
tion; so in January, 1895, he went to Cripple Creek, Colorado, where 
he began his career in mining and mining interests, which gradually 
developed until he attained his phenominal success. At the present time 
he is superintendent of the building of the munition plants at Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, and Charleston, West Virginia, under the appointment 
of Secretary of War Baker. He is doing this work without remunera- 
tion. 

William P. Largent. — Three things will always stand to the credit 
of William P. Largent, of Shawnee township, in summing up his accom- 
plishments during a long career of over thirty-five years in Bates county. 
As an "old settler" and a determined citizen he has triumphed over adver- 
sity and created an excellent farmstead; he and Mrs. Largent have 
reared one of the largest and best families in Bates county; Mr. Largent 
has assisted in the science of stock raising by improving the blood of 
the livestock raised on his farm and likewise been influenced in the 
raising of better stock in the county. He is rightly of the opinion that 
it pays better to have fewer livestock on the place of the pure-bred 
variety than to have a lot of "scrubs" or stock of an indifferent breed. 
This idea is strictly in keeping with the latest intelligence known of 
the science of livestock raising. Mr. Largent has a fine herd of Here- 
ford or white face cattle, pure-bred Poland China hogs, and Shropshire 
sheep, not a great many of any variety but the kind of stock that he 
raises is of the best and many are registered purebreds. "Prince Albert," 
a fine horse raised by Mr. Largent, was sired by a registered saddle 
horse, the dam being a trotting mare. The weight of this splendid ani- 
mal is 1400 pounds and his action is fine, such as to make him an excel- 
lent sire. Nearly all of his best horses were sired by "Redwood," the 
famous pacer bred by W. H. Cotten. Mr. Largent also raises some 
splendid mules from thoroughbred stock. He has just completed a con- 
crete crib which can be used as a granary and is in keeping with the 
rest of the farm appointments. 

William P. Largent was born in West Virginia, May 3, 1856. and is 
a son of Jacob and Rebecca (Harman) Largent, both of whom were 
born and reared in Virginia. In 1858, the Largent family left the old 
home in West Virginia and moved to Peoria county, Illinois, where 
Jacob Largent settled upon a farm, dying at his home in Peoria county 



> 

;> 

o 

> 




HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 685 

in 1871. After his death, Mrs. Largent returned to Virginia, but later 
came to Missouri in 1881, with WiUiam P. Largent. After a 
year's residence in Henry county, they located in Bates county in 
1882. The first home of the Largents was in Grand River township, 
where William P. Largent lived until 1887. He then purchased his pres- 
ent home place in Shawnee township and here his mrjther died, her 
remains being interred in Crescent Hill cemetery. Mr. Largent bought 
his farm of C. H. Moore, who had previously bought it of J. W. Rankin. 
The improvements on the place at the time of Mr. Largent's purchase 
were of a negligible character and he has placed practically every build- 
ing on the place and through the course of years has beautified it in 
many ways. On December 29, 1899, the Largent residence burned to 
the ground and they were left homeless in the dead of winter. Their 
neighbors were very kind to them, however, and assisted them in many 
ways, Mr. R. L. Cantrell throwing open his home to them and gave 
them the use of his house while they were rebuilding. The present 
Largent residence was finished in 1902, the fine barn having been built 
in 1899. 

On November 15, 1877, Mr. Largent did the 1)est thing of his entire 
life. On that date he took to wifehood, Miss Nancy E. Lough, a native 
of Pendleton county. West Virginia, and daughter of George Amos and 
Mary Elizabeth (Hizer) Lough, who lived all their days in Pendle- 
ton county and died there. Twelve children have been born of this mar- 
riage, eleven of whom are living: Mary Etta, wife of William A. Shealey, 
Kinsley, Kansas; George E., Adrian, Missouri; Clara Susan, now Mrs. 
W. C. Davidson, Hoxie, Kansas; William E., Belpre, Kansas; Bertie 
Opal, wife of H. M. Erwin, La Grande, Oregon; Ola May, wife of W. A. 
Scheurich, Schell City, Missouri ; Winnie Pleasant, wife of Leroy Park, 
Butler, Missouri; Ada Precious, wife of L. R. Kemper, Rockville, Mis- 
souri; Roxie Odessa, wnfe of John Morrow\ Butler, Missouri; Arle 
Everett and Lulu Pearl, at home with their parents; Beatrice Daisy 
died in infancy. The rearing of the members of this splendid large 
family to lives of usefulness in their respective communities where they 
are living honest and worthy lives is a great accomplishment, and this 
one thing alone entitles Mr. and Mrs. Largent to an honored place in 
history. 

J. W. Carver, of Shawnee township, a member of one of the honored 
pioneer families of Bates county, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Carver was 
born December 13, 1859 in Licking county, a son of E. and Samantha 



686 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

(Green) Carver, who came to Missouri in 1868 and located first in 
Benton county, coming thence to Bates county in 1870 and settling on 
a farm comprising eighty acres of land located near Culver. The father 
spent the remainder of his life on the Bates county farm and there his 
death occurred on June 14, 1898. Mrs. Carver, the widowed mother, 
sold the homestead and made her home with her son, J. W., until two 
weeks before she died. Her death occurred at her daughter's home 
at Ballard, Missouri in July, 1902. E. and Samantha (Green) Carver 
were the parents of seven children, three of whom are now living: 
David, deceased; Amanda, deceased; J. \\'., the subject of this review; 
Elmer, deceased; Ida. the wife of T. H. Lynch, of Ballard, Missouri; 
Mollie, deceased; and Jefferson, of Henry county, Missouri. 

In the public schools of Harmony district in Shawnee township. 
Bates county, Missouri. J. A\'. Carver received a good common school 
education. He remained at home with his parents until he was thirty- 
four years of age and then was engaged in farming and stock raising 
in Pleasant Gap township for twelve years and in Kansas for one year. 
Mr. Carver purchased his present country place in 1909 and has for 
the past eight years resided on this farm, a beautiful rural home two 
miles west of Culver, Missouri. He has. during his career, been the 
owner of several different farms in Shawnee township, tracts of land 
which he has purchased, improved, and then sold. The place he now 
owns embraces eighty acres of land. 

March 23. 1893, J. \\\ Carver and Cynthia Thomas were united in 
marriage. Cynthia (Thomas) Carver was born October 1, 1858 in 
Pettis county, Missouri, a daughter of J. W. and Mary (Diverse) Thomas, 
brave pioneers of the early forties, wdio settled in Pettis county. J. W. 
Thomas was born in Virginia and reared in North Carolina, whence he 
came to Missouri about 1837 and they settled on a farm in the above 
mentioned county. Mr. Thomas lived sixty-one years on one place and 
he died at the noble age of ninety years. Interment was made for him 
in Hopewell cemetery. Mrs. Thomas had preceded her husband in death 
many years before. She died in 1873 at the age of forty-nine years. Mrs. 
Carver has three brothers living: Henry, of Pleasant Gap township, 
Bates county; Joel G.. of Pettis county; and Grant, of Pettis county. 
By a former marriage, Mr. Carver is the father of one child, a daugh- 
ter, Lillie E., who resides at home with Mr. and Mrs. Carver. To them 
have been born no children, but they have taken into their home an 
or])han boy. Frank Meyer, who is now eleven years of age and he has 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 687 

been with the Carvers since he was a little child, seven years of age. 
Mr. and Mrs. Carver deserve much credit and commendation for the 
admirable manner in which they are rearing the lad. He is being given 
all the care, attention, and opportunities their own son would have been 
given and every parent in Bates county knows full well just what that 
means. Mr. and Mrs. Carver have done no small deed of kindness. Last 
year, Frank Meyer attended school making a perfect record in atten- 
dance. When Mr. Carver was eighteen years of age, he opened his 
first bank account with the William E. W^alton Bank of Butler, Mis- 
souri, putting in as much as five dollars ! For forty years, he has con- 
tinued to transact his banking business with this financial institution. 
Master Frank is following in his foster father's footsteps and now at 
the age of eleven years has started a bank account. 

When Mrs. Carver's father came to Missouri in 1837, he came in a 
wagon drawn by yokes of oxen. A few years later, he returned to 
North Carolina to transact some business and he w^ent back to his old 
home, riding hors-eback, to North Carolina and from his old homestead 
back to Missouri. Mr. Carver recalls how the people of this vicinity 
used to drive their stock to East Lynne for shipment, when he was a 
youth, and he has often assisted in driving hogs to market. Both he 
and Mrs. Carver have borne their parts well in life and are destined 
to be long remembered as citizens who aided materially in the upbuild- 
ing of their community, township, and county. 

James William Darby, of Butler, a retired agriculturist of Walnut 
township. Bates county, ex-justice of the peace of Walnut township, 
a former prosperous grain merchant of Foster, Missouri, is one 
of Missouri's native sons. Mr. Darby was born in 1853 in St. Louis 
county. Missouri, a son of Andrew and Nancy (King) Darby. Andrew 
W. Darby was born in North Carolina, March 21, 1814, a member of 
one of the leading colonial families of the South. He came to Missouri 
with his father in 1820. The senior Darby died and is buried in St. 
Louis county, Missouri. Andrew W. Darby and Mrs. Darby, a native 
of St. Louis county, Missouri, and a member of one of the oldest fami- 
lies of this state, moved from St. Louis county to Henry county in 
1877 and there resided on a farm adjoining Brownington the remainder 
of their lives. They were the parents of the following children: Lavenia, 
who died in Bates county, Missouri, in 1909 and is buried in the ceme- 
tery at Brownington; J. T.. who died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, 
about 1912 and his remains were interred in a cemetery at that place; 



688 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mary A., tlie wife of Mr. Duvall, of Clinton, Missouri; James W., the 
subject of tiiis review; Miss Pinkey King, of Clinton, Missouri; and 
Mrs. Sallie E. Stevens, Clinton, Missouri. The mother died in 1890 
and four years later she was joined in death by her husband, in 1894. 
Tile remains of both mother and father were laid to rest in the cemetery 
at Brownington, Missouri. 

James William Darby obtained his education in private schools in 
St. Louis county, Missouri, and later attended the Manchester Paro- 
chial School. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty- 
seven years of age and then began farming independently in Bates 
county, Missouri, to which county he came in 1880. Mr. Darby pur- 
chased at that time one hundred twenty acres of land and resided on 
it for sixteen years, when he retired from the active pursuits of agri- 
culture, rented his country place, and moved to Foster, Missouri, where 
he entered the grain business in connection with the Cannon Elevator 
Company. While a resident of Foster, Mr. Darby was elected justice 
of the peace of W^alnut township, a position which he capably filled for 
seventeen years. In March, 1915, he removed to Butler and has since been 
one of the valued residents of this city. In 1892, he opened a coal mine 
on his farm in Walnut township, a vein three feet in thickness which 
is still being operated. 

The marriage of James William Darby and Jennie Jennings, of 
Bates county, Missouri, was solemnized in 1880. Mrs. Darby died in 
1909. January 24, 1916, Mr. Darby and Mattie Newkirk, a native of 
Illinois and a daughter of Oliver and Eliza Newkirk, of Tazewell county, 
Illinois, were united in marriage. The Newkirks came to Missouri from 
Illinois in 1882 and settled in Walnut township, where both the father 
and mother later died and their remains are now buried. Mr. and Mrs. 
Oliver Newkirk were the parents of twelve children, four of wdiom are 
now living: John, Foster, Missouri; Mrs. Rosa Gardner, Cedar Rapids, 
Iowa; Mrs. Sadie Izatt, Pittsburg, Kansas; and Mrs. James William 
Darby, the wife of the subject of this review; and those deceased are 
Allie and Dema and six children who died in infancy. 

Hon. Charles A. Denton. — A citizen's value to the state is usually 
measured by the accomplishment of a task which time alone proves to- 
have been of value to his fellow-men. An individual who has originated 
and placed in practice a real reform, and has done something worth 
while which stands out as having proven to be of inestimable benefit 
to his fellow-men, is a man worthy of commendation and his place in 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 689 

history is secure for all time to come. To Judge Charles A. Denton, 
able attorney, jurist, former judge of the circuit court, and political 
leader of his party in Bates county, belongs the credit for the instiga- 
tion of the present pardon board for the penal institutions of Missouri, 
a great and meritorious work which was inaugurated by him during 
his term of office as pardon attorney under the administration of Gov- 
ernor Herbert S. Hadley. In this great work, Judge Denton, while 
placing in actual practice his ideas of handling the problem of pardon- 
ing and paroling delinquents who had been condemned to punishment 
for transgressing the state laws, performed a service to mankind which 
years have proven to be of incalculable value and which gives him a 
place of honor as the doer of a public service. 

Charles A. Denton was born on a farm in Adams county, near 
Quincy, Illinois, September 25, 1854. He is a son of Edmund and Jemima 
(Whitney) Denton, natives of Fleming county, Kentucky. Edmund 
P. Denton was born on April 1, 1832, and took up farming as his life 
vocation upon attaining young manhood. He removed to Illinois, where 
after residing for one year in Adams county, he made a permanent 
settlement in Hancock county. He became successful as 'a farmer 
and stockman, and was extensively engaged in breeding and dealing in 
fine livestock for a number of years. He became prominently identi- 
fied with political and public affairs in Hancock county and served for 
fourteen years as postmaster of Hamilton, Illinois. He also filled the 
office of member of the l)oard of county supervisors in Hancock county. 
His life was a long and useful one and he died, highly respected through- 
out Hancock county, in May, 1911. His wife, Jemima, was born Decem- 
ber 24, 1832, and departed this life in June, 1889. Edmund and Jemima 
Denton were parents of eight children, of whom Charles A. is the eldest. 

The early education of Judge C. A. Denton was obtained in the 
public schools of Hancock county, Illinois, following which he pursued 
a course in the Lutheran College at Carthage, Illinois, and the Uni- 
versity of Illinois at Champaign. He entered the State University 
when twenty years of age and was self-supporting while obtaining his 
collegiate training. Illness, however, prevented the completion of his 
university course and in 1874, he went to Kentucky in the hope of 
regaining his health, \\hile a resident of Kentucky he continued his 
studies under private instructors, and upon returning to his home state 
he took up the study of law in the law offices of George McCreary, 
James Hagerman, and Frank Hagerman, the former of whom became 

(44) 



690 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

secretary of war under President Hayes. This firm was located in 
Keokuk, Iowa, and young Denton pursued his law studies in that city 
while teaching school in Hamilton, Illinois. Mr. Denton was admitted 
to the bar in 1880 and began the practice of his profession in Keokuk, 
Iowa, but his health again failing him he returned to the teaching pro- 
fession for about two years. He came to Bates county in 1882 and 
practiced at Rich Hill, this county, for a period of six years. He then 
located in Butler, where for the past thirty years he has been a leader 
of the bar and prominent in business and financial circles. In 1886, he 
was a candidate for the ofiice of prosecuting attorne)^ of Bates county, 
and ran more than four hundred votes ahead of his ticket in the face 
of a normal Democratic majority of over one thousand votes. In 
1892, he was again a candidate for the same office and was defeated 
by a very small margin. He served one term as city attorney of Butler 
and ably represented the interests of the city during his term. He was 
a candidate for the office of circuit judge in 1898 but was defeated. At 
the next election he was again a candidate for circuit judge and was 
successful, not withstanding the fact that the Democratic majority that 
year was over one thousand votes. While serving on the bench. Judge 
Denton rendered many important decisions. 

In May, 1911, he was appointed by Governor Hadley to the posi- 
tion of pardon attorney at JefTerson City. While filling this important 
position, Judge Denton performed the hardest and greatest task of his 
life. Prior to his appointment, the state of Missouri had followed no 
definite system of paroling and pardoning prisoners and wrongdoers. 
The work had been done in a haphazard and indifferent manner with 
indifferent results. Judge Denton was possessed of vision which enabled 
him to look far ahead and he mapped out a plan of handling the parol- 
ing and pardoning of the unfortunates whose .cases would be called 
to his attention. With characteristic energy and far-seeing vision which 
enabled him to look ahead and foresee the need of a constructive sys- 
tem of handling the problem of granting paroles and pardons, he began 
at once to place his advanced ideas into actual practice. He inaugu- 
rated a system which was destined to become the forerunner of the 
present benevolent plan of reforming rather than further degrading 
those whose environments and the influence of the truly vicious ele- 
ment had caused to transgress the rules of society. The plan which he 
evolved and placed in actual operation during his term of oflice has 
resulted in the improvement of prison conditions and the bringing 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 69I 

back to society, hundreds of men who had fallen from their places in 
the civic body and come under the ban of the state laws. During his 
term as pardon attorney, but thirty-two out of more than four hundred 
prisoners paroled were returned to prison. Judge Denton inaugurated 
the plan of public hearings of prisoners on their applications for execu- 
tive clemency. 

An extract from a commendatory letter written by former Governor 
Hadley to Governor F. D. Gardner on February 27, 1917, urging the 
appointment of Judge Denton to a membership on the board of prison 
management is appropriate at this point and shows conclusively the 
opinion which Governor Hadley held and still holds concerning Judge 
Denton's record: ** * * * You could not make a better appoint- 
ment than Judge Denton. During the two and one-half years he served 
in the position of pardon attorney he established a most excellent sys- 
tem for the investigation and consideration of application for pardons 
and he showed a degree of common sense and justice in passing upon 
these applications. He is a man of fine personality and unquestioned 
integrity. He is that type of man who never has to establish his entire 
integrity in any ofhcial matter with which he may deal. That is unhesi- 
tatingly conceded by all who know him. In short, if I were asked to 
serve as governor again and considered accepting, I would insist as a 
condition that Judge Denton pass on all applications for pardon or 
parole. Very truly yours, H. S. Hadley." 

Judge Denton served as a delegate to the Chicago convention in 
1912 and was a supporter of Theodore Roosevelt in that convention. 
He was the candidate of the Republican party for supreme judge in 
1912, having been placed upon the state ticket before the split had 
occurred in the ranks of the party. He has always been a firm adherent 
of Republican principles and no sacrifice has been too great for him 
to make when called upon by the members of his party. 

The marriage of Judge C. A. Denton and Miss Emma Baldwin was 
consummated on October 2, 1879. Mrs. Denton is a daughter of C. W. 
and Mary (McPherson) Baldwin, the former of whom died in Butler 
in 1909, the latter having preceded him in death in the nineties. Four chil- 
dren were born to this marriage: Wesley, president of the People's 
Bank of Butler; Meda J., wife of R. F. Lisle; Doris B. ; and Waldo, who 
died at the age of two and a half years. Judge Denton has always been 
a firm and consistent supporter of all measures and undertakings in- 



692 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

tended to advance the interests of his home city and Bates county along 
material, social, intellectual, and moral lines. Fraternally, he is affi- 
liated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern 
Woodmen lodges. 

D. A. Gepford, progressive farmer of Shawnee township, evidently 
believes thoroughly in the use of modern labor-saving devices on his splen- 
did farm of two hundred forty acres, as the place is well equipped 
with every device and the latest agricultural machinery to enable 
him to perform the farm work quickly and inexpensively. In these times 
of scarcity of farm labor it would seem that a farmer as well equipped 
as Mr. Gepford would not need to worry a great deal about securing 
farm labor. The Gepford place is located six and a half miles east of 
Adrian and it boasts two sets of improvements. The farm has a nice 
six-room residence, two barns, a scale house, and sheds to facilitate the 
care of livestock and protection of the harvested crops. The oldest barn 
on the place was built in 1897, and the splendid, new barn was recently 
erected in 1917. The main buildings are erected on section 9, while 
the west "eighty" which is the home of R. H. Gepford, son of D. A. Gep- 
ford, is also well equipped, the barn and feed shed being 32 x 40 feet 
in dimensions. Mr. Gepford has built an implement shed and a black- 
smith shop since coming to this place. The scale house is enclosed as 
is the corn sheller, fanning mill, and the pumping machinery, all of 
which are operated by an upright engine. Mr. Gepford does custom 
work, such as grinding, etc., for his neighbors and has all the work 
which he cares to do. This farm has an International tractor, a twenty 
by thirty-six Case separator, which has a capacity for 2,000 bushels 
of oats or 1,000 bushels of wheat per day's run. Mr. Gepford can plow 
seven to ten acres per day with his tractor plow outfit which is fitted 
with three fourteen-inch plows. He is thus enabled to plow as deeply 
as is desired. Only recently he has purchased a two-row cultivator with 
motor attachment. 

D. A. Gepford was born in Macon county, Illinois, near the city of 
Decatur, in 1859. He is the son of George and Fetitia (Shepherd) Gep- 
ford, both of whom are deceased, the former dying in 1888 and the latter 
in 1911. Mr. Gepford's parents lived practically all of their days' in Illi- 
nois and were honest, hard-working, industrious citizens who taught their 
children the value of industry and honesty. D. A. Gepford was reared 
and educated in Macon county, Illinois, and lived in his native county 
until 1894. In that year he moved to Andrew county, Missouri, and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 693 

resided there until 1900 and then came to Bates county. He purchased 
his farm in Shawnee township from Zib White, who had bought it from 
Wilham Lee and the Reeder heirs. 

In 1883, Mr. Gepford was united in marriage with Josephine Stick- 
ler, a native of Illinois, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Stickler, of 
Macon county, Illinois. To this marriage have been born children as 
follow: Ettie L., at home with her parents; Irvin, deceased; R. H., 
operates his father's farm in section 9 and also assists in cultivating 
the home farm; J. A., at home with his parents. 

While the Gepfords are not "old settlers" of Bates county, they 
have taken their place among the representative families of this county 
who are doing things for the good of the county and are ably demonstrat- 
ing what can be accomplished on Bates county soil. They have a host of 
good and warm friends in their neighborhood and Mr. Gepford ranks 
high among the truly progressive and successful farmers of this county. 

David Albaugh De Armond was born in Blair county, Pennsyl- 
vania, on the 18th day of March, 1844. He was the oldest of a family 
of six children. His grandfather, Michael De Armond, was of Irish 
stock and a soldier in the Revolutionary War, serving under Wash- 
ington at Valley Forge. His father, James De Armond, was a man 
of limited education, but good natural ability, with an intense desire for 
his sons to receive a good education and while he was unable to help 
them greatly, the four who grew to manhood were all of the learned 
professions, two lawyers, one doctor and one educator. His father was 
born in 1790 but did not marry until past the age of fifty when he mar- 
ried Catherine Albaugh, the youngest of a family of thirteen children. 
She was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. James De Armond settled upon 
a farm in Blair county. Pa., where his children were born, and engaged 
in farming, being also an engineer upon the present Pennsylvania rail- 
road system in its early days. Both James and Catherine De Armond 
lived to a great age, he dying at Greenfield, Missouri, at ninety-five 
and she at Butler, Missouri, at ninety. 

David De Armond spent his childhood and early manhood on a hilly, 
rocky farm at the foot of the Alleghany mountains, attending the local 
schools and afterwards attending Dickinson Seminary. He secured 
the means to complete his education by teaching a part of each year. 
Plis parents moved to Davenport, Iowa, in 1866, where David De. 
Armond studied law in the ofifice of Lane & Day, being admitted to 
th^ practice in 1867. Seeking a place to locate for the practice of his 



694 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

profession he was advised to change his poHtics and go to western 
Iowa. His party principles with him were not a matter of convenience, 
his family having been Democrats from the organization of the party, 
and he turned his eyes toward Missouri, a state then not yet recovered 
from the effects of the Civil War. He finally settled upon Greenfield 
in Dade county, where he located in 1869. 

He soon began to Iniild up a law practice. He was there married to 
Alice M. Long, daughter of Arch M. Long, one of the early families 
in that section, and continued to live in Greenfield until 1883. In 1878, 
he was nominated for the state senate and although the district was 
normally Republican he was elected and served for four years, declining 
a renomination. In the state senate he quickly took high rank and 
gained the first of that state-wide reputation he afterward enjoyed. In 
1883, he moved to Rich Hill, then enjoying great prosperity as a min- 
ing center and practiced law with W. T. Marsh under the firm name 
of De Armond & Marsh. In 1884, he moved to Butler, where he 
made his home and met his tragic death. He formed a law part- 
nership with Thomas J. Smith, under the firm name of De Armond 
& Smith. 

In 1884, he was Democratic elector and voted for Grover Cleve- 
land. In 1885 he was elected a member of the supreme court commis- 
sion, which had been provided by the Legislature to clear up the docket 
of the court. The manner of his election was a high testimonial to 
his legal ability. The court had been balloting for some time to fill the 
place of a member of the commission who had died, without being 
able to agree upon a commissioner. Mr. De Armond was not a candi- 
date but appearing before the court to argue a case in which he was 
an attorney his presentation of his case so impressed the members of 
the court that he was elected to the vacancy that evening. The com- 
mission expired by limitation soon after. Mr. De Armond was also 
one of the three attorneys employed by the state who successfully 
prosecuted the claim of the state against the Hannibal & St. Joe rail- 
road for several millions of dollars of state aid in building that road. 

In 1886, he was elected to the circuit bench in this judicial district, 
having no opposition for the nomination. His inclinations especially 
fitted him for the bench and he filled the position with marked abil- 
ity. His love of the law and his temperament of mind were best suited 
to a judicial position and during his service in Congress he sometimes 
regretted having left the bench. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 695 

In 1890, with the announcement of Congressman Stone that he 
would not be a candidate for renomination to Congress, one of the 
greatest contests in the history of Missouri Democratic politics arose. 
Charles H. Morgan, Grantley of St. Clair, Joshua Ladue of Henry, 
Hill of Jasper, Judge Givens of Cass and De Armond of Bates all entered 
the race, the announcement of Judge De Armond being made only a 
few weeks before the convention which met in Butler. At the end 
of three days Judge De Armond was nominated over Morgan and 
entered upon his career in Congress, to which he was re-elected for nine 
terms without opposition for nomination in his party. 

In Congress, Judge De Armond gradually forged to the front until 
at his death he was a member of the Rules Committee of the House 
of Representatives and the senior Democratic member of the Judiciary 
Committee. As a debater he had few equals during his service and his 
clear reasoning and unswerving honesty of purpose won him a fore- 
most place in the national assembly. While he was a Democrat from 
principle he did not hesitate to vote with the opposite party upon a 
number of cjuestions which arose in Congress nor was his action in so 
doing ever criticised by the people of his district. 

On two occasions, at least, an effort was made by leaders in state 
politics to induce him to enter the race for governor, which he declined 
to do. 

In public life Judge De Armond was a man of greatest modesty, 
making no effort to advertise himself or his doings and having none of 
the traditional arts and tricks of the politician. His standing in the 
district he served so long was due to the fact that his supporters knew 
he had but one desire and that was to faithfully and honestly serve 
their interests. But while modest as to himself, in course of conduct 
and in debate he was fearless and outspoken and as a judge avoided no 
part of his duty and in debate had a gift of irony and satire that made 
few opponents willing to meet him. 

His family consisted of four children all of whom are still living. 
James A. De Armond, married to Nancy Lee Bell of Liberty, Missouri, 
formerly adjutant-general of Missouri, and at present mayor of Butler. 
Mrs. Orville D. Standsbury of Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Col. Edward H. 
De Armond, married Miss Toots Hannah, and at present is in France 
as chief of staff of the Thirty-second Division of the National Army. 
Major George W. De Armond, married Miss Marguerite De Armond, 
and at present is in France with the Aviation Section of the Signal 



696 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Corps. Both Edward and George, the younger sons, are gra(Uiates of 
\\'est Point. 

Judge De Armond in his family hfe was a man of the greatest 
afifection and generosity. His children were given every advantage 
possible and in his grandchildren he found his greatest pleasure during 
the recesses of Congress. David A. De Armond, Jr., his oldest grand- 
son, aged seven, was with him almost constantly during the last summer 
of his life and with him occupied a sleeping porch at night at Judge 
De Armond's residence in Butler. 

On the night of November 22, 1909, just a few days before he 
was to return to his duties in Washington, after spending the evening 
with his family. Judge De Armond and this little grandson retired to 
their cots upon the sleeping porch. Some hours after midnight the 
house was discovered on fire, the flames eating down through the roof 
and inside of the house just back of the door which opened onto the 
sleeping porch. Mrs. De Armond and their daughter, who were sleep- 
ing inside the house, barely escaped. His daughter, who slept near a 
window opening toward the porch heard the frightened child's cry, 
"Get me out of here, granddaddy; get me out of here," and the answer 
of her father, calmly, as he always quieted the childrens' fears, "Don't 
be scared, little son; granddaddy will get you out." When the door 
was opened it is supposed that they inhaled the flames and died instantly, 
for there was no other sound. 

The remains of grandson and grandfather were recovered from 
the ruins and interred in Oak Hill cemetery. Friends from all parts 
of the district, state, and nation, were present at the funeral services 
held in the Methodist church, while the Masonic service at the grave 
was conducted by Ex-Governor Dockery. One of the most touching 
features of the sad occasion was the pall-bearers, who were composed 
of gray-headed men from among Judge De Armond's friends and asso- 
ciates of many years, by the side of each of whom walked a little 
boy, the seven-year-old playmates and school-fellows of his little grand- 
son. 

The author of this book knew Judge De Armond from the time he 
came to Rich Hill in 1883, down to the date of his death as above 
described. He practiced law with him at the bar and before him when 
he was elevated to the circuit bench. He was a good lawyer and a 
just judge. No man at the Bates county bar was more adroit and effec- 
tive before a jury. No man with business in his court ever had reason 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 697 

to complain of unfair treatment; and it may be truthfully said he looked 
beyond the attorney to the client in the administration of justice. 
There was no favoritism from the bench. The rich and the poor 
looked alike to him, and only the issues involved were tried in his 
court. Courteous to the bar, he was firm in discipline, and sought only 
justice between litigants. 

Later, when he became the representative in Congress of and for 
the Sixth Miss-ouri District by long and faithful service, he gave the 
district a standing in Washington it never enjoyed before ; and while not 
the leader of the minority in the Lower House, he was for years recog- 
nized by the Democratic party and the country as the actual leader 
of his party in that body of distinguished Democrats. Clean and fear- 
less, honest and faithful, no one even among the Republicans in Con- 
gress or in his home district ever hinted at graft in his public service. 

Personally, Judge De Armond was a quiet, unassuming gentleman, 
companionable and cordial among his friends and his neighbors gen- 
erally; but he was not a good "mixer." Many people thought him too 
reserved and cold in his demeanor; but this feeling prevailed only 
among those who did not know him at home and well. He held his 
place in the respect and confidence of our people largely by force of 
his intellectual power. As a public speaker he did not resort to tricks 
or devices to stir the crowds; but he commanded attention by his clear, 
logical, decisive periods; and at times he reached the heights of real elo- 
quence. He was a wonderful master of the English language; and no 
man in all the country could make an extempore speech which needed 
less editing in the newspaper ofilice. We often listened to him in won- 
der that a man could so phrase his speech while on his feet before an 
audience that not the dotting of an "i" nor the crossing of a "t" would 
be required if it went to the printer. He never repeated, never hesi- 
tated for the right word, and never stumbled. In this accomplishment 
he was without a peer among the public speakers in the country. His 
service in Congress was an honor to the Sixth district, and when he 
perished untimely in the fiames of his own home he left many friends 
and no personal enemies. Judge De Armond was one of the really great 
men of his era in public life. 

W. O. Atkeson, the author and editor of this book, was born in 
Putnam county, West Virginia, in the valley of the Great Kanawha 
river, and was reared to manhood there. He is the son of a farmer 
and had the usual experiences and passed through the ordinary vicissi- 



698 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

tildes of farm life in that country. He attended the country schools 
and quit the public schools a pupil of the Buffalo Academy. At the 
beginning of the college year of 1873-74 he entered the Kentucky 
University at Lexington, matriculating in the Agricultural and Mechani- 
cal College and pursued a special course in mathematics, literature, his- 
tory, book keeping and military training with recitations in chemistry. 
He remained in the university only about seven months, and on account 
of sickness returned home, and went to work on the farm. The follow- 
ing winter he taught school in Mason county. West Virginia, and with 
the money so earned he matriculated in the West Virginia State Normal 
School at Fairmount, and graduated from the same in June, 1875. The 
following winter he was principal of the New Haven graded schools, and 
in the spring of 1876 he became one of the editors and proprietors of 
the "West Virginia Monitor," published at Point Pleasant, West Vir- 
ginia. After a few months he disposed of his interest in the paper and 
returned to the farm and began the study of law, and was admitted to 
the bar in W^infield, West Virginia, in 1877. In 1878, he removed to 
Council Grove, Kansas, where he resided and practiced his profession 
until he came to Rich Hill in 1882. Pie was elected justice of the peace 
In Council Grove, Kansas, and served out a term of two years. In 
October, 1889, he removed with his family to Butler, where he has since 
resided. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Bates county in 1890 
and served a term of two years successfully. In 1892, he was a candi- 
date for circuit judge on the People's Party ticket and was also nomi- 
nated by electors, and carried three counties out of the four composing 
the 29th judicial circuit, but was defeated. The election of his opponent 
was contested, the opinion of the supreme court being recorded in 115 
Missouri Reports. He became the editor of the "Butler Free Press" in 
1894 and has been with the paper ever since, and is regarded by friends 
and foe as a clear, decisive writer, a fair and honorable editor, and a 
good citizen. He lives in a comfortable cottage home with a family 
of five children, having recently lost his wife, who was a daughter of 
George G. and Mary A. Warnick and whom he married in Barton 
county, Missouri, in 1884. In 1894, the Kentucky Central Normal School 
conferred on him the honorary degree of A. M. He is a man of varied 
culture, firm convictions and great tenacity of purpose; and his home 
has always been an open door to all who wish to come and share its 
modest and cordial hospitality. (The foregoing is from the "Old Set- 
tlers History of Butler County," published in 1902.) 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 699 

In 1902, Mr. Atkeson sold the "Butler Free Press" and returned to 
the practice of law. After the dissolution of the People's Party he became 
a Republican, and in 1906 he was unanimously nominated for Congress 
by the Republican convention of the Sixth Missouri district held in 
Rich Hill. His Democratic opponent was Plon. David A. De Armond, 
the sitting- member; and after an earnest canvass he was defeated. In 
1908, he was renominated for Congress by the Republicans at the pri- 
mary election, and again made an earnest canvass of the district, but 
was again defeated by De Armond. In January, 1910, he was appointed 
a deputy hotel inspector under the Hadley administration and served 
about sixteen months, retiring from that position to accept an appoint- 
ment as deputy state labor commissioner, in which capacity he served 
two years. His elder daughter. Miss Virginia Wheat Atkeson, died 
March 10, 1912; and in September, 1914, the other children removed 
to Columbia, Missouri, where Miss Gladys C. had a position as ste- 
nographer to Dean J. C. Jones, of the State University. Floyd VV. 
continued his studies in the College of Agriculture ; Ralph W., entered 
the College of Arts and Sciences; and Clarence E., entered the city high 
school, sophomore year. In December following, the subject of this 
sketch followed and remained in Columbia until March 1, 1915, when 
he returned to Butler and on April 12 purchased the "Bates County 
Record" from the widow of Col. O. D. Austin, who had recently died. 
For the last three years he has edited and published the "Record." The 
plant was destroyed by fire December 27, 1916. but the paper was 
continued by contract until April 26, 1918, at which time it was sold and 
discontinued at the end of its fifty-second volume. At this time. May 
1, 1918, Gladys C. Atkeson, now Mrs. J. W. McCreery, resides in Colum- 
bia and has .one child, Robert A.; Floyd W., will graduate from the 
College of Agriculture of the University in June; Ralph W. is second 
lieutenant, "A" Company, One Hundred Twenty-ninth Machine Gun 
Battalion, Thirty-fifth Division, United States Army, at Camp Mills, 
Long Island, on his way to France; Clarence E. is in Kansas City, 
Missouri, attending a business college. 

Troy F. Brown, merchant, founder and proprietor of the Fair Oaks 
Mercantile Establishment, Hudson township, is a Bates county citizen to 
whom opportunity beckoned — he heeded, and established a business 
where there was none before. Mr. Brown conceived the idea that a 
general store and trading establishment would do well in a certain 
location far from a town or village. In fact, he had a "hunch" that 



;700 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

he could make good in tlie general mercantile field, and on May 1, 
1917, he built his store and began business at a point in the heart of 
Round Prairie, eight and one-half miles southwest of Appleton City, 
and seven and a half miles northwest of Rockville, on section 21, just 
north of Round Prairie Baptist church. The store has made good and 
he is caring for a patronage that has ever been increasing. The store 
building is 20 x 40 feet in dimensions with a basement under the main 
floor and well stocked with a general line of goods. Mr. Brown pur- 
chases the produce of the surrounding farms at fair prices, hauls the pro- 
duce to Appleton City by motor truck and on the return trip brings 
the commodities in demand for his patrons. His business is conducted 
systematically, the McCaskey System of accounting having been installed 
and the store is kept up to the minute in many particulars. 

Troy F. Brown, himself, was born in Hudson township, January 
1, 1882, the son of W. G. and Mary E. Brown, an account of whom 
appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Brown was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of Appleton City and worked on the home farm after com- 
pleting his schooling. He went to New Mexico in 1908 and remained in 
that state until 1911, at which time he returned home and engaged 
in the hardware and furniture business at Bolivar and Appleton City, 
Missouri, until establishing his own business in 1917. Mr. 'Brown is a 
born business man and enjoys his latest venture inasmuch as he is 
making a pronounced success of the enterprise. A look at Mr. Brown's 
latest calendar issued to his patrons will give a fair indication of his 
live-wire methods. He has adopted the following phrase as the slogan 
of his store: "If it comes from Fair Oaks, you will know it's good — 
the Newest Town in Bates." 

The marriage of Troy F. Brovv'n and Miss Bertha Hegnauer was 
solemnized in 1905. They have two children, namely: Ramona Arlene; 
and Wilma Elaine. Mrs. Bertha Brown is a daughter of Martin 
Hegnauer, of Rockville, Missouri, and was born in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Harrison Philbrick, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Bates 
county, Missouri, one of the wealthiest landowners of the county, sur- 
veyor of Bates county from 1868 until 1880, was a native of New Hamp- 
shire. Mr. Philbrick was born in 1840 at Rye in Rockingham county, a 
son of Daniel and Sarah Ann Philbrick, both of whom were natives of 
New Hampshire. Sarah Ann Philbrick was a relative of Daniel Webster, 
New Hampshire's most famous son, the most prominent figure in the 
history of our country in the interval between 1815 and 1861, a world- 
renowned statesman, diplomat, and orator. 




HARRISON PHILBRICK. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7OI 

Harrison Philbrick was a graduate of the New Hampton Theo- 
logical Seminary. He was a civil engineer in the early days in New 
York and in Ohio. Mr. Philbrick came to Bates county, Missouri, in 
1867 and located temporarily in Hudson township. He moved to Butler 
in 1868 and seven years later moved to his country place now managed 
and occupied by his son, George Craig Philbrick. At the time the Phil- 
bricks settled in Bates county, the country was open prairie and to their 
home Papinsville was the nearest town and postoffice. Harrison Phil- 
brick was elected surveyor of Bates county in 1868 and for twelve years 
capably served in this county office. He became interested in stock 
raising after he had moved to his farm in 1875 and was in recent 
years one of the leading stockmen in western Missouri, raising cattle, 
hogs, horses, and sheep. At the time of his death in 1916, the Philbrick 
estate embraced nearly one thousand acres of land, which is still in the 
Philbrick name. The residence, a handsome structure of eleven rooms 
and two stories, was built in 1875 and remodeled and rebuilt in 1884, is 
one of the most conspicuous rural homes in the county. The farm, 
which was the original purchase of Mr. Philbrick, is supplied with all 
modern conveniences for facilitating the handling of stock and grain 
and the land is abundantly watered. George Craig Philbrick now has 
charge of the home place, the farm where he was born, and farms 
three hundred fifty acres of land which he owns. His sister, Lillie 
Haven, is his housekeeper. Miss Lillie Philbrick was educated in the 
city schools of Butler, Missouri, and is well known in Bates county. 
The Philbrick homestead is located four miles southeast of Rich Hill, 
Missouri, one of the valuable prairie farms of this vicinity, just above 
the overflow of the Marais des Cygnes. 

The marriage of Harrison Philbrick and Jane Eastman, of Meredith, 
New Hampshire, was solemnized in 1868. To this union were born the 
following children : Lillie Haven, of whom previous mention has been 
made in this sketch ; Ira Perley, who is engaged in farming and stock 
raising on a part of the home place ; Daniel Eastman, a farmer and stock- 
man on a part of the home place; George Craig, wdio resides on the 
original home farm; and Nellie, the wife of Willie Wills, of Neosho. 
Missouri. The mother died in 1885 and interment was made in the 
cemetery at Rich Hill, Missouri. Harrison Philbrick was united in 
marriage wnth Emma Lane in 1887. Emma (Lane) Philbrick was a 
native of Ohio. She died in 1915 and her remains were interred in the 
cemetery at Rich Hill. Mr. Philbrick died December 8, 1916, and he. 
too, was laid to rest in the Rich Hill cemetery. 



702 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Harrison Philbrick was a gentleman of unusual intellectuality, broad 
perspective, and clearly defined principles. Honor and integrity were 
synonymous with his name and he enjoyed the unlimited respect, con- 
fidence, and regard of the people of Bates county. As a neighbor, there 
was none better, as a friend, there could be none truer, and on the roll 
of Bates county's best citizens the name of Harrison Philbrick will always 
be accorded an honorable place. 

Dr. William C. Requa was one of the ablest men sent out by the 
United Foreign Missionary Board. The impression generally prevails 
here that he was connected with Harmony; but this is error. He was 
sent to Union Mission near Ft. Gibson. Oklahoma, in 1820, a year 
previous, to the settlement at Harmony and that was the field of his 
labors for about twelve years, but he frequently visited Harmony for 
the purpose of studying the Osage language under the tutorship of a 
Mr. Williams, agent and interpreter at the United States factory only 
one mile down the river from Harmony station ; and he translated parts 
of the New Testament into the Osage language. On October 2, 1822, 
following the earlier example of Brother Fuller, also of Union station, 
he wooed and won Miss Susan Comstock, of the Harmony station, 
formerly of Wilton, Connecticut, and carried her ofif in triumph to Union, 
where there seems to have been great dirth of "females and mechanics," 
as one of the writers states it. She came with him to Bates county, 
after Union station was abandoned, and died here in 1833. Two sons 
and a daughter of Doctor Requa by a subsequent marriage still reside 
on the old homestead in Lone Oak township; and they have preserved 
a bunch of rare letters, wdiich we have been permitted to read, and 
which ought to be preserved by some historical society. In a letter 
from Miss Susan Comstock, dated at Harmony station, May 20, 1822, 
addressed to her "Dear Mother, Brothers and Sisters," among other 
curious and interesting things, she says : "My friends said I was com- 
ing to marry an Indian chief. I can inform them that I have had several 
solicitations of that kind from the head men in the nation, and one 
from old Sans Nerf, but I think I shall not grace the family with royalty 
at present. (The words above — "and one from old Sans Nerf" — are 
stricken out, but easily read.) A\d'ien I tell them that I can not plant and 
hoe corn and carry wood on my back they do not urge the matter 
further." 

Now, old Sans Nerf was a chief of importance, and a proposal of 
marriage from him .was a distinct honor; but just why Miss Com- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7O3 

Stock took the trouble to try to scratch out this interesting fact is 
a matter of conjecture. Possibly she was thinking then, May 20th, of 
the scholarly Dr. W. C. Recjua, of Union station; or possibly she was 
afraid if she let the statement go it might in some way get back to 
"Old Sans Nerf" and hurt his gallant heart. Like Sister Fuller, who 
married Brother Fuller, in about seven days after the family all got 
settled at Harmony, she did not have to wait long to become the honored 
wife of one of the most remarkable men ever sent out by the United 
Foreign Missionary Board. 

After her death in 1833, Doctor Requa married Jane Montgomery, 
"who lived only one year," in 1837; in 1840 he married Sarah A. Nut- 
ting, by whom he had nine children. He died in 1886, in his ninety- 
second year, honored and beloved by all who .knew him. The author 
recalls having niet him at his home in 1884, a vigorous-looking old 
gentleman at that time. 

Ira M. Brown, owner of the "Vivo Vista Stock Farm" in Hudson 
township, is a native-born resident of Bates county and a member of a 
splendid pioneer family whose members stand high in the citizenship 
of this county. He was born January 26, 1870, and is a son of William 
G. and Mary E. (Wells) Brown, old and highly-respected residents 
of Hudson township, concerning whom an extended biography is given 
elsewhere in this volume. 

"Vivo Vista Stock Farm" is a splendid tract of three hundred and 
twenty acres of well tilled and highly productive land located eight 
and a half miles southwest of Appleton City and exactly the same dis- 
tance northwest of Rockville. This farm is well stocked with high-grade 
Shorthorn cattle, registered Duroc Jersey hogs, and some fine horses 
and mules. Mr. Brown is a large feeder of livestock and his farm is 
arranged for handling large numbers of cattle and hogs. The farm 
equipment includes in the way of buildings, a metal-covered cow barn, 
a large horse barn, and a commodious hog house. In addition, there 
is a silo 14 x 30 feet in dimensions with a four-foot concrete base- 
ment. Mr. Brown purchased the land in 1895 from Shelby Browm and 
placed all of the improvements thereon. He built his residence in 
1896. There are two wells on the place, 87 and 120 feet in depth, respec- 
tively, which show traces of an oil deposit on the land. A vein of coal 
twenty-six inches in thickness underlies part of the land. Mrs. Brown 
is a well-known breeder of Barred Plymouth Rock poultry, as well as 
the pure-bred Buff Orpington breed — a vocation which she has followed 



y04 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

for the past twenty years with pronounced success. She is also a breeder 
and raiser of White China and Bourbon Red turkeys. She was one of 
the organizers of the National Bourbon Retl Turkey Club and is now 
the secretary and treasurer of this organization, which has a member- 
ship covering many states of the Union. A\'hen the national exhibits 
are held her turkeys placed on exhibition invariably win premiums 
and ribbons. She carried away every premium offered at the World's 
Fair held at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1S93. The National Club was organ- 
ized in 1907. The following are the national officers: Mrs. G. W. 
Price, Belmont, Ohio, president; Mrs. Clyde H. Meyers, Fredonia, Kan- 
sas, vice-president; Mrs. ]\linnie M. Brown, secretary and treasurer. 

Ira ]M. Brown received his education in the public schools of his 
native county and the Appleton City Academy. In 1891 he went to 
Oklahoma and for a time followed farming in that state. He also taught 
two terms of school during the winter of 1891 and 1892. In 1893 he 
became connected with the Overstreet Mercantile Company as book- 
keeper and remained with this concern for some time. In 1895 he 
returned to Bates county and engaged permanently in farming and 
stock raising. Success has attended his efforts. 

Mr. Brown was married in 1892 to Miss Minnie Maud Browning, 
a daughter of F. P. and Louisa Browning, of Hudson township. Her 
father died in October, 1900, and her mother resides upon the Brown- 
ing home farm in Hudson township. Mr. and Airs. Brown have two 
children: George Francis Ouincy Brown, and Trucy Warren Brown. 

Mr. Brown is president of the Bates County Mutual Fire and Light- 
ning Insurance Company and served as director of this company prior 
to his election as president in 1913. He has l)een a member of the 
company since 1896 and it is one of the strongest insurance concerns 
in this section of Missouri. This company has nearly $2,000,000 worth 
of insurance policies in force. Gottlieb Hirshi is secretary and August 
Fischer is treasurer. 

William Conrad, well-to-do farmer and stockman of Hudson town- 
ship, is a native of Germany, was born in 1854, the son of Frederick 
and Dora Conrad, who immigrated to America from their native coun- 
try in search of a home and substance in 1869. The Conrad family first 
resided in Henry county, Illinois, where they were engaged in farm- 
ing for three years. In 1872, they located in Nebraska and home- 
steaded land in that state and practically every member of the family 
became prosperous and became owners of farms in the then new \\'est- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 705 

ern country. This was the homestead era in Nebraska and thousands 
of homeseekers poured into the state from the eastern part of the United 
States and from the crowded countries of the Old World. The Conrads 
settled in York county, Nebraska and after a few years of hardships 
were well satisfied with their new environments. Frederick Conrad 
died in Nebraska and his widow came to Bates county, Missouri, and 
settled on the farm now owned by her son William. She died on the 
farm in 1906 and her remains were interred in the cemetery at Apple- 
ton City. The Conrad children are as follow : Frederick, who formerly 
lived in Hudson township, and now resides in Nebraska. Marie and 
Dora^ died in Nebraska; and William. 

Since coming to Bates county in 1894, William Conrad has been 
engaged in farming and stock raising in Hudson township. Of late 
years he has turned over the greater part of the task of managing 
his farm to his son. The Conrad farm consists of two hundred thirty 
acres and is located five miles northwest of Rockville and five miles 
southwest of Appleton City. The farm is well watered and especially 
adapted for stock raising, a branch of Panther creek flowing through 
the tract, and furnishing an ample water supply at all seasons of the 
year. Mr. Conrad purchased his farm from James M. Gwinn in 1894 
and has since rebuilt the farm residence, it now being a comfortable 
structure of nine rooms. The large barn which is 42 x 48 feet in size, 
and sixteen feet to the square, is built of native lumber. Mr. Conrad 
keeps both Shorthorn and Jersey cattle and raises hogs, horses and 
mules. 

William Conrad was married in 1873 to Albertina Reetz, of York 
county, Nebraska, a daughter of Martin and Mary Reetz, the former of 
whom is deceased, the latter is living in York county. j\Ir. and Mrs. 
Conrad have eight children: Clara, wife of Henry Heine, Merrill, ^^'is- 
consin; Lillie, wife of John Lambenstein, Hudson township; Otto, Bene- 
dict, Nebraska: John, Hudson township; Rosa, wife of Otto Renken ; 
Walter, is farming the home place; Albert, conducts a music store and 
insurance business at Appleton City; Oscar, Appleton City. Mr. and 
Mrs. Conrad are members of the German Lutheran church at Appleton 
City. For a period of four years, Mr. Conrad served as trustee of 
Hudson township and v/as a member of the township board for the 
same length of time. 

Henry Beard, late of Deepwater township, was one of the early 

(45) 



7o6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

settlers of Bates county who was noted for industry, intelligence and 
his progressive spirit. He was born in Knox county, Ohio, in 1838 
and departed this life at his home in the southwestern part of Deep- 
water township in 1894. He was one of the Kansas pioneers and came 
from that state to Missouri in 1866 and first located on a farm north- 
east of Johnstown, where he lived for one year, then rented land in 
Deepwater township until 1875, at which time he purchased the Beard 
home place and made his home there until his death. He purchased 
one hundred acres of land of a Mr. Johnathan in that year and pro- 
ceeded to develop his property. He later bought eighty acres more 
from a Mr. Reed and some time later bought another "eighty," at the 
time of his death owning two hundred sixty acres of land which was 
well improved and kept in a high state of cultivation. Mr. Beard erected 
all of the buildings on the place, set out practically all of the beautiful 
shade trees and was continually adding to the attractiveness of the home- 
stead when not engaged in his farming activities. He was one of the 
most successful stockmen in this section of Bates county and occupied 
a substantial place in the citizenship of the township and county. His 
death in 1894 was the occasion for much sorrow among relatives and 
friends. His life was so lived that a deep impress was left upon the 
community where he was for many years a valued and worthy member. 

On April 21, 1866, Henry Beard and Miss Eliza Kretzinger 
were united in marriage in Coffey county, Kansas. Mrs. Eliza Kret- 
zinger Beard was born in Paulding county, Ohio, June 22, 1848, and is 
a daughter of Nicholas and Margaret (Kingery) Kretzinger, the former 
of whom was born in Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, and the latter 
having been a native of Marion county, Ohio. The Kretzingers came 
west from the old Buckeye state in 1865, and after a short residence 
in Henry county, they located in Deepwater township, Bates county. 
In the spring of 1866, Mr. Kretzinger went to Kansas and remained 
there but a short time, finally returning to Deepwater township, where 
he lived until his death in 1870. Mrs. Kretzinger died in Bates county 
in 1910 and her remains were interred in the Dickison cemetery. 

The children of the I\retzinger family were: Van, living in Okla- 
homa; John, Spruce, Missouri: George, Rich Hill, Missouri; William, 
El Dorado, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Cunningham, Oklahoma; I. M. Kret- 
zinger, Deepwater township. 

Mrs. Eliza Kretzinger Beard was reared and educated in Ohio, 
and her marriage with Henry Beard was a most happy one and pros- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 707 

perous. Henry and Eliza Beard were parents of the following chil- 
dren: Charles, Parsons, Kansas; Emma, wife of James Frost, Deep- 
water township; Edith, wife of James Baker, Deepwater township; John, 
Summit township; Israel, who is cultivating the old home place; Ava, 
lives in Lone Oak township; Minnie, wife of John Pharis, living in 
Canada; Maude, wife of Thomas Parker, Deepwater township; Dora, 
wife of Claude Thomas, Pleasant Gap township; Nina, wife of Clay 
McKinley, Hudson township; two sons, Atlee, and Delany, died in 
youth, the latter dying at the age of thirteen years. Mrs. Beard has 
forty-nine grandchildren, as follow: Francis, Alta, Ora, Myrtle, Henry, 
Burley, Leslie, and Albert Beard; Thomas, Leo, and Francis Frost; 
Roy, Ethel, Ira, Oscar, Lloyd, Zephaniah, and Vera Baker; Harley, Her- 
schell, Buell, Basil, Cecil, Lucille, Kenneth Beard; Fremont, Rue, Don- 
ald, Dean, Clyde Beard; Clarice, Wilma and Thurman Beard; Opal, 
Miles, Rita, Kate, and Bernice Pharis; Gilbert, Warren, Mina, and 
Josephine Parker; Willis, Norma, and Welton Thomas; Chester, Cecil, 
Beulah, and Hazel McKinley. 

Mrs. Beard makes her home upon the old place which she and 
her husband created and where her children were reared to maturity. 
Although nearing the allotted three score and ten years in age, she is 
active, mentally alert, and does her own housework and many other 
duties which fall to woman's lot in and about a farm home. She is an 
intelligent and sprightly lady who has good and just right to be proud 
of the fact that she and her late husband reared one of the largest 
and finest families in Bates county. 

Leonard Davis, farmer and stockman, Hudson township, was born 
in Hudson township in 1879. He is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Ford) 
Davis, the former of whom was born in Bates county and resided here 
all of his days. Elizabeth (Ford) Davis was a native of Boone county, 
Missouri. Both of Leonard Davis' parents are deceased, his father 
having died February 20, 1918, at the age of seventy-three years. Rob- 
ert Davis was a veteran of the Civil War, Union Army, and reared a 
family of seven children as follow: Mrs. Sarah Neff, Dodge City, 
Kansas; Mrs. Charles Zwahlen, Passaic, Missouri; Leonard, subject 
of this review; Mrs. Emma Gregg, Hudson township; Mrs. William 
Earsom, Pleasant Gap township; Mrs. Nora Davis, Rio Frio, Texas; 
Peter Davis, a farmer of Hudson township. 

The early education of Leonard Davis was obtained in the Rich 
Valley school. He lived with his parents and farmed on the home place 



708 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of the family until 1910, when he purchased his present farm of 120 
acres from the family of Bernard Brown, a Bates county pioneer. Mr. 
Davis has thirteen and a third acres of timber land in addition. The 
Davis farm is nicely located seven miles southwest of Appleton City 
and eight miles northwest of Rockville. This farm is a fertile and pro- 
ductive tract and Mr. Davis is engaged in general farming and the rais- 
ing of cattle and hogs for the market. 

On December 22, 1915, Mr. Davis was united in marriage at Clin- 
ton, Missouri, with Miss Maude Gabriel, a daughter of Earl and Jennie 
(Andrews) Gabriel, natives of Moniteau county. Missouri, who were 
parents of the following children: Mrs. Maude Davis, of this review; 
Dean, now at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station near Chicago; 
Ernest, Hudson township; Mrs. Ruth, wife of Fayette Keene, Spruce, 
Missouri ; Ora, King, Carroll, Lena, Pauline, LeRoy, Rita, at home with 
their parents on the home place in Hudson township. 

Mr. and Mrs. Davis have a son, Robert Dean Davis, born Septem- 
ber 14, 1916. Mr. Davis is independent in his political views and votes 
accordingly. He is afifiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons 
of Rockville, Missouri, as was his father before him. 

George H. Evans, pioneer, and prosperous farmer of Shawnee town- 
ship, was born March 20, 1857, on the old Evans homestead now 
owned by Henry Baunke, and which was entered by his grandfather, 
Elisha Evans, during the early pioneer days of the thirties of the settle- 
ment period of Bates county. Elisha Evans was a native of Virginia 
and made a settlement in Missouri, in the early twenties, residing in 
Lafayette county prior to making his location in Bates county. The 
father of George H. Evans was John Evans, born in Lafayette county, 
Missouri, in 1820 and practically reared in Bates county on the pioneer 
homestead of the Evans family. After his marriage with Louisiana 
Glass he continued to reside on the Evans place and made his home 
here until his death in 1897. He was widely and favorably known 
throughout Bates county and ably managed his fine farm of ninety 
acres in this county. Mr. Evans was of the true pioneer type, hos- 
pitable to the core, and always willing to give the stranger a bed and 
a place at his table. Whatever he possessed he was willing to share 
with his fellows, kindly disposed toward his fellow-men and a good, 
law-abiding citizen. During the Civil War period he removed with his 
family to Pettis county and made his home there near Sedalia until 
the war closed. Lie then returned to his home in Bates county. John 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7O9 

and Louisiana Evans were parents of the following children: Will- 
iam A., Sheridan, Kansas; Joel, deceased; Mrs. Parnesia Jane Wainscott, 
Barber county, Kansas; George H., subject of this review; Nancy and 
Verilla and Sarah Ellen, deceased; S. P., Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Mis- 
souri Greer; and Mrs. Lovina Greer. John Evans was a veteran of 
the Mexican War. 

The mother of the foregoing children was a native of Kentucky 
and a daughter of George W. Glass, a pioneer of Bates county who 
purchased a homestead in Summit township and also entered govern- 
ment land. Before the outbreak of the Civil War he owned a large 
tract of land in this county, but later in life he removed to St. Clair 
county, Missouri, where he died. 

The early education of George H. Evans was received in school 
district Number 1 of Shawnee township, which was located on the 
Evans farm and located within two hundred yards of the home. This 
school house was built of logs and was very primitive in its furnishings. 
Mr. Evans remained at home and assisted his parents until he was 
twenty-five years of age. He farmed on his own account and in 1883 
he bought his present home farm. At the time of the purchase there 
was but a small house upon the place. During the years that Mr. 
Evans has resided on his farm he has added to his holdings until he is 
owner of two hundred acres of the best improved farm land in his 
section of the county. He has enlarged the residence and practically 
built his home in 1895. The barn upon his home place was built in 
1893. Mr. Evans is engaged in general farming and stock raising. 

In 1881, Mr. Evans was married to Mary V. Ferguson, a daughter 
of Morris and Rebecca Ferguson, of Johnson county, Missouri. Five 
children have been born to this marriage: Jesse Ora, Kansas City, Mis- 
souri; Mrs. Pearl M. Moore, Shawnee township; Mrs. Minnie M. Crook, 
Johnstown, Missouri; Mrs. Iva B. Hays, Spruce township; John C, at 
home with his parents. 

The old Evans homestead in Shawnee township was erected in 
1859 and was built of lumber hauled by John Evans from Westport, 
Missouri. It is the oldest pioneer home in this section of Bates county 
still standing in a good state of preservation. In the days of Mr. Evans' 
boyhood there were many deer on the plains and he recalls seeing herds 
of fifteen grazing along the streams. A favorite greyhound of his ran 
down and caught a deer on Fishing creek in 1868. Wild turkeys were 
plentiful and fishing was excellent, especially in Fishing creek, which 



yiO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

was so named because of the fine sport it afforded for the disciples of 
Isaac Walton. At that period there were no systems of roads and high- 
ways and when a boy, Mr. Evans could ride straight across country to 
Butler without passing a house or fence on the way. Among the "old 
timers" whom he remembers were Uncle Johnny Green, Uncle Mose 
Johnson, Joseph Reeder, Austin Reeder, and Henry France. The near- 
est neighbors were three miles away and visiting was an occasion long 
to be remembered, for the pioneers were hospitable and always pleased 
to entertain their friends, neighbors or strangers who were made welcome 
and treated to the best the home afforded. 

J. W. Gilbreath, of Hudson township, is one of the oldest native- 
born pioneer settlers of Bates county. Seventy years have passed since 
he first saw the light of day in his father's cabin on the prairies of 
Hudson township. His boyhood days were spent amid surroundings 
most primitive and his home was a log cabin built on the banks of 
Panther creek, the said cabin later becoming the first school house 
in Hudson township. The nearest trading posts and the only trading 
points in those days were at old Papinsville and Johnstown, to which 
centers the goods needed by the settlers had to be hauled from long 
distances in the forties and fifties from the nearest landing places on 
the Missouri river. There were many Indians in the vicinity of the 
Gilbreath home in those days, the Indians of the plains making a cus- 
tom of coming in from the western plains to spend the winter in their 
village near Papinsville. When here they spent their time in hunting and 
were never bothersome to the settlers if treated rightly. The old Har- 
mony Mission was Indian headquarters for a number of years. 

J. W. Gilbreath was born in Hudson township, December 19, 1847, 
and is a son of William and Rilla (Evans) Gilbreath who came to Bates 
county from Illinois as early as 1844 and were among the earliest of 
the Bates county pioneers. William Gilbreath was born in Washing- 
ton county, Illinois, and was a son of John Gilbreath, a native- of Bun- 
combe county. North Carolina. When a young man, John Gilbreath 
moved to Illinois in 1804. William Gilbreath entered several hundred 
acres of free government land in Hudson township, and built his first 
home three miles west and a mile south of the present site of Appleton 
City. After the war he removed to the home now owned by his son, 
J. W. Gilbreath, and for a period of twenty-five years was an extensive 
dealer in mules and livestock. J. W. Gilbreath, subject of this review, 
was the only son of his parents. He attended school in a log school 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



711 



house on Panther creek, which was the only school in Hudson town- 
ship for a number of years. He has followed farming during his entire 
life and has fed cattle for the past thirty-five years with considerable 
success. His fine farm consisting of four hundred thirty acres is located 
seven miles southwest of Appleton City and seven miles northwest of 
Rockville. This farm has been created from wild prairie land and the 
whole of it is under cultivation, there not being an acre of waste land 
in the entire tract. Two sets of farm improvements are located thereon 
and the farm residence consists of eight rooms and other buildings of 
a substantial nature. 

December 24, 1876, J. W. Gilbreath was married to Miss Anna E. 
Nearhofif, who was born February 8, 1841 and departed this life on 
March 21, 1898. Two children were born to this marriage: Nellie 
May, wife of William Zimmerman ; and William Edward Gilbreath. 
Mr. Zimmerman is deceased and Mrs. Zimmerman resides with her 
father. She has three children : Verree, Cleo, and Leota. Verree mar- 
ried Orveil Young and has one child: Orveil, Jr., born January 28, 1918. 

William Edward Gilbreath was born March 31, 1879 and was reared 
and educated in Hudson township. On November 20, 1915 he was 
united in marriage with Miss Lydia Frances Schott, a daughter of 
George H. and Mary Louise Schott of Calhoun, Missouri. To this 
marriage has been born a son, William Warren Gilbreath. E. W. Gil- 
breath is owner of one hundred sixty acres of good land and is actively 
engaged in farming and stock raising. He has a fine herd of Hereford 
cattle to the number of forty-seven head. He is a well educated citi- 
zen, having attended the schools of Appleton City, and the Central 
Business College at Sedalia, Missouri. Mrs. Gilbreath also studied at 
Hill's Business College in Sedalia. Mr. Gilbreath's farm is well equipped 
with good buildings, including a seven room residence, a large barn 
36 X 48 feet, sixteen feet to the square, another barn 20 x 60 feet with 
a sixteen foot shed, a granary 20 x 14 feet with a concrete floor and 
foundation of the same material, a hen house 10 x 30 feet in size. Mr. 
Gilbreath was elected assessor of Hudson township in April of 1917 
and is now filling the duties of this office satisfactorily to the people of 
the township. 

Thomas J. Pheasant. — The late Thomas J. Pheasant of Hudson 
township, was an industrious and enterprising citizen who did well his 
part in the development and up-building of Bates county. He was born 
in JefiTerson county, Indiana, September 3, 1856, son of Charles Pheas- 



712 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ant. He was reared and educated in his native state and migrated to 
Bates county, Missouri in 1882. Not long after his arrival in this county 
he made a permanent location on the farm now owned by his widow. 
He purchased this land from Judge Robards. This farm consists of 
one hundred fifteen acres and is kept in a high state of cultivation and 
is finely improved with a good residence, barns and other buildings and 
during his life time in this county, Mr. Pheasant kept in a good state 
of repair. He followed farming and stock raising and dealt rather 
extensively in livestock, buying and shipping large number of cattle 
and hogs each year prior to coming to Missouri. He took a good citi- 
zen's part in local civic affairs and served as constable of Hudson town- 
ship and also served as a member of the township board. Mr. Pheas- 
ant died March 22, 1915. 

On December 9, 1886, Thomas J. Pheasant and Miss Elizabeth 
Wilson were united in marriage. This marriage was a happy and pros- 
perous one and the young couple worked in perfect harmony in the 
rearing of their fine family and the building up of their fine farm. Their 
first home was in a little, old log cabin which was built in pioneer days 
by the father of Judge Robards and which was situated on the hill one 
mile north of the present home of the Pheasant family. The logs used 
in the building of this cabin were cut in the Osage river bottoms and 
hauled to the site of the cabin, the cutting and hewing of the logs being 
accomplished with incredible labor, long, long ago. This cabin con- 
sisted of two rooms with a loft above. Iron rods at each corner held 
the logs together. The logs were so joined in order that prowling 
Indians would be unable to pry up the corners of the cabin in case of 
an attack. In later years the old cabin, after it had served its purpose 
as a habitation for man, was torn down and the material used in the 
construction of a barn on the Pheasant place. The present home of 
the family was the former home of Judge Robards. This residence 
was remodeled by Mr. and Mrs. Pheasant in 1902 and is a comfortable 
and attractive farm home. 

Six children were born to Thomas J. and Elizabeth Pheasant, as 
follow : Mrs. Clay Mauck, living in Hudson township, a former teacher 
in St. Clair, Bates and Henry counties; Bruce, serving his country as 
a private soldier in the encampment at Fort Logan, Colorado, having 
enlisted in the National Army, while homesteading a tract of land in 
Wyoming; Mrs. O. E. Reid, living in Cass county, Harrisonville, also 
a former teacher who taught school in Bates and Cass counties prior 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 713 

to her marriage; Charles E., a sturdy, industrious young citizen, twenty- 
two years of age, who is operating the home place; Elizabeth, a student 
in the Appleton City High School, class of 1919; and Thomas De Witt, 
a student in the first year class of the Appleton City High School. The 
Pheasant home place is located three and a half miles west of Appleton 
City and is w^ell equipped w^ith two good barns, a silo having a capacity 
of one hundred tons and is well stocked with cattle and hogs and sheep, 
there being one hundred and ninety-five head of the latter animals on 
the place at the present writing. 

Mrs. Elizabeth (Wilson) Pheasant was born December 1, 1862 
in Virginia, and is a daughter of Edward and Sarah (Powell) Wilson, 
natives of Cumberland county, Virginia. Edward Wilson came to Bates 
county in early pioneer days and entered government land in Hudson 
township. Mrs. Pheasant's brothers and sisters are as follow: Good- 
rich Wilson, Elk City, Oklahoma; Edward C, Calumet, Oklahoma; G. 
T. W^ilson, Calumet, Oklahoma; Mrs. Daniel Donahue, Appleton City, 
Missouri; Mrs. George G. Shoup, Appleton City, Missouri. 

Mr. Pheasant was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church 
and so lived his life that it was as nearly in keeping with the teachings 
of the Savior as was possible for mortal man. He was honest and 
straightforward in his business dealings and won a name for himself 
as a reliable and trustworthy citizen among his fellow-men. His death 
was a time of sorrow for his family and many warm friends and asso- 
ciates who had grown to love him and respect him for his many excel- 
lent qualities. He was a good provider for his family, a kind husband, 
and a loving parent to his children for whose welfare and correct up- 
bringing he was very ambitious and lived his industrious life solely for 
their benefit. Mr. and Mrs. Pheasant were always in complete accord 
with the advanced ideas of caring for their children and in giving them 
every educational advantage of which they were capable. Mrs. Pheas- 
ant and the members of her family are all earnestly afiiliated with the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 

A. A. Prier, farmer and stockman, Hudson township, was born on 
a farm in Henry county, Missouri, January 20, 1873, and is a son of 
one of the old Missouri pioneers who owned the farm which ])ecame 
the townsite of the flourishing town of Appleton City in Henry county. 
He is a son of William M. Prier, one of the real old settlers of this 
section of Missouri. 

William M. Prier was born in Edgar county, Illinois, June 9, 1830 



714 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and received his schooling- in a httle log school house in that county 
at a period when the pupils used quill pens with which they did their 
writing. He has had many experiences well worth the telling. When 
a boy fifteen years old he was bitten by a rattlesnake while industriously 
cradling oats. While in New Orleans he was stricken with the cholera 
in the year 1851. While a member of the United States secret service 
he was shot in the leg. He was then serving as deputy United States 
marshal — and landed his man even though he received a wound while 
doing it. In 1851 his father moved to Iowa, and in 1852, W^illiam M. 
Prier went there to make his own home and resided there for the next 
sixteen years. In 1868 he came to Missouri and located on the site of 
Appleton City in St. Clair county, buying the land which later became 
the townsite, at a cost of two dollars and ten cents an acre. In 1870, 
he sold this land to the Appleton City Townsite Company for twenty- 
five dollars an acre. For the ensuing six years he was marshal of the 
new town. In 1883 he came to Bates county and bought his farm in 
Hudson township, a place which is now owned by Jasper Varnes. In 
1893 he bought the adjoining farm of one hundred sixty-three acres from 
James Cherry and has since made his home thereon. Mr. Prier possesses 
a remarkable memory concerning the old times and loves to contrast the 
past with the present. In speaking of the price of calves in the old days 
as compared with the present. Mr. Prier says that in 1844 he bought a 
calf for one dollar and seventy-five cents and it was a much better calf 
than one which his son sold for forty dollars in October, 1917. Sheep in 
those days of seventy-eight years ago were sold for fifty cents a head, 
and now, they are worth fifty dollars a head. Mr. Prier has in his pos- 
session the first compass used in St. Clair county, Missouri, and he 
assisted the surveyor in making the survey of the town plat of Appleton 
City in that county. For a period of six years he served as chairman 
of the township board of Hudson township and helped to survey the 
highways of his home township. He also surveyed a part of Deep- 
water township and achieved a reputation as an exact and accurate 
surveyor while engaged in this work. He has served as justice of the 
peace of Hudson township for two terms and has never missed voting 
at but one election since 1852. at the time he moved from Illinois to 
Iowa. When he settled at Appleton City in 1868 there were but four 
houses in sight on the landscape and in driving to Harrisonville from 
his home he would not see a house until he struck the mound region 
northeast of Butler. For twelve years this aged and versatile pioneer 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



715 



was engaged in the United States secret service — from 1864 to 1876. 

In 1852, William M. Prier was married to Artemesia Brown of 
Edgar county, Illinois. Mrs. Prier died in 1906 and her remains are 
interred in Myers cemetery. The following children were born to this 
marriage: Marion C, deceased; Cynthia A., deceased; Charles E., 
died at Moline, Kansas; Benjamin L., superintendent of the water works 
at Osawatomie, Kansas; C. W., Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in the State 
Normal School; Alva A., who is farming the home place. 

Alva A. Prier was born June 25, 1873 in St. Clair county, Missouri. 
He was educated in the public schools of Appleton City and has always 
been engaged in farming. , Since 1906, he has been managing the home 
place on his own account and has been making a pronounced success 
of his farming operations. For the past eleven years he has been en- 
gaged in raising sheep and has forty-four head of the animals on the 
place in addition to cattle and hogs. 

On May 6, 1897, Alva A. Prier was married to Carrie Belle Hall, 
of Hudson township. She died in 1908 leaving two children: Cora 
Alice, and Anna Belle. On November 3, 1909, Mr. Prier was united 
in marriage with Lela T. Padgett of Hudson township and two chil- 
dren have blessed this marriage: Lela May, deceased, and Margaret 
Marie. Mrs. Lela Prier is a daughter of J. W. and Sarah Padgett, well 
known residents of Hudson township. Mr. Prier has served as a 
member of the township ]:)oard and is one of the most enterprising of 
the younger citizens of Hudson township. AV. M. Prier became a 
Mason in 1856. He has killed one hundred wolves in Bates county, 
is active and strong for his age, works daily and walks miles each day, 
is the second oldest pioneer in Bates county. 

Charles A. McComb, director and farm inspector of the Walton 
Trust Company, Butler, Missouri, was born on a farm in Spruce town- 
ship. Bates county, April 9, 1870, a son of Rev. Lewis and Mary J. 
(Radford) McComb. He was reared and educated in Bates county and 
has carved out a niche for himself in the commercial life of the county 
by his own honest endeavors and the exercise of natural ability of a 
high order. In 1897 he w^ent to Wagoner, Indian Territoryand engaged 
in the mercantile business until importuned by his father to return home 
and purchase the old home place and care for his aged father during 
his declining years. He did so and remained engaged in farming pur- 
suits until after his father's death. He remained on the farm until 1910 
and then removed to Butler, wdiere he became associated with I. W. 



yi6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Choate and J. ^^^ Coleman in the real estate and insurance business. 
After building- up a large and lucrative business in Butler he disposed 
of his interest in the real estate and insurance ofifice six years later and 
in January, 1916, he associated himself with the Walton Trust Company 
as one of the directors and land examiner of this important financial 
concern. 

Mr. McComb was married on April 10, 1892, to Miss Edith O'Rear, 
of Butler, Missouri. To this marriage have been born five children : 
Levi, deceased; Lloyd, deceased; Claude A., aged eighteen years, a stu- 
dent in Butler High School; Nina Vesta, fifteen years old, also a student 
in Butler High School; and Walter, deceased. 

Since attaining his majority, Mr. McComb has been active in civic 
affairs and taken a prominent and influential part in all public enter- 
prises which have been intended for the betterment of conditions in Bates 
county. He has held several positions of trust and always discharged 
the duties intrusted to him with singular fidelity and faithfulness to the 
public. He is much interested in church work and has served as super- 
intendent of the Sunday school in his home neighborhood for many 
years, and has also served 'as superintendent of the Sunday school of the 
First Baptist church of Butler for some years. He was one of the lead- 
ing laymen having charge of the erection of the new Baptist church at 
Butler. His work in connection with his duties with the Walton Trust 
Company is of a broadening character and requires constant travel over 
Missouri and Kansas and he has acquired a wide and thorough business 
training which is invaluable to a successful man. Mr. McComb is one 
of the leading and enterprising citizens of Bates county who is fast 
forging to the front rank, and while still a young man as years go, he 
is uestined to achieve greater success as the years come and go. His 
standing in the community of his birth is high and his friends are legion. 
Mr. McComb enjoys the universal respect and esteem of all who know 
him ; possessing the graceful and happy faculty of making friends of 
those with whom he is brought into daily contact, his popularity is 
unbounded. 

James R. Simpson, Bates county pioneer, ex-sheriff, and ex-recorder 
of this county, is likewise a son of one of the oldest of the pioneer fami- 
lies of Missouri. The life time of James R. Simpson extends over a long, 
long period of seventy-five years in Missouri, during which he has wit- 
nessed a great state in the making, took part in a great war, and been 
an influential figure in the settlement and development of Bates county. 




JA:MES R. SIMPSON. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 717 

where over sixty years of his long hfe have been spent to his own 
advantage and decidedly to the well being of Bates county. Mr. Simp- 
son was born at Old Westport, Missouri, June 24, 1843, and is a son of 
James M. and Frances E. (Cummins) Simpson. His father, James M. 
Simpson, was born in old Kentucky in 1808 and was a son of Richard 
Simpson, who was one of the early pioneers of Westport, and who 
died there, his remains being interred in the cemetery at Kansas City. 
He came to Missouri in 1826 and first settled in Cooper county, later 
moving to Westport. Frances E. (Cummins) Simpson was born in 
Tennessee in 1816 and was a daughter of Richard W. Cummins, who 
was an early pioneer of Cooper county, and served in the first legislative 
assembly ever held in Missouri, representing Howard and Cooper coun- 
ties in 1820. He, Richard W. Cummins, came to Bates county in about 
1853, and located in Deepwater township, where his death occurred 
in 1860, his remains being interred in Stratton cemetery. 

James M. Simpson was eighteen years old when he came with his 
father to Missouri. He moved from Westpoint to Cass county and 
had a farm in Peculiar township which he cultivated for some years 
previous to .locating in Harrisonville, where he engaged in business in 
partnership with Hugh Glenn, father of Judge Allen Glenn, of Harri- 
sonville. He moved to Bates county in 1856 and brought a number of 
slaves with him. When the Civil War broke out he went to Texas, 
where he died in 1863. James M. and Frances E. Simpson were parents 
of the following children: Henrietta W., deceased wife of William Lud- 
wick; Alzira, deceased wife of Dr. J. C. Maxwell; John K., deceased; 
Charles William, deceased; James R., subject of this review; Mary Eliza- 
beth, deceased wife of J. H. Fletcher; Duke W^illiams, Ardmore, Okla- 
homa; Roberta Pauline, wife of Dr. Milton Godbey, both of whom are 
deceased ; Frank Simpson, Ardmore, Oklahoma. 

James R. Simpson attended the primitive schools of Peculiar town- 
ship, Cass county, and also the public schools at Harrisonville in the 
same county, his last schooling- being obtained in Bates county. In 
March, 1861, he enlisted at Harrisonville, under Capt. W. H. Erwin 
for service in the Confederate army and served for four years, the 
greater part of his service being under the command of General Joe 
Shelby. For details concerning the campaigns and battles in which 
Mr. Simpson took an active part the reader is referred to the biography 
and military history of General Shelby, which is given elsewhere in this 
volume. Mr. Simpson fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Helena, 



7IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Arkansas, and at Little Rock, Arkansas. His service extended over 
Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, being in the latter state when the war 
closed. After the war was over, he returned to Bates county and has 
since been profitably engaged in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. 
Mr. Simpson purchased his present farm of one hundred sixty acres 
in 1880. This farm is located in Deepwater towaiship. In addition to 
his home farm, Mr. Simpson owns another tract of forty-eight acres 
not far away. . The Simpson farm was entered from the government 
by J. L. Ludwick, who came to Bates county in 1839. 

On March 24, 1870, James R. Simpson and Abiah Lutsenhizer were 
married and to this marriage have been born the following children : 
Olive L., wife of W. E. Dickison, Spruce, Missouri; Stella May, wife of 
C. V. Peacock, Spruce, Missouri ; Clyde, deceased. Mrs. Abiah Simp- 
son was born in Deepwater towmship, October 30, 1844, and is a daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Katherine Lutsenhizer, who came to Bates county in 
1839 and settled in Deepwater township within four miles of the Simp- 
son place, the former dying here in 1844 and the latter dying in 1863. 
Mr. and Mrs. Lutsenhizer were parents of nine children, all of whom 
grew to maturity and are now deceased excepting Mrs. Simpson. The 
names of these children were: Mrs. Sarah Durand, Henry, Oliver, 
Margaret, Esther, Susan, William W., Thomas B., and Mrs. Abiah 
Simpson. 

Jacob Lutsenhizer was a son of Henry Lutsenhizer, who lived and 
died in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. The wife of Henry Lut- 
senhizer was Judith Marchand, of Pennsylvania, a daughter of Dr. David 
Marchand (II), of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, who served as 
a surgeon in the Continental army during the ^^'ar of the American 
Revoluti'on with rank of captain and who was a son of Dr. David March- 
and (I), descended from French-Huguenots who came from France to 
America in 1700. 

For many years Mr. Simpson was a breeder of Red Polled cattle 
and Duroc Jersey hogs and was the pioneer breeder of these varieties 
of livestock in his section of Bates county, bringing the first of these 
fine breeds here in 1880. It was only natural that a citizen of his pro- 
nounced abilities would take an active part in politics and he became 
prominently identified with the Democratic party in Bates county. He 
was elected sheriff of the county in 1878 and re-elected to this office in 
1880, serving in all for four years, during this time giving- entire satis- 
faction to the people of the county. In 1882 he was elected recorder of 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 719 

deeds and so well did he perform the duties of this important office 
that he was again elected to the office in 1884, serving in all four years. 
It has probably been given to no living pioneer citizen of Bates county 
to have seen so much of the development of the great state of Missouri 
as has Mr. Simpson. It can truly be said that he is one of the oldest 
of the widely-known pioneers of the state of Missouri and Bates county. 
No man living has been more closely identified with the upbuilding of 
the county than he. He has seen this county emerge from an unsettled 
wilderness state to become one of the thickly settled garden spots of the 
west and has seen Bates county take her place among the great counties 
of the state through the united efforts of her citizens". When the story 
of the county is completely written, one of the most honored places in 
this history belongs rightly to him and his family. 

Christian Hegnauer of Pleasant Gap township, has lived nearly all 
of his life in Bates county, the Hegnauer family coming to this county 
in 1869 when the country was sparsely settled and the nearest railroad 
station was at Pleasant Hill, fifty miles away. He began his own 
career with a team of horses, and, by dint of hard, unremitting labor, 
year in and year out he has made good and accumulated a splendid 
farm in Pleasant Gap township. Mr. Hegnauer was born in Madison 
county, Illinois, May 3, 1868, the son of Leonard Hegnauer, a native 
of Switzerland and a Union veteran. 

Leonard Hegnauer was born in Switzerland, April 25, 1843. His 
parents were Lucius and Margaret (Bernet) Hegnauer, who were also 
natives of Switzerland, and immigrated to America in 1856, making 
a permanent settlement in Madison county, Illinois, wdiere Leonard 
Llegnauer was reared and educated, ^^d^en the Civil War began, he 
enlisted in 1861 for three months service in the Union armies, and in 
October of the same year he enlisted in Company E, Fourth Missouri 
Volunteer Infantry and served for eighteen months, receiving' his hon- 
orable discharge in February, 1863. He then returned to his home in 
Illinois. Lie was married in Madison county. Tidy 4, 1866, to Miss Susan 
K. Hirschi, who was born in Switzerland, Mav 15, 1846. and was a 
daughter of Christian Hirschi. In 1869, Mr. Hegnauer immigrated to 
Bates county, Missouri and purchased a farm of one hundred sixty acres 
in Pleasant Gap township. He became owner of four hundred five 
acres and was one of the pioneers in the dairy business in this county. 
Mr. Hegnauer kept a fine herd of Holstein cows and Shorthorn cattle 
and became a prosperous and highly respected citizen. In 1911 he 



720 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

retired from active farm labor and moved to a home in Appleton City, 
where his death occurred October 31, 1916. His remains were buried 
in the church yard of the German Reformed church. Mr. and Mrs. 
Leonard Hegnauer were parents of the following children : Mrs. Mary 
C. Hammer, Pleasant Gap township; Christian, subject of this review; 
Leonard, Washington state; Mrs. Katie S. Link, Pleasant Gap town- 
ship; Margaret M., deceased; and Robert L., Minnesota. Mrs. Susan 
K. Hegnauer made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Mary C. Ham- 
mer and Christian Hegnauer until her death February 12, 1918. 

Christian Hegnauer was educated in the schools of Bates county 
and began the work of tilling the soil in his boyhood days. He has fol- 
lowed the oldest of respectable vocations during his entire life and has 
made a pronounced success as an agriculturist. He moved to his pres- 
ent home place in 1887 and after renting it for a few years he purchased 
the place. He is now owner of eighty acres in Pleasant Gap township 
and has one hundred sixty-three acres in Rockville township. Since 
1886, he has followed the dairy business and has thus increased the fer- 
tility of the soil on his farm from year to year. He is a firm believer in 
the universal adaptation of this country to the dairying industry, and 
thinks, rightly, that it is the only possible way of maintaining soil fertil- 
ity with the least expense. Mr. Hegnauer milks from twenty-five to 
thirty cows of the Brown Swiss grade. There are two sets of improve- 
ments on the Hegnauer farms. The home residence is a nice, seven- 
room house kept in a good state of repair and nicely painted. The barn 
is 38 X 64 feet in dimensions and equipped with a silo placed in the inter- 
ior so as to afford convenience in feeding the cows. The corn crib and 
machine sheds are each 28 x 32 feet in size and are covered with metal 
roofing. The second set of improvements are also good and comprise 
a six-room residence, a large barn 48 x 48 feet in size which is also 
equipped with a silo built on the inside of the building. 

Mr. Hegnauer was married in 1886 to Miss Anna Wirtz of Rock- 
ville township, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Wirtz, wdio came 
to Bates county in 1881, and are both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Chris- 
tian Hegnauer have seven children: Lena, wife of Fred Stevener, 
Prairie township; Clara, wife of Walter Swezy, Pleasant Gap township; 
Leonard, a farmer living in Rockville township; Rosa, wife of Louis 
Steiner, Pleasant Gap township; Lizzie, Christian, and Marie, at home 
with their parents. 

When the Hegnauer family came to Bates county, they made the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7^^ 

trip across the state from Illinois with all of their worldly possessions 
loaded on wagons hauled by ox-teams. The trip required three weeks 
in the making and it was like traveling through a virgin country. Bates 
county was then only thinly settled and all of the family had a taste 
of pioneer life, with the nearest market fifty miles away at Pleasant 
Hill, and wild game abounded in the woods and on the open prairies. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hegnauer are members of the Reformed Church and 
are industrious and worthy citizens. 

F. H. Diehl, of Hudson township, successful farmer and stockman, 
was born in Tipton, Missouri, in 1868, and is the son of F. H. Diehl, 
a native of Germany who was a veteran of the war between Germany 
and France in 1847-1848. He was a member of a company of soldiers 
who had taken part in the conquest of Alsace, the northern province 
of France over which the contending armies are now struggling in the 
great world war. During the advance of the German armies into French 
territory he was taken prisoner by the French but later made his escape. 
He was born in 1829 and immigrated to America at the age of nine- 
teen years, in 1848. Having learned the trade of miller he followed 
it in this country and became owner of a mill at Tipton, Missouri, 
which he operated for a number of years. He was conducting this mill 
at the outbreak of the Civil War, when, imbued with a love of his 
adopted country, and filled with the old time martial fervor, he enlisted 
in the regular army as a private with the intention of giving his life, 
if necessary, to his adopted country. However, when the military 
authorities learned that he was a capable miller they declined to let 
him serve and he was honorably discharged from the Union service 
in order that he might continue the operation of his mill. The Tipton 
Mill was later burned down and he came 'to Bates county in 1870. He 
purchased an interest in the flouring mill then being operated by a Mr. 
Schafer at Papinsville and took charge of this mill, and also operated 
a carding factory for a period of ten years. In 1880, he bought the 
John Sisson farm and improved the place which was his residence until 
his death in 1906. His remains were interred in Willow Branch 
cemetery. He married Philippine Remeley, a native of Germany, who 
bore him children as follow: F. H., subject of this review: George H., 
Rich Hill Missouri: Annie, wife of Ira M. Brown, Hudson township; 
Rosa, wife of W. E. Cumpton, Deepwater township; John, a farmer 
in Pleasant Gap township; Bertha, wife of Joseph Wix, Pleasant Gap 
township; Fritz H., a farmer in Pleasant Gap township. 
(46) 



/— 



IllSrom 0\- HATES COUNl\ 



l'\ 11. !)iclil was imIiumIoiI in tlio r.-ipiiisxilic school niul llic district 
school of his homo iu'i<;hluMhoo(l. lie has practicalh ^rowii u\) willi 
l>ntcs coin'il\ and has prospcrcil as tho ooniil\' has i;ainod in wealth 
and popniation. lie is owner of a splendid farm ol three hnndri."d 
fort \ -two acres, which are in a line state (»l cnltixation anil boast i^ootl 
i)nprt)\onients. There aie three sets of farm hniKlin^s on his lari;c 
farm, his home place ha\ini; a heantifnl settim;- npon a rise of j^ronnd 
o\ erlookin;;' the rich bottoms which comprise the greater part of his 
farni land. ( ^ne hundred twent\-six acres of this farm are a part of the 
old home place in llndson township. 11 is resilience is a i^'ootl strnctnro 
of six roi-)nis fi'om which nearly all of the tarm can he o\'erliH'»ked. ( )ne 
of the best assets to the Piehl place is a drilled well, two hnndred 
twentx two feet in depth which is lilled with water constantly to within 
twentx feet of the top. 

Idle marriage of h". 11. Piehl and .\nnie Tontins took place in IS^'4 
and has been blessed with a lar<;e family of ele\en chiKlren: llenrv 
William, Walter Albert, l.ncy hdla. Cdiarles P., Katie .\nna, l\dly 
rhilippine. Ctto h'rank, hAerett Robert. Jnbus Arthur. Laura (ler- 
truile, and (irace Mildred, all li\ iu^" i>u the home place o\ the family. 
Mrs. .Vnna Piehl was born in IS.^J, and is a daughter of .\mos P. 
rontius. w lu> came to T.ates Ciuiuty from Shelbyville. Illinois, in 1S69 
and settled in Tleasaut (lap township. Mr. l\>ntius was biM'u in IVunaa 
conutN, Illinois, was reared to NOun;;" maidiood in that state and serxed 
for three \ears in an Illinois rei^iment during- the C"i\il War. lie is 
now li\in!;- retired at Rich Mill. Missiiuri. Mrs. PiMitins dicil ou July 
20. LM5. and her remains w ei"e interred in Rich Ilill cemetery. 

Purim;- Mr. Piehl's Innluunl the country around about was in an 
unsettled state and there were practically no fences between his lather's 
farm and the town of rapinsxille. Much o\ the land was open prairie 
and tra\elers went directlx across country following" the trails. l'\ir 
a gi>od niau\- \ears their only trading- point was Paj'tinsx ille. Mrs. 
Diehl, during her girlhood days, attended the hdmer, now the I'eaxer 
school lumse, where church serxices were also heUI. Her tirst teacher 
was William Uonnefiold and the schot>l sti>oil on the John Sisson farm. 
Mr. and Mrs. Diehl .are industrious, thrifty people who have [o their 
credit the rearing (^f one of the large families of the county. 

B. M. Wix, the pri\gressive merchant .and postmaster of rie;vsant 
Gap. was born in 1880, in the state of Washington, the son of the late 
Joseph and Rosa (Deweese") Wix. who were pioneer settlers of Rates 



HISTORY OF liATKS COUNTY 723 

county, the former coming to this connly in 1839, and becoming- promi- 
nently identified with tlie early and creative period of the county's 
history. ;\ l)i()jj;ra|)hical sketch of Joseph VVix a])pears elsewhere in 
this \ohnne in connection with the hioj^rajdiy oi (dark VVix. li. .Vl. 
Wix was practically reared in Dates county, his father and niother 
returninj^- frtjni Washington t(j this county in 1881. lie attended the 
district schools and the Appleton City Academy, and taught school for 
a periofl of six years, f;ne year (A which was s])ent in Washington, 
where he went in 1912. lie was the first city mail carrier appointed 
for the city of Butler. In May of 1913 he purchased the stock of goods 
and hnilding owned l)y Judge R. B. Camp, who had been engaged in 
the mercantile business in I'leasant Gap since 1883. dhe store build- 
ing owned by Mr. Wix was erected by the contractors, lUirk iv Tal- 
niage and the lumber hauled from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. 'I'lie busi- 
ness growth of the Wix establishment has been so great during the 
past five years that Mr. Wix has found it necessary to find larger cpiar- 
ters. In consequence he has set about the erecting of a large concrete 
store building, 30 x 60 feet in size, of two stories, the lower fioor of 
which will be used for store purposes and the upper lloor whirli will 
be a hall room, will serve as the headquarters of the I'leasant Cap 
Boosters' Club. Mr. VVix hauls his goods retailed from his store from 
yXppleton City, a distance of nine and a half miles. The Wix store 
carries a general stock of groceries, dry goods, and clothing, hardware, 
etc. and a trading flepot for the cr)nvenience of the farmers of this 
section ^s conducted whereby Mr. W^ix handles the j)roduce produced 
u])on the farms in the vicinity of Pleasant Gap. He does a large annual 
business in this manner, and his wagons which haul the store goods 
from Apj)leton City, usually go loaded with farm jjrrxluce for ship- 
ment from A])pleton City. 

Mr. Wix was married- in 1905 to Lillian G. Casperson, a daughter 
of James and Alice Casperson. They have no children. Mr. Wix was 
reared on a farm anrl he has never lost his love for the soil. He is 
owner of a fine one hundred forty acre farm located <')ne and_ a half 
nnles north of Pleasant Gap which he oversees. Pie is postmaster of 
I'leasant Gap and is one of the live wires of this hustling comtnunity 
whose farmers around about are banded together in a Pleasant Tiap 
boosters' Club which is organizerl on lines similar to a city commercial 
did). The region around Pleasant Gap is one of the richest and most 
jjrogressive sections of western Missouri and the building of the large 



724 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



hall in connection with the Wix store is the work of the Boosters' 
Club, which will dedicate the building for use as a community hall for 
the entire neighborhood. It is such movements as these which band 
the farmers together and make for better homes and more progress 
and prosperity in the agricultural districts. 

The .Pleasant Gap Boosters' Club was organized in 1915 and the 
club has held three successful fairs or agricultural and livestock exhibits 
since its organization and done more to create a spirit of co-operation 
and emulation and make for better farming than any one agency ever 
introduced into this section. 

W. W, Perry, the well-known owner of the "Prairie Home Herd" 
of big bone Poland China hogs, one of Bates county's most intelligent, 
progressive, young stockmen and leading citizens, is a native son of Shaw- 
nee township, Bates county, one of the boys of yesterday who have 
"made good." Mr. Perry became interested in raising Poland China 
hogs in February, 1915, when he purchased five brood sows at the 
Charters sale and at the present time, in 1918, he has one hundred head 
of splendid animals in the "Prairie Home Herd" and is having no diffi- 
culty whatever to find a ready market for his stock in the vicinity of 
his home in Shawnee township and abroad, a farm located fourteen 
miles northeast of Butler and seven miles northwest of Spruce. Mr. 
Perry recently built on the farm a modern hog house, sexangle style 
in imitation of the sale barn of W. B. Wallace at Bunceton in Cooper 
county, Missouri, with breeding pens around all sides, concrete floor, 
the light furnished from overhead and by fourteen windows around the 
sides of the building, a model house of its kind. W. W. Perry completed 
a course in animal husbandry at the Missouri State University, Colum- 
bia, Missouri, and has mastered the art of judging stock. At the uni- 
versity, he was obliged to judge stock six days in the week and after 
keeping that up for several months one soon learns something about 
good stock and forms some conception of what a fine specimen is and 
how to produce it and care for it after it has been produced. Mr. Perry 
has in his herd two exceptionally fine pigs, one of them a prize winner, 
namely: "Chief" and "Royal Cross Third." The latter won first prize 
for the best pig under two and over one year of age at the Butler Fair 
in 1916. The prize was a silver set of twenty-six pieces, which Mr. 
Perry prizes highly. He has the following extraordinarily good 1)oars 
registered: "Prairie Home Bob," out of "Jumbo Bob," dam, "Charters' 
Giantess," dam "Long Giantess," which is the largest dam ever shown 




W. W. PERRY. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 725 

at the Missouri State Fair, shown at Sedaha in 1917, purchased by Mr. 
Perry for two hundred sixty dollars ; and "Perry's King Joe," out of 
"King Joe," that sold for one thousand two hundred fifty dollars, a record- 
breaking prize at the time, dam, "Maid Wonder," which cost two hundred 
forty dollars. These two boars are Mr. Perry's head animals and are well 
worth the attention of all breeders interested in raising better hogs. 
Another sow, "Wonder Maid," won first prize at the Missouri State Fair 
in 1915 as the best junior yearling brood sow on exhibition. W. W. Perry 
is a member of the Farm Club of Bates County and has an established 
reputation in western Missouri as one of the most successful stockmen 
and breeders of high-grade animals in the state and his work is being 
more and more appreciated by the prominent stockmen of his home 
county. 

W. W. Perry was born in 1881 at the Perry homestead in Shawnee 
township. Bates county, and was reared on the farm of one hundred 
twenty acres of land, purchased by his father in 1879, one of the excel- 
lent stock farms of Shawnee township. Mr. Perry is a son of M. F. and 
Mary O. (Waldo) Perry. M. F. Perry was born in Henry county, Mis- 
souri, in 1847, a son of William T. and Mary (Cooper) Perry, the former, 
a native of Virginia and the latter, of Kentucky. William T. Perry came 
to Missouri in 1836 and settled on a tract of land, which he entered from 
the government, in Henry county, and on his farm in that county spent 
the remainder of his life. He died in 1888 and interment was made in 
the cemetery near his home place. 

M. F. Perry obtained his education in the "subscription schools" 
of Henry county, as there were no public schools in this state until after 
the Civil War. He was reared on his father's farm in Henry county 
and practically all his life has been interested in agricultural pursuits. 
He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1879 and purchased his present 
country home in Shawnee towmship, a farm comprising one hundred 
twenty acres of valuable land, nicely improved and conveniently located, 
fourteen miles from Butler and seven miles from Spruce. Mr. Perry 
is very much interested in horticulture and had a splendid little orchard 
on his place until the cyclone of 1916 destroyed it. He has since planted 
another orchard and hopes to be one of those who will enjoy the fruit 
from it in the days to come. 

The marriage of M. F. Perry and Mary O. Waldo was solemnized 
in 1876. Mrs. Perry is a daughter of Col. Calvin and Mrs. Matilda 
(Odineal) Waldo, of St. Clair county, Missouri. To this union have 



^26 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

been born three children: Mrs. C. A. Webb, at home with her parents; 
Mrs. Robert Powers, Butler, Missouri; and W. W., of whom mention 
has been made in this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Perry are highly respected 
in Shawnee township, where their family has long been enrolled among 
the most valued and best families and Mr. Perry has at many different 
times been honored with offices of public trust in his township. He has 
served as justice of the peace in Shawnee township, as clerk, as assessor, 
and has just completed a very satisfactory term in the office of deputy 
collector. He is public-spirited and takes a deep and abiding interest 
in all matters relative to the upbuilding and betterment of his commun- 
ity. M. F. Perry is a most worthy representative of a noble, old, pio- 
neer family of Henry county and Bates county, one of the first families 
of Missouri. 

Herbert E. Page, proprietor of a fine farm of four hundred twenty 
acres in Hudson township, is a native son of Bates county who has 
"made good" in the county of his birth. The farm which he owns has 
been in possession of the Page family for over fifty years, Mr. Page 
first buying one hundred sixty acres of the old home place wdien he 
began his career in this county on his own account twenty-two 
years ag'O. Since that time he has accumulated one of the large and 
highly productive farms in this section of Missouri and has fitted up 
the place with splendid improvements. Mr. Page has a splendid barn 
40 X 50 feet in dimensions, and a silo having a capacity of one hundred 
fifty tons of silage — a modern adjunct to the proper feeding of live 
stock which Mr. Page considers one of the best assets of his farm. He 
has eighty head of cattle and at the present writing (January, 1918) 
is feeding a carload for the markets. He usually keeps from seventy- 
live to one hundred head of good hogs on the place, and adds to the 
income of his farm by feeding and raising a good variety of porkers. 
One of the best things on the place in Mr. Page's opinion is a drilled 
well, two hundred feet in depth, which supplies soft water for any and 
all purposes. The water from this well is piped to his modern eight- 
room residence and supplies an infallible flow for the livestock on the 
farm. 

H. E. Page was born in Hudson township, April 9, 1869, and is 
the son of Ava and Mary (Robords) Page, pioneer settlers of Hudson 
township. Ava E. Page, his father, was born in Livingston county. 
New York, January 5, 1834. His parents were Albert and Jerusha 
(Tyler) Page, both of wdiom were natives of Connecticut. Albert Page 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 727 

was born March 31, 1800, and moved to New York with his parents 
when a youth and grew to manhood there and married. He was promi- 
nent in the affairs of Livingston county, and filled several county offices 
during his residence there. He died in August, 1876. When Ava E. 
Page was seventeen years old he taught a term of school and in the 
fall of 1850 he went to Tennessee, where he taught for two years. In 
January, 1857, he removed to Wisconsin and located at Milwaukee, 
where he served for two years as deputy sheriff of Milwaukee county. 
He came to Missouri in May, 1859, and made settlement in Bates county, 
buying land in Hudson township which he improved from raw, un- 
broken prairie land and created a fine farm. He bought the home place 
which is now owned by his son, Herbert E., in 1866, and became owner 
of two hundred seventy acres. He set out an orchard of over five 
hundred trees of all kinds of fruit, and created one of the best country 
estates in the county. Mr. Page was also heavily engaged in the live 
stock business. He resided on his farm until 1896 and then moved 
to Roswell, New Mexico and resided there until 1909, when he went 
to California, and died at Pomona on July 4, 1910. Mr. Page was mar- 
ried in Henry county, August 1, 1861, to Miss Mary E. Robords, of 
New York City, a daughter of Rev. Israel Robords of Scotch descent. 
Mrs. Page moved to Missouri with her parents when eight years of 
age, but was educated at Rochester, New York. The following chil- 
dren were born to Ava E. and Mary Page: Florence I., wife of J. B. 
Baker, Upper Lake, California; Clifford, Arcadia, Florida; Herbert E., 
subject of this review; and Minnie, wife of William Wilson, Roswell, 
New Mexico. 

During the Civil War, Ava E. Page enlisted in the Sixth Missouri 
Cavalry and served as lieutenant of Company C in his regiment. He 
participated in many engagements and was in the battle of Marshall 
in Saline county. In 1864 he was appointed one of the county judge 
in Bates county, and served as presiding judge of the county co 
for two years. He was prominently identified with the Republican 
party and served as delegate to the state conventions of his party at 
various times. He was one of the leaders in the Grange movement 
and in every way was a leading citizen of the county, for some years 
serving as state lecturer of the Grange in Missouri. 

Herbert E. Page was educated in the common schools of Bates 
county and studied in the State Normal at Warrensburg for one year. 
He then spent three years in the W^est and then returned to the home 



728 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

farm where he has since followed farming. He first purchased one 
hundred sixty acres of the home place and by thrift, good management 
and hard work — as he says — on the eight-hour system, which calls for 
"eight-hour forenoon" and "eight-hour afternoon," he has made good 
and is owner of four hundred twenty acres of farm lands which are 
among the most valuable in Bates county. 

On October 24, 1895, Herbert E. Page and Miss Elfie Brown were 
united in marriage. This marriage has been blessed with children as 
follow : Harley H., one of his father's assistants on the farm, a grad- 
uate of the Appleton City High School; George Ava, a student in the 
district school. Mrs. Elfie (Brown) Page is a daughter of W. G. and 
Mary Brown of Hudson township. Her father is well known in Hud- 
son township and her mother is deceased. See biography of William 
G. Brown. 

Anthony Lindsay, pioneer and retired mail route manager, who 
after an eventful and busy life is living in comfortable retirement at 
his pleasant home, 509 West Fort Scott street, Butler, Missouri, was 
born in Nova Scotia, Dominion of Canada, September 23, 1849. He was 
a son of James and Mary (Stewart) Lindsay, the former of whom 
was a native of Nova Scotia and the latter a native of Scotland. James 
Lindsay removed from Nova Scotia to Canada in 1854 and to Illinois 
in 1857, and in the fall of 1868 he located on a farm in Linn county, 
Kansas, near the present site of the town of Prescott. He died there 
in 1873. Mrs. Mary Lindsay died at Prescott in April, 1901, and both 
are buried in the Prescott cemetery. They were parents of eight chil- 
dren, of whom three survive, namely: John, lives in Oklahoma; Mrs. 
Mima Bowers, Pasadena, California; Anthony Lindsay, subject of this 
sketch. 

Mr. Lindsay was educated in the common schools of Canada and 
Illinois and accompanied his parents to Linn county, Kansas in 1868. 
Two years later, in 1870, he located in Bates county, and took charge 
of the contract for carrying the mails from Butler, Missouri, to La 
Cygne, Kansas. This route provided for a daily mail delivery with a 
stage coach in connection, the routes leading from Butler to Appleton 
City and thence to Osceola, and Butler to La Cygne and return. The 
trip involved a distance of sixty miles from Butler to La Cygne and return 
and was made daily. Mr. Lindsay operated three routes. In 1876 he 
and his brother, Albert S., built a stable at Appleton City, and did a 
livery business in addition to carrying the mails. The stage route 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



729 



stations where the horses were changed were located at Mulberry, 
east of La Cygne, then another station at Butler and on the Appleton 
City route there was a station at Lahi, on the farm now owned by 
Clark Wix and at that time known as the John Brown farm. The next 
station was located at Appleton City, and the last one was situated at 
Osceola. Mr. Lindsay recalls that Messrs. Barlow, Sanderson and Com- 
pany had the contract for carrying the mails from Pleasant Hill, Mis- 
souri to Fort Scott, Kansas, and at the time Mr. Lindsay came here 
this firm was running a big stage coach via Harrisonville and Butler 
in 1870. Mr. Lindsay disposed of his mail routes in 1880 and a few 
years later they were discontinued as star routes. He also operated a 
tri-weekly route to Pleasant Gap, and another route to West Point 
which was tri-weekly. After leaving the mail carrying business, Mr. 
Lindsay and his brother engaged in livestock buying and his brother 
moved on the family farm in Linn county. He died in 1901 in Indian- 
.apolis, Indiana. Mr. Lindsay then settled up their business affairs and 
moved to Fort Scott where he resided until 1906. In that year he 
came to Butler, where he has a fine residence property in connection 
with a tract of four acres within the city limits. 

Mr. Lindsay was married on January 21, 1880 to Alice Wyatt, a 
daughter of F. M. and Emeline (Sever) Wyatt, of Butler, Missouri. 
The Wyatts located in Butler in April of 1870, where Mrs. Wyatt died 
February 8, 1886, Mr. Wyatt dying on October 7, 1917 at the age of 
eighty-four years. In October, 1902, Mr. Wyatt was stricken with 
paralysis and for fifteen years he was helpless and neither spoke nor 
walked. Two other children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt besides Mrs. 
Lindsay are living: James O. Wyatt, Maroa, Illinois; and Mrs. Anna 
T. Johnson, Portland, Oregon. To Mr. and Mrs. A. Lindsay the fol- 
lowing children have been born : Harry W., and Edith. • Harry W. 
Lindsay is now engaged in the loan business at Kenton, Ohio. Prior 
to locating in Kenton, he was in the employ of a bank at Pasadena, 
California, for seven years and was also cashier of a bank at Central 
Point, Oregon before his removal to Kenton, Ohio. He married Ruth 
Andrews, a daughter of J. F. Andrews, a well known capitalist of Ken- 
ton. Edith is the wife of Wesley Denton, president of the Peoples 
Bank of Butler, to whose biography the reader is referred in another 
part of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay have a beautiful, modern 
home on West Fort Scott street, all buildings being kept in a good 
state of repair and painted. He is well informed concerning every 



730 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



(lay matters and recalls the pioneer times in Bates county when he 
carried the mails for the government, his memory of the conditions 
of things in those early days being excellent. 

William Benjamin Tyler, retired farmer, Butler, Missouri, was born 
on September 7, 1844 in Kentucky, the son of Charles (born March 10, 
1818, died September 2, 1912) and Susan (Brown) Tyler (born 1825), 
died September 3, 1879). Charles and Susan Tyler were both natives 
of Kentucky, Henry county. They came to Missouri in 1853 and set- 
tled in Johnson county, near Knob Noster, where Mr. Tyler entered 
government land, his first quarter section costing him twelve and one- 
half cents per acre and he also secured another tract of one hundred 
and sixty acres southeast of Knob Noster at a cost of one dollar and 
twenty-five cents an acre. He sold his Johnson county land in 1860 
and bought land in Pettis county, where he resided until the close of 
the Civil War. He then came to Bates county on March 1, 1866 and 
settled in Spruce township, south of Ballard. He bought a farm here 
and sold it after some years, and then bought a farm in Deepwater 
township which he* later sold. He died at West Plains, Howell county, 
Missouri. 

In 1864, W. B. Tyler enlisted in Johnson county, Missouri for ser- 
vice with the Confederate forces under Capt. Palm Smith and his com- 
pany was attached to Fighting Joe Shelby's brigade. He served for 
one year and was with General Price's army when the general made 
his last raid into Kansas. Mr. Tyler was stationed at Corsicana, 
Texas when the war closed. He went to Shreveport and there sur- 
rendered with Shelby's forces on June 14, 1865. He returned home 
and on March 1, 1866 he came to Bates county. He rented land for 
ten years in Spruce and Deepwater townships and resided in Spruce 
township until 1892. He then moved to Summit township and bought 
the Winsett farm which he sold to the Scully interests in 1894. He 
next bought the farm now owned by B. P. Powell and later sold it to 
Mr. Powell. His next venture was the improvement of a forty-acre 
farm located three miles east of Butler which he sold in the fall of 
1915. Mr. Tyler now resides in a modern bungalow in North W^ater 
street just outside of the city limits of Butler and one of the most attrac- 
tive suburban places in the vicinity of Butler. During his residence in 
Summit township he served four years as township trustee and treasurer. 

On December 31. 1868. W. B. Tyler was married to Rachel Moore 
of Pettis county, Missouri, a daughter of Jefferson and Elizabeth 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 73 1 

(Coates) Moore. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler have the following children: 
Fannie, wife of W. R. Hall, Nevada, Missouri; Mrs. Alice Iloskins, 
wdio has a daughter, Mildred; Jessie, wife of Ouintus Kaune, Everett, 
Washington; Susan, married Everett Grant, and lives near Butler, Mis- 
souri; Percy E., Parsons, Kansas, in the employ of the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas railway, married Mary Frye and has one son, William 
Benjamin; three children died in infancy. Mr. Tyler has been a director 
of the Missouri State Bank for the past ten years. 

When W. B. Tyler first came to Spruce township he leased a farm 
of forty acres and made his home in a little cabin on the place. He 
was pocrr but industrious, and his neighbors were all in like condition. 
In 1870, a stranger came along accompanied by his wife and inquired 
if there were any vacant houses in the country. He desired shelter 
for the winter. Mr. Tyler did not know of any house that was vacant 
at the time, as there were very few houses of any kind on the prairie 
at that time. They talked further about the matter and the stranger 
then asked Mr. Tyler if he did not wish to sell his place. Upon learn- 
ing that Mr. Tyler had only a lease on the farm he offered to buy it 
and a deal was made. The stranger referred to was Thomas Cudde- 
back, who became well known among the early settlers of the county. 
Cuddeback eventually bought the forty acres of land and added one 
hundred twenty acres a few years later. He created one of the l)est 
farms in Spruce township which he later sold and removed to Johnson 
cc>unty, Kansas, where he died in 1914. He sold his Spruce to\vnship 
larm for the high price of thirty-five dollars an acre. He and Mr. Tyler 
were very close friends for many years and had a brotherly affection 
for each other. During the hard times of the seventies when dollars 
were scarce and seemed to be as big as cart wheels, wdth farm products 
very low in price, they frequently assisted one another, by going on 
each other's notes at the banks and wdien buying goods at public sales. 
When they had to pay their taxes each followed the custom of 'TIenry 
Clay and Daniel W'ebster," who frequently indorsed the other's notes 
wdien in need of money. Thomas Cuddeback was vice-president of 
the Spring Hill, Kansas, Banking Company for many years and stood 
high as a citizen. His brother, Frank Cuddeback, bought a farm in 
Spruce township in 1873 and later sold it and made his home in John- 
son county, Kansas, where he died in 1917. 

During the winter of '66 and '67, W\ B. Tyler hauled corn from 
Spruce township to Butler wnth two yoke of oxen and sold the corn 



732 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTV 

for one dollar and one dollar and twenty-tive cents per bushel to a Cap- 
tain W'ally. a liveryman, who charged seventy-five cents for a feed of 
hay or corn to one horse. One -evening, after he had unloaded his 
corn, a storm of snow and sleet came on and Mr. Tyler decided it would 
be impossible to drive home, a distance of sixteen miles at night as he 
had no lantern and the roads were not good. A squatter lived on the 
land now occupied by the Butler cemetery. Mr. Tyler drove out there 
and ask for lodging for the night. The man told him that he was 
sh}' of bed covers and could not accommodate him. Tyler told him 
he would be willing to put up with any inconvenience rather than to 
brave the storm, and the man told him to come in and stay. He sat 
up in a chair all night long and left his oxen tied to the wheels of his 
lynch-pin wagon. The lynch-pin wagon of that day would be a curi- 
osity now. The tongue of the wagon was morticed solidly to the front 
axle and the wheels with their long hubs were held in place by lynch- 
pins which were droptped through slots cut in the hubs and axles. Mr. 
'J'yler talks interestingly of the old times, and is well satisfied with 
conditions as they are at the present day, when he and his wife can 
enjoy the many comforts of modern civilization. 

Decatur Smith, M. D., a retired pioneer physician of Bates county, 
Missouri, is one of Butler's most honored and valued citizens. Doctor 
Smith is a native son of Missouri. He was born June 29, 1841, in St. 
Louis county, a son of Henry and Mary J. (Watson) Smith. Henry 
Smith was one of the earliest settlers of St. Louis county, Missouri, 
a resident of that section of the state when the red men of the forest 
still claimed the land and resided there on their hunting grounds. 

Doctor Smith received his higher education at IMcDowell College 
at St. Louis, Missouri. He was a young college student at the time of 
the outbreak of the Civil War and in February, 1862 he enlisted as a 
private and served as assistant surgeon in Company D, Sixth Missouri 
Cavalry, three years and two months, receiving- his honorable discharge 
at Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1865. After the war had closed. Doctor 
Smith returned to his home in St. Louis county. INIissouri, and remained 
there one year, coming thence to Bates county in May, 1866. He intended 
at that time to locate at lUitler, but the war had so de\astated the town 
and the prairie surrounding the townsite was not yet settled and there 
were so few people left in the little village that the young physician 
changed his mind and decided to open his office at Pleasant Gap. a 
larger, more populous and prosperous town at that time. Doctor Smith 



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DR. DECATUR SMITH. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^ 733 

was offered eighty acres of land located near Prairie City, Missouri, for 
two dollars an acre and he had the money in his possession with which he 
might have purchased the land, but he refused the offer. In September of 
the same year, the eighty acres of land were sold for twenty dollars 
an acre. Doctor Smith opened a drug store at Pleasant Gap in con- 
nection with his office, but this proved to be an unsatisfactory venture, 
as his practice interfered with the proper care of his business interests 
and it was impossible to obtain competent assistants. Doctor Smith 
disposed of his store after a short time. He relates how he was want 
to travel in the early days on horseback across the prairies and how he 
would sometimes be gone four days and nights before he could return 
to his office. The settlers would follow after him and he would answer 
a call direct from one sickbed to another, oftentimes traveling seventy- 
five miles on horseback in a single day. He made it a rule to carry 
medicines and all things needed in an emergency case in his old-style 
saddlebags. The doctor closed his offfce at Pleasant Gap in 1870 and 
moved to Rockville, where he was engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession until the spring of 1871, but as Mrs. Smith was unhappy and 
dissatisfied in the new home they moved on a farm lying four miles 
south of the city and then Doctor Smith retired from the active prac- 
tice of medicine. The Smiths moved from their farm to Butler in 1876 
and have since been residents of this city, where he practiced medi- 
cine for seven years and freighted goods from Kansas City, Pleasanton 
and AppJeton City for some years. Their home is located at 200 South 
Mechanic street in Butler. 

October 18, 1866, Dr. Decatur Smith and Mary Jane Atkison 
were united in marriage at Pleasant Gap, Missouri. To this union 
were born two children: Alice Elizabeth, who died at the age of fourteen 
years; and Edgar D., who has been a mail carrier on a rural route out 
of Butler for the past fifteen years. Their mother, and the doctor's 
faithful companion and helpmeet for fifty years, died August 1. 1916. 

Doctor Smith recalls Doctor Tousey. who was located on Round 
Prairie near Hudson in the early days. Doctor Tousey had been engaged 
in the medical practice in this vicinity before the Civil War and was 
quite an aged man at the time yoimg Doctor Smith located in Bates 
county, a man of probably eighty years of age. He and his young col- 
league frequently held consultations. Doctor Patten located at Butler 
at about the same time as did Doctor Smith at Pleasant Gap and he 
is now deceased. Dr. William Requa, who was located at Harmony 



734 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mission, was well known by Doctor Smith and he has often heard him 
relate how he journeyed up the river and established the Mission. 

Endowed by nature with a remarkable sturdy physique and a splen- 
did intellect. Doctor Smith has been able to withstand the wear and tear 
of time and fatiguing labor remarkably well and is now well past the 
three score years and ten allotted to man. He is a gentleman of such 
traits of character that in all his years of practice and activity in Bates 
county, he could not but leave the impress of his personality wherever 
he was known. While Bates county has to its credit many men of 
prominence in all spheres of endeavor, and while its historical annals 
teem with the records of hundreds of unselfish lives and deeds, the 
name of Dr. Decatur Smith will always occupy a high place among the 
county's respected and representative citizens, not alone because of his 
useful career as physician but also on account of his broad human sympa- 
thies and sterling honor. 

Rev. Lewis McComb. — The late Rev. Lewis McComb, of Bates 
county, will long be remembered as the pioneer Baptist minister of this 
county, who was universally loved and esteemed by all who knew him. 
He was born in Knox county, Tennessee, May 27, 1821, and was a 
son of William McComb, who removed from Tennessee to Sangamon 
county, Illinois in 1827. William McComb was father of ten childrM. 
He died in Illinois in 1835. Two years later, his widow removed with 
her family of children to Miller county, Missouri. Lewis McComb 
was there married to Sarah Vann in 1840. In 1845 he located in John- 
son county and in 1848 made a settlement in Van Buren (now Bates 
county). Soon after his arrival in this county in August, 1848, he 
entered government land and also bought adjoining land which he 
developed and became owner of several hundred acres. As a farmer 
and stockman he was quite successful. He resided in Spruce town- 
ship for many years and became well-to-do. His dwelling house was 
erected upon land which practically stood in three counties, but was 
never moved. When the McComl) residence was built, tlie land was 
located in Van Buren county. After the territory was re-districted, it 
was called Cass and Vernon counties, and later, Bates county was 
formed and thus remained through the Civil W^ar period. The McComb 
residence was built in 1853 and it was occupied by its builders and the 
members of his family until 1905, with the exception of two years of 
the Civil War when Order Number Eleven was issued. In 1905 a 
new dwelling was erected upon the McComb farm. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 735 

When Lewis McComb settled in Spruce township, his nearest 
neighbor was Mr. Enibree on Elk Fork, almost five miles away. Deer 
and wild turkey w^ere plentiful and he killed them in large numbers 
in his own dooryard when in need of fresh meat for the family larder. 
Reverend McComb lived to see a wilderness developed into a thickly 
populated and prosperous country and took a very active part in its 
up-building. 

Soon after Lewis McComb came to Bates county, he was joined by 
his three brothers, Jacob, John, and James, and a sister, Elizabeth. 
Jacob McComb bought a farm adjoining that of his brother Lewis and 
lived thereon until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in 
the Confederate army and was wounded at the battle of Wilson's 
Creek, dying three days later from the effect of his wounds. John 
McComb opened a store at Papinsville, and afterward moved to Butler, 
where he opened the first store in the town, in 1855, the store being 
operated under the firm name of McComb & Robinson. This store 
was conducted until the outbreak of the Civil War, when John McComb 
joined the Southern army and was elected captain of a company of 
men recruited in Bates county. Capt. John McComb led the charge 
upon the Federal stronghold at Lone Jack. Wdiile making the charge 
at the head of his men, just as he had climbed atop the fence sur- 
rounding the Federal stronghold, he was shot in the left breast, the 
bullet passing through the lung and body. He fell into the arms of 
one of his own men and told him to lay him down and to go on with 
the charge. When the battle was over his brother, Lewis, was noti- 
fied and immediately went to his brother's assistance at the risk of his 
own life, remaining with the wounded soldier until his death on the 
following Sunday night. The wounded captain was taken to a room 
occupied by nineteen other sufferers and his brother, Lewis, was the 
only attendant. The room was poorly lighted by a grease lamp and 
about all that could be done for the wounded men, was to change their 
uncomfortable positions occasionally and give them water to drink, 
while all the time one was compelled to listen to their shrieks of pain 
and dying moans. Three men died on that night. The battle of Lone 
Jack was fought on Friday morning and John McComb died the Sun- 
dav following his mortal wound. His brother Lewis remained with 
him until he died and was buried and then made his way home, suc- 
cessfully evading several Union scouting parties on his homeward wa3^ 

James McComb came to Bates county in 1853. and taught two 



736 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

terms of school. In the spring of 1854 he farmed with Lewis McComb, 
and taught school in Henry county. In 1855 he and his brother, John, 
opened a store in Butler, and in November of 1856, he left Butler to 
become a student at the State University in Columbia. In the fall 
of 1857 he entered the St. Louis Medical College, and in 1858, he 
began the practice of medicine near Lebanon in La Clede county. Dr. 
McComb graduated from the Jefiferson Medical College, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, and then located permanently in Lebanon, where he has 
ever since been engaged in the practice of his profession. He is the 
only surviving member of his father's family at this date. 

Elizabeth McComb became the wife of Bowen Coleman, a mem- 
ber of a prominent pioneer family of Bates county. She died soon 
after her marriage, leaving one child, Ella, now the wife of S. B. Kash 
of Deepwater township. 

The marriage of Rev. Lewis McComb and Sarah Vann was con- 
summated in 1845. Five children were born to this marriage, namely: 
J. D., Porum, Oklahoma; Dr. Lewis L., Norman, Oklahoma; William, 
died at the age of twenty-four, Lawrence, Kansas; Mary J.; and one 
other, deceased. Mrs. Mary (Vann) McComb died in 1855. Some time 
after the death of his first wife he married in 1857 Annie E. Cooper, who 
died six months later. In 1859. he married Mary J. Radford, who bore 
him children as follow: John L., Norman, Oklahoma; Mrs. Amy E. 
Malsbee, deceased; Mrs. Sarah L. Rogers, Spruce, Missouri; Finis, 
deceased; Charles A. McComb, Butler, Missouri; Walter O., Spruce, 
Missouri ; Mrs. Mary J. McElwain, Nevada, Missouri. Mrs. Mary J. 
McComb died October 6, 1882. 

At the age of thirty-five years, Lewis McComb entered the Baptist 
ministry and from that time on his life was unselfishly given to otiiers 
as a servant of Christ. He became pastor of many churches in Bates 
and adjoining counties and served as pastor of the home church located 
on his farm for seventeen consecutive years. He resigned his position 
and the congregation then passed resolutions asking him to continue 
his pastorate. After a lapse of two years he again became the pastor 
of the church and continued to preach the gospel until advancing age 
compelled him to relinquish his duties as pastor. He preached the 
Gospel until he attained the age of eighty-six years and even after attain- 
ing that great age he would respond to calls. Until his later years he 
remained active and in possession of his mental powers. al)le to hitch 
his horse to the carriage and journey anywhere he was called to minster 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 737 

to an ailing body or soul. Reverend McComb possessed a fair knowl- 
edge of the healing art and frequently took care of the sick and ailing 
on the country side. In this, he was the typical pioneer minister who 
combined the two professions in caring for the members of his flock. 

He was widely known as the "Marrying Parson," the "St. Louis 
Republic" at one time referring to him in this sense, and stating that 
he had married more couples than any man in the state of Missouri 
during the course of his ministerial career. 

Rev. Lewis McComb sold his farm to his son, Charles A. McComb, 
in 1897 but continued to make his home on the place until his death, 
February 26, 1907. His death marked the passing of one of the best 
loved and most useful personages of the pioneer era of Bates county. 
He endured many hardships in the pioneer days of the settlement and 
development of western Missouri, but maintained a cheerful disposi- 
tion through adversity and sorrow and lived to see peace and plenty 
mingled with happiness and contentment take the place of the old, trou- 
blesome days on the plains of Bates and adjoining counties. He spent 
the major part of his long life as a pioneer Baptist missionary in western 
Missouri and eastern Kansas and assisted in establishing many Baptist 
churches in this section. He resided upon his farm in Bates county 
continually until his death with the exception of two years spent in 
Morgan and Miller counties from 1863 to the close of the Civil War in 
accordance with the requirements of General Ewing's Order Number 
Eleven. Reverend McComb donated the land for the church and ceme- 
tery located in Spruce township upon his farm and was a large factor 
in the building of the church edifice thereon. Both he and his wife are 
sleeping the long sleep of the just and godly in the plat of ground which 
he set aside for the community burial place many years ago. Alongside 
with them are sleeping children and relatives who have departed from 
this earthly realm. History will give Rev. Lewis McComb an enviable 
place in the annals of Bates county and western Missouri for the great 
work which he accomplished and the unselfish and whole hearted devo- 
tion with which he ministered to the souls and bodies of the people of 
Bates county. No task was ever too great for him if by doing it he 
could benefit some one of his fellow men ; no sacrifice was too great 
for him to make if he could save a soul and win a convert to Christianity 
and his converts numbered into the hundreds and thousands during his 
long and devoted ministerial career. 

James E. Nickell, owner of a splendid farm of two hundred and 

(47) 



73^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNT/ 

eighty acres in Deepwater township, was born in Tazewell county, Vir- 
ginia, August 20, 1855, a son of Thomas (born 1827 — died February 18, 
1911) and Sarah (Harman) Nickell, the former of whom was a native 
of Kentucky and the latter a native of Virginia. Thomas Nickell was 
a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the Confederate army in 
Virginia. During the war in 1863 he located in Omaha, where he 
became one of the originators of the Omaha Stock Yards. Mrs. Sarah 
Nickell died in 1863. Thomas and Sarah Nickell were parents of the 
following children: James E. ; Howard; and Rosa, who died at the age 
of thirteen years. James E. Nickell came to Bates county in 1868 with 
an uncle, James H. Harman, wdio located on a farm in the northeast 
part of Deepwater township which he improved and later sold and 
bought a farm situated five miles northeast of Butler. After some years 
of residence on this place, Mr. Harman sold it and moved to Warrens- 
burg, where he died. Mr. Nickell made his home with his uncle during 
his boyhood days and attended the Elm Grove school. He took up 
farming as a life vocation and has prospered from a small beginning, 
now owning a large place of two hundred and eighty acres, one quarter 
section of which is the old Nicholas Choate farm. He has a handsome 
farm residence and a splendid barn erected in 1897. The Nickell farm 
presents a well kept appearance and its productive capacity is kept at 
the maximum. 

On June 14, 1880, James E. Nickell and Miss Sarah J. Choate were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Sarah J. (Choate) Nickell was born April 26, 
1863 and is a daughter of Nicholas and Pernelia (Wilson) Choate, a 
sketch of wdiom appears in this volume in connection with the biography 
of Dr. J. W. Choate of Butler, a brother of Mrs. Nickell. Mrs. Nickell 
was educated in the AA'illow Tree and Elm Grove district schools. Her 
first teacher was Phineas Holcoml), who taught in 1868-1869, the next 
being Henry Jarvis, now a practicing physician of Schell City, who taught 
in Elm Grove district, 1869-1870. The Willow Tree district was organ- 
ized in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Nickell have two sons: Erie W., a jeweler 
at Clinton, Missouri; Charles L., who is farming on the home place and 
was born May 31, 1883. C. L., after attending the district school in 
his neighborhood, attended the Butler public schools for one year and 
then spent two years at the ^^^arrensburg Normal College. Mr. C. L. 
Nickell has a modern residence of eight rooms erected in 1909 and a 
large barn 38 x 42 feet, built in 1912. He is conducting g^eneral farm- 
ing operations on the Nickell home place and raising cattle and hogs 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 739 

for the markets. Charles L. Nickell was married in 1907 to Miss Rozella 
Barackman, a daughter of Benjamin and Rozella Barackman, of Spruce 
township, Bates county. To Charles and Rozella Nickell have been born 
three children: Helen, Wilbur, and Cecil. 

James E. Nickell has always taken a good citizen's part in local 
affairs and has served his township capably as collector and trustee. 

Thomas Bolin, Union veteran and farmer of Shawnee township, 
was born January 8, 1843 in Montgomery county, Kentucky, a son of 
Hiram Bolin, who was born in Culpepper county, V^irginia. Hiram was 
a son of John Bolin, who was a pioneer in Kentucky. Hiram Bolin 
married Emily Hall of Kentucky, a daughter of Green Hall. Her grand- 
father, William Hall, was a soldier of the Revolution and served 
under General Greene as captain. Thomas Bolin was reared and edu- 
cated in Kentucky and he enlisted at the beginning of the Civil W^ar, 
at Camp Dick Robinson, in Boyle county, Kentucky, in 1861, under 
Captain Gist. He served in Colonel Erye's brigade, and under General 
Thomas in the Eourteenth Army Corps. He fought in the first hard 
battle at Mill Springs, Kentucky. Other notable engagements in which 
he participated were Stone River, Tennessee ; Chickamauga, Missionary 
Ridge, and many skirmishes and minor engagements, fighting from Dal- 
ton, Georgia to Atlanta. He was with Sherman at the capture of Atlanta 
and took part in Sherman's famous march from Atlanta to the sea and 
the capture of Savannah. He served over four years in the Union army 
and received his final discharge in September of 1865 at Wilmington, 
North Carolina. Mr. Bolin was captured by the Confederates in the 
rear at Atlanta- and interned in Andersonville prison, where he remained 
for eleven months and then he managed to escape. 

After the close of his war service he returned to Iventucky and 
resided in his native state until 1880, and then came to Henry county, 
Missouri, residing there until the early nineties when he made a settle- 
ment in Shawnee township. Bates county. Mr. Bolin has prospered in 
Bates county and owns a splendid farm of two hundred and forty acres, 
well improved. Wliile a resident of Kentucky he took a prominent 
part in civic affairs and filled the offices of constable and magistrate. 

Mr. Bolin was married February 12, 1868 to Ansel D. Hoskins of 
Estill county, Kentucky, who died January 10. 1914 and her remains are 
interred in the cemetery at Butler. She was a good and faithful wife 
and a kind mother to her children. To Thomas and Ansel Bolin were 
born children as follow: Albert, living in Arizona; Laura, at home with 



y^O HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

her father; Green H., state mine inspector of Arizona; Sterling, Bates 
county, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Johnson, Platte county, Missouri; D. S., 
farming near Phoenix, Arizona; and Clara, at home with her father. 

Although this aged veteran has passed the allotted span of three 
score years and ten and spent over four of the best years of his life in 
the service of his country, he is active and w^ell preserved and is still 
able to do work about his farm. 

John M. Catterlin, a retired agriculturist, formerly in the loan busi- 
ness at Butler, Missouri, one of Butler's most substantial citizens, is a 
native of Ohio. Mr. Catterlin was born April 20, 1845, in Miami couiity, 
a son of Solomon B. and Eliza (Jones) Catterlin. Solomon B. Catterlin 
was a native of Ohio, born on his father's farm in Hamilton county near 
Cincinnati. Solomon B. Catterlin was a son of Joseph .Catterlin, also born 
near Cincinnati, Ohio, who was a son of Joseph Catterlin, a native of 
New Jersey, who married a half-sister of King James VII of England. 
The Catterlins are among the oldest American families. Eliza (Jones) 
Catterlin was a native of Kentucky. The Catterlins came to Missouri 
from Ohio in June, 1881, and located temporarily at Butler, intending 
to purchase a farm in Bates county, but the father died in November, 
soon after their coming West, and the mother died in 1889, just eight 
years afterward. The remains of both parents are interred in Oak Hill 
cemetery in Bates county. Solomon B. and Eliza (Jones) Catterlin 
were the parents of five children: John M., the subject of this review; 
Mrs. Amanda Jane Reisner, who died at Butler in 1891 ; Mrs. Emma 
Hickman, a former resident of Butler, now of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 
Mrs. Mary C. Legg, the widow of T. W. Legg, a sketch of, whom appears 
in this volume, and Clifford C, with the Standard Oil Company, of 
Butler. 

John M. Catterlin received his education in the public schools of 
Piqua, Ohio, and at Oxford College, in Ohio. He was a youth, sixteen 
years of age, at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War and applied 
three times for admission to the Union army, but because he was at that 
time engaged in the pursuits of agriculture and being then the onlv son 
of that family he was refused admission, the country needing him on the 
farm. Mr. Catterlin came to Bates county, in 1869, and for eleven 
years after coming West was engaged in farming and stock raising. He 
retired from these pursuits in 1880 and moved to Butler, where he 
entered the farm loan business, in which he was employed until 1914, 
when he disposed of his business and has since been living in quiet 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 74I 

retirement in this city. Mr. Catterlin built his present residence, still 
one of the most beautiful homes in the city, in 1881. It is a handsome, 
modern home, constructed of white pine at a cost of eleven thousand 
dollars and worth much more now. Mr. Catterlin recalls that, in the 
autumn of 1881, he bought coal at the Rich Hill coal banks, loaded into 
the wagon, for one cent a bushel. 

The marriage of John M. Catterlin and Lucy A. Atkison was solem- 
nized in 1874. Lucy A. (Atkison) Catterlin was born in Cooper county 
in 1847, is a daughter of John and Hannah (Catterlin) Atkison, who 
came to Missouri in the early forties and located in Cooper county, 
whence they came to Bates county in 1860 and settled on a farm in 
Pleasant Gap township, which Mr. Atkison had purchased. Mrs. 
J. M. Catterlin was born and reared in Cooper county, Missouri, 
and she came with her parents to Bates county in 1860. Pleasant Gap, 
at that time, boasted three mercantile establishments, two of the merch- 
ants being Mr. Bryant and Joseph Smith. John Atkison conducted the 
Ohio House for two years following the Civil War. He was appointed 
sheriff during the Civil War and served out the term and was twice 
elected sheriff of Bates county after the war. When Order No. 11 
w^as issued, the Atkison family moved first to Clinton and then to Old 
Germantown, Missouri, and resided on a farm. AVhile there, on account 
of the depredations inflicted by the opposing armies, the Atkisons kept 
most of their clothing and all their bedding hidden in a box under the 
floor, for in the raids frequently made on the settlers by plunderers, all 
the good clothing and bedding were invariably stolen. To John and 
Hannah Atkison were born the following children: Mrs. Mary Jane 
Smith, deceased; Mrs. John M. Catterlin, the w^ife of the subject of 
this review; Robert Alexander, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Sarah E. Catter- 
lin, deceased; Mrs. Susan E. Rogers, Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Dora 
Risley, Santiago, California. John Atkison died April 24, 1900, at Butler, 
Missouri, and on June 29 of the same year he was united in death with 
his wnfe. Both Mr. and Mrs. Atkison were interred in Oak Hill ceme- 
tery. The Atkisons were one of the pioneer families of western Mis- 
souri, and their descendants have long been held in the highest esteem 
in Bates countv. J. M. and Lucy A. (Atkison) Catterlin were the parents 
of three children, all of whom are now deceased; Hannah, died at the 
age of eight years; Solomon, died at the age of two years; and Grace, 
died at the age of fourteen years. 

John Atkison served four years in the Union army during the Civil 



74- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

War. He left Bates county and enlisted, in 1861. in Company H, Seventh 
Missouri Cavalry Regiment, at Sedalia, and attained the post of captain 
of his company. 

The Catterlin name has been closely interwoven in the record of 
the growth and development of Bates county, and no biographical com- 
pendium would be complete which omitted mention of John M. Catter- 
lin, who has for nearly fifty years been interested in promoting its 
material prosperity. 

In politics, Mr. Catterlin is a Democrat. He is fraternally affiliated 
with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is a Mystic Shriner, and 
has attained all degrees up to and including the Thirty-second Degree. 

Watt Burress Dawson, prosecuting attorney of Bates county, was 
born in Wayne county, Ohio. March 18, 1874. He is a son of Eugene 
B. and Sarah (Moses) Dawson, the former of whom was a native of 
the Western Reserve section of Ohio and the latter a native of jNIassa- 
chusetts. Both parents of Watt B. Dawson were of old New England 
stock. Eugene B. Dawson was reared to manhood in his native state 
and in 1879 went to Trego county in western Kansas and homesteaded 
a tract of land. He is said to have sown the first wheat in that section 
of Kansas, taking the wheat with him from Ohio. After some years 
of residence there he went to Rich Hill, Missouri and rented land in 
that neighborhood for the first season. In the spring of 1883 he drove 
a herd of cattle to Linn and Anderson counties, Kansas, and in 1889 
settled on a quarter section of land in Bates county, near Hume, in 
Howard township. He developed his farm and Vvhen old age came upon 
him he retired to a home in Hume where his death occurred in 1904. 
His remains are interred in the Hume cemetery. Mrs. Dawson resides 
at Hume and is aged eighty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene B. Daw- 
son were parents of nine children, as follow: Dr. N. B. Dawson, Ster- 
ling, Ohio; Lydia E., at home with her mother; AVatt B., su])ject of this 
review; Mrs. Mima C. Hofses, Parsons, Kansas; G. P. Dawson, died at 
Pleasanton, Kansas; Edward Marion, died at Rich Hill, aged twenty- 
one years; Wallace W., died at Hume, aged thirty-one years; Thomas, 
died in Ohio when eight years old; and Mary, died in Ohio at the age 
of four years. 

After graduating from the Hume, Missouri. High School in 1894, 
Watt B. Dawson taught school in Bates county for five years from 1894 
to 1899, inclusive. He then entered the Missouri State Universitv at 
Columbia and pursued a literary and law course, graduating therefrom 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 743 

ill the class of 1901. Following his graduation from law school he taught 
for another year and began the practice of his profession at Rich Hill. 
In the fall election of 1905 he was elected to the office of prosecuting 
attorney of Bates county, being the first attorney outside of the county 
seat to be elected to that county office. It had been the custom or habit 
to elect a county seat attorney to the office previous to the election of 
Mr. Dawson, a precedent thus being established. He carried every 
township in the county at the primaries excepting West Point. Mr. 
Dawson served three terms as prosecuting attorney and established a 
reputation as a fearless and able prosecutor. He was re-elected to the 
office in the fall of 1916 and is the present incumbent of the office. Since 
his election to the prosecutor's office he has made his residence in Butler 
and is associated in the practice of law with Mr. J. A. Silvers. 

Mr. Dawson was married July 1, 1902 to Miss Emma N. White, 
a daughter of Mrs. Aramintha White of Rich Hill. Mrs. Dawson's 
father died when she was an infant. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson have two 
children: Mildred, and Donald. 

A legal practitioner of excellent judgment, scholarly attainments, 
and profound knowledge of the law, and an official of known integrity, 
Mr. Dawson has achieved a place for himself as one of the most suc- 
cessful practicing attorneys in the county. He has always been a strong 
advocate of temperance and has always stood for strict law enforce- 
ment, having at various times used the powers of his office to compel 
the enforcement of the temperance and prohibition laws which govern 
the community. Mr. Dawson is a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America, the AVoodmen of the W^orld, and the Knights of Pythias. He 
has served as a member of the board of trustees of the Baptist church 
for some time and both he and Mrs. Dawson take an active interest in 
church work. 

James W. Robinson, farmer and stockman, Shawnee township, is 
cultivating one of the best improved farms in Bates county, known 
as the Robinson homestead, and upon which his father settled over a 
half century ago. This farm comprises a total of two hundred and 
eighty acres, all of which lies in Shawnee township, excepting twenty 
acres in Mt. Pleasant township. The improvements on this farm are 
splendid. A large eight-room house which was erected by the father of 
James W. Robinson makes a fine appearance. A large barn 36 x 50 
feet in dimensions, with a twenty foot shed was erected in 1910. The 
place is principally devoted to stock raising and Mr. Robinson maintains 



744 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

a herd of from seventy-five to one luindrecl head of cattle, besides a 
considerable number of hogs, sheep and mules and horses. It is usually 
well stocked with good grades of livestock. James W. Robinson was 
born on the homestead in Shawnee township, in 1886, a son of James 
A. and Charlotte (Johnson) Robinson, natives of Indiana. 

The late James A. Robinson was born in Ripley county, Indiana, 
February 24, 1846, and was a son of Joseph Jefferson Robinson who 
located in Pettis county, Missouri, and there spent the remainder of 
his days engaged in farming pursuits. At the outbreak of the Civil 
War, James A. Robinson enlisted in Company E, Seventh Indiana 
Cavalry regiment and served until his honorable discharge in 1864. He 
re-enlisted as a veteran in Company M, Thirteenth Indiana regiment 
and served in behalf of the Union until January, 1866. Following his 
honorable discharge from the service he came west to Pettis county, 
Missouri, and thence to Bates county in that same year. He located in 
Shawnee township and developed a splendid farm from the prairie land 
which at that time was thinly settled. Mr. Robinson became a well 
respected and prosperous citizen of Bates county and reared a fine fam- 
ily of children. He was married to Charlotte Johnson of Indiana and the 
following children were born to this marriage: Elizabeth, at home; Mrs. 
Ella Flescher, wife of J. H. Flescher, Jolly, Texas; L. F., Pawnee, Okla- 
homa; Jefferson J., Grainfield, Kansas; Adelia, wife of Marion Penny- 
cuff, Kansas City, Kansas; Harvey M., Ida Grove, Iowa, married Stella 
Warner, who died in November, 1915, who was a daughter of C. A. 
Warner, of Foster, Missouri, and left two children — Harvey and Ralph; 
Dr. John A. Robinson, a graduate of the St. Louis Medical College, and 
now located in St. Louis; Dr. Edward Robinson, Adrian, Missouri; 
Maggie, died in infancy; Myrtle, at home; Mattie, Kansas City, Kansas; 
J. W., subject of this review. James A. Robinson died at his home place 
in Shawnee township, in June, 1915. Mrs. Robinson departed this life 
August 14, 1908. They were a worthy and industrious couple who nobly 
did their part in developing Bates county, and contributed to the com- 
monwealth a splendid family of eleven children, all of whom occupy 
positions of standing in the various communities in which they have 
made their homes. 

James W. Robinson, manager of the Robinson home place, was 
educated in the district schools and has chosen to become a farmer, 
thus following in his father's footsteps. For several years he was the 
mainstay of his parents in their old age and was a devoted son to them. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 745 

He is an excellent farmer and raises considerable live stock on the place. 
Mr. Robinson is an industrious and loyal citizen of his native county 
and keeps the homestead in splendid condition as a matter of duty and 
pride. 

O. A. Heinlein. — The most satisfactory thing that can be said of the 
career of a successful citizen, in recording the story of his accomplish- 
ments in the realms of business, industrial, or other fields, is — that "He 
is a self-made man," and is justly entitled to all that he possesses and 
has accumulated, because of the fact that his success has been due to his 
ow^n honest endeavors. The title of "self-made man" can be w^ell applied 
to Mr. O. A. Heinlein, mayor of Butler, Missouri and president of the 
Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler, Missouri, and vice- 
president of the Farmers Bank. During thirty-five years of endeavor 
in Bates county, Mr. Heinlein has achieved a success which is creditable 
and due to the following of a fixed plan and energetic application to 
the duties at hand, a policy which has placed him at the head of one of 
the most important commercial concerns of western Missouri, and his 
recognition by the citizens of Butler as a man capable of filling the post 
of city executive. Mr. Heinlein began his career as a clerk at small 
wages in the mercantile establishment of which he is now president, and 
steadily forged his way to the front. During the years that have passed, 
he has become a leader in the business world of this county. O. A. 
Heinlein was born in Christian county, Illinois, December 16, 1864, a 
son of Lawa'ence and Elizabeth (Johnson) Heinlein. Lawrence Hein- 
lein, his father, was born April 28, 1828 in Ohio, Guernsey county, a son 
of Asa Heinlein, a native of Ohio reared in Guernsey county. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Johnson, born October 14, 1830 in Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania. To this marriage were born children as follow: Samuel 
E., employed with the Emerson-Brantingham Company, Kansas City, 
Missouri; F. M., a retired farmer living at Blue Mound, Illinois; Mrs. 
J. A. Wear, Butler, Missouri; O. A., subject of this review; H. W., 
traveling salesman for the Hall Lithograph Company, Kansas City, Mis- 
souri ; two children died in infancy. During his entire life, Lawrence 
Heinlein followed agricultural pursuits. Mr. Heinlein moved to Illinois 
in 1848 and settled near Springfield. He came to Bates county, Missouri, 
in 1883, driving fronl Illinois overland in a covered wagon, and located 
on a farm in Spruce township. He resided upon a farm until his retire- 
ment to a home in Butler, in 1896. His death occurred in this city in 
1901. Eight years later his wife followed him to the grave, dying in 



^,^6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

1909. Both parents are buried in Oak Hill cemetery. They were sub- 
stantial and well respected citizens of Bates county, who added mate- 
rially to the citizenship of the county. 

O. A. Heinlein was educated in the pul)lic schools and in Butler 
Academy. After leaving school he entered the Bennett-Wheeler Mer- 
cantile Company establishment as a clerk at twenty dollars per month. 
So diligently did he apply himself and so careful was he with his 
earnings that he was enabled to purchase a small interest in the con- 
cern on January 1, 1891. He continued to invest his savings in the 
business and to apply himself assiduously to attain familiarity with 
every phase of the conduct of the business, and he was elected president 
of the company on January 1, 1898. Since this time he has been the 
active head of the business which has grown constantly in importance 
and size. The Bennett-Wheeler store was originally located on the 
site of the Missouri State Bank. It was moved to the site of the Farm- 
ers Bank, and in 1890 the store was located in its present cjuarters at 
the northeast corner of the public scjuare. The brick store building 
is two stories in height, and is 50 by 100 feet in dimensions, with an 
additional main floor space of 50 by 145 feet. The store covers an 
entire block. The concern also occupies two floors on the opposite side 
of the street measuring 50 by 100 feet and 25 by 75 feet in dimensions. 
The stock of hardware goods and implements carried by the Bennett- 
Wheeler Mercantile Company is the largest in Bates county. Mr. Hein- 
lein is owner of one thousand acres of land in Bates county. He is 
vice-president of the Farmers Bank of Butler. 

In 1910, the marriage of O. A. Heinlein with Miss Katie Lambert 
Canterbury occurred. Mrs. Heinlein is a daughter of Ben and Frances 
Tillie (Pentzer) Canterbury, well-known residents of Butler, concern- 
ing whom a biographical review is given elsewhere in this volume. 
Mr. and Mrs. Heinlein have four children: Oscar Allen, Jr.; Frances 
Elizabeth; Ben Canterbury; and Katherine Ann. The Heinlein resi- 
dence is located at 200 North Delaware street and is one of the many 
beautiful, modern homes of Butler. 

Along with his business activities, Mr. Heinlein has ever been cog- 
nizant of his obligations as a citizen of Butler and Bates county. Every 
movement having for its purpose the advancement of the material wel- 
fare of the county and its people have found him in the very forefront 
from its inception. He served a term as city councilman and was elected 
mayor of the city, in April, 1916. Since taking over the duties of his 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 747 

office he has applied to the conduct of city and municipal affairs the 
same business methods which have made his own business such a pro- 
nounced success, the result being that Butler is practically out of debt. 
The indebtedness of the city amounted to $8,000 at the beginning of 
his term of office, all of which has been paid, and the city now owns 
its own water and electric light plants which are ably managed at a 
profit to the city treasury. For the past twenty-eight years, Mr. Hein- 
lein has been secretary and treasurer of the Presbyterian Sunday School 
of Butler. 

E. C. Wilson, the well-known cashier of the Farmers Bank of 
Rockville, Missouri, is one of Bates county's prominent financiers. Mr. 
Wilson was born July 31, 1891, at Clinton in Henry county, Missouri, 
a son of Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Wilson, who settled in Henry county forty 
years ago and are now residents of Clinton, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. 
C. B. Wilson have been born the following children: Frank, of Clin- 
ton, Missouri; C. D., of Clinton, Missouri; W. A., of Parsons, Kansas; 
Jessie, an only daughter at home with her parents; and E. C, the 
subject of this review. 

Tn the city schools of Clinton, Missouri, E. C. \\ ilson received his 
elementary education, which was afterward supplemented by a thorough 
business course at Colt's Business College. After completing his school 
work, Mr. Wilson was engaged in railroad work until he entered the 
Farmers Bank of Rockville, Missouri, as cashier in 1916, succeeding J. 
R. Wyatt, who has succeeded L. Wyatt, the cashier at the time of the 
organization of the institution. The Farmers Bank has doubled its 
business during the past year and much of its marked and splendid 
success has been and now is undoubtedly due to the energetic efforts 
of its capable cashier, who has mastered w^ell the intricate problem 
of finance. 

The marriage of E. C. Wilson and Mayme L. Griffith, a daughter 
of Mr. and Mrs. W^esley Griffith, of Clinton, Missouri, was solemnized 
May 19, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are very popular with the young 
people of Rockville and they move in the best social circles of Bates 
county. Mr. Wilson is held in the highest respect by the leading busi- 
ness men of the county, who know him to be a young man of ability 
and exceptionally keen discernment and business judgment. 

The Farmers Bank of Rockville, Missouri, was organized July 10, 
1913, with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars. The present capital 
stock of the bank is ten thousand dollars, the surplus fund and undi- 



748 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

vided profits fifteen hundred dollars, and the deposits, at the time 
of this writing in 1918, more than sixty-six thousand dollars. The offi- 
cials of the Farmers Bank of Rockville are, as follow: J. N. McDavitt, 
president; August Fischer, vice-president; E. C. Wilson, cashier; and 
John T. Mock, Gates Merryfield, M. G. Wilson, C. L. Roberts, and 
T. W. Gray, directors. This bank is one of the sound financial insti- 
tutions of Bates county, Missouri. 

D. D. Bassett, a well-known and successful farmer and stockman 
of Pleasant Gap township, is a native of Michigan. He was born in 
Branch county, April 18, 1870, a son of George and Rebecca (McCool) 
Bassett, 

George Bassett was born in Billows Falls, Vermont, April 8, 1828. 
He was a son of George R. Bassett, who was also a native of Vermont, 
He went to Utica, New York, with his family in 1842, when George, 
the father of D. D., was about fourteen years old. Six years later, or 
in 1848, he went farther W'est, this time locating in LaGrange county, 
Indiana. Here, George R. Bassett spent the remainder of his life. He 
died in 1899, lacking only six days of being one hundred years old. His 
wife lacked only three days of being one hundred years old at her death. 

The Bassett family is of Engdish descent and trace their ances- 
try back to the House of Kent in England. The Bassett family was 
founded in America by Francis Livingston Bassett, who settled in New 
England in colonial times. Richard Bassett, ancestor of D. D. Bas- 
sett, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 

Rebecca McCool, mother of D. D. Bassett, was a Pennsylvanian, 
born near Philadelphia. She was a daughter of Aaron and Margaret 
(Montgomery) McCool. Her father was a native of Ireland and her 
mother was a daughter of Robert R. Montgomery and of Scotch descent. 

George Bassett was about twenty years of age when he came West 
with his parents. He was employed on the first railroad to reach Chi- 
cago from the East, at that time making his home at Elkhart, Indiana. 
Later, he went to Michigan and was engaged in the lumber business 
for a time when he returned to Elkhart, Indiana. In the fall of 1874 
he went to Iowa with his family, remaining there until 1877, when he 
went to Kansas and settled in Dickinson county. Three years later, or 
in 1880, he came to Bates county, Missouri, locating in Pleasant Gap 
township on the place where D. D. Bassett, the subject of this sketch, 
now resides. He was successfully engaged in farming and stockraising 
here during the remainder of his life. He died on September 27, 1911. 




THREE GENERATIONS OF THE BASSETT FAMILY. 
Reading left to right: Mrs. George R. Bassett, William C. Bassett, George Bassett. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 749 

He was a progressive citizen and a man whose career may be well said 
to have been a successful one. He was reared a Democrat but in later 
life became a Republican. 

George Bassett was twice married, his first wife being Martha Lee, 
a direct descendant of "Light Horse Harry Lee." To this first mar- 
riage were born four children as follow: William, with the Postum 
Cereal Company, Battle Creek, Michigan; James, locomotive engineer 
on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, resides at Elkhart, 
Indiana; Charles, resides near Elkhart, Indiana; and Evving, Pleasant 
Gap, Missouri. 

To George Bassett and Rebecca McCool, his second wife, whom he 
married in 1867, was born only one child, D. D. Bassett, the subject of 
this sketch. Rebecca McCool was a widow when she married Mr. Bassett, 
her first husband being Timothy W. Adams. Two children were born to 
that union: Timothy W. Adams, Jr., whose whereabouts is unknown; 
and Cassius Adams, deceased. Rebecca (McCool) Bassett died in 1897. 

D. D. Bassett was about ten years old when he came to Bates 
county with his parents. He received his education in the public schools 
and has made farming and stockraising his occupation. He specializes 
in high-grade Shorthorn cattle and has his place well stocked. Mr. 
Bassett's farm is one of the valuable places of Pleasant Gap township. 
It is well improved, well kept and has all the earmarks of a progressive 
and thrifty owner. The home place consists of one hundred forty-five 
acres. 

Mr. Bassett was united in marriage in 1900 with Miss Eva Willey, 
a native of Pleasant Gap township, born in August, 1872. She is a 
daughter of Gideon Willey, a native of Delaware, born in 1829. He 
came to Missouri in 1870 and died here in 1882. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Bassett have been born three children, as follow: 
Helen, born in 1900 and died in infancy; Dexter Dillard, born Febru- 
ary 6, 1902; and Lloyd L., born November 8, 1903, both attending 
school. 

Mr. Bassett is a Republican and takes an active interest in the 
local political organization, having served as township committeeman 
for a number of years. 

J. N. McDavitt, a well-known merchant of Rockville, ^Missouri and 
former justice of the peace, clerk, assessor, trustee, and treasurer of 
Hudson township, a notary public of Rockville, filling his second term 
in ofBce at the time of this writing in 1918, is a worthy representative 



750 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of a sterling pioneer family of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. McDavitt 
was born in Edgar county, Illinois, in 1854 and when a child thirteen 
years of age came to Bates county,* Missouri, with his parents, J. P. 
and Eliza J. McDavitt. J. P. McDavitt was a native of \'irginia. He 
was born in 1828 and ]\Irs. McDavitt was born in Virginia in 1833. 
Mr, McDavitt purchased a farm in this section of the state before he 
came thence to make his permanent home, a tract of land embracing 
two hundred forty acres, which he improved and cultivated, engaging 
in general farming and stock raising and feeding. J. P. McDavitt was 
a leader in his community and one of the most prominent and iniiuen- 
tial men of his day in his district. He was instrumental in bringing 
about the organization of District Number 6 and in the building of the 
school house, erected in 1869, a small frame building constructed after 
the style of the sixties, Mr. McDavitt took a leading and important 
part. He was for many years the school director in his district. He 
built the residence on his farm in 1867, hauling the lumber for its con- 
struction from Pleasant Hill. J. P. McDavitt had purchased a yoke 
of oxen from James Hook for one hundred fifty dollars, a team which 
weighed four thousand one hundred sixty pounds, and with the oxen 
it required one week to make the trip to Pleasant Hill. There was a 
stage route from Sedalia to Fort Scott and the route passed through 
the McDavitt farm. One day, J. P. McDavitt sent a young man, named 
Lindsay, who was employed by him, to Prairie City for the mail. Prairie 
City was six or seven miles distant, and at that time was little more 
than a village in embryo as there was but one store and two resi- 
dences in the place. Johannas was then the leading merchant of Prai- 
rie City. Young' Lindsay had traveled the distance that had been 
designated and as he was a city man accustomed to large towns he 
became alarmed thinking that he had missed the w^ay, so he rode to 
the little country store and inquired of the owner the way and the 
distance to Prairie City. Johannas. replied, "This is Prairie City." 

The first house built on the McDavitt place was a cal:)in having 
a stick chimney, which was put up in the autumn of 1866 prior to the 
coming of the McDavitts. J. N. McDavitt well recalls seeing deer, a 
herd of five, which frequently came near his father's home. The father 
owned a long, old-fashioned rifle and though young J. N. McDavitt 
longed for an opportunity to try his skill at killing deer with it his 
father was fearful lest harm come to his son and refused hin; permission 
to shoot with the old rifle. A neighbor, Vanderpool, kept a pack of 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 75 1 

hounds and was constantly on the hunt and the chase. Once, when 
J. N. McDavitt heard the baying- of the hounds and knew that they 
were chasing a deer, he located himself behind a tree near the path the 
prey must necessarily come and with his father's old rifle waited impa- 
tiently, became too anxious to shoot and fired at the buck before taking 
aim. When Vanderpool came up, he asked of the lad if he had hit any- 
thing and young McDavitt replied that the big buck ran out of the 
path and acted very much as if it were hit. But when Vanderpool 
returned from the chase emptyhanded, J. N. McDavitt was informed in 
a few terse words as to the value of his unasked assistance in the' hunt. 
In the same year and in the autumn, Mr. McDavitt had an exceptional 
opportunity to kill a deer. He ran for the trusty old rifle and, thinking 
it a pity to shoot the animal in the heart, he decided to shoot it in the 
head. The bullet barely grazed the animal's head and the deer seemed 
to be unable to decide just what had happened before the boy hunter 
had reloaded the rifle from his vantage point behind a tree and shot 
again, this time at the deer's heart. It ran about thirty feet and fell. 
Young McDavitt reloaded, approached the dying animal and the second 
shot in the head had an immediate effect. An old hunter passed the 
lad and his first prey and explained to him how to carry the deer, but 
it was too much of a load for him. He called his father, proudly telling 
him of his good fortune and the two carried it home. Henceforth, the 
senior McDavitt granted his son the free use of the trusty old rifle. 

To J. P. and Eliza J. McDavitt were born the following children: 
J. M., the subject of this review; J. F., who died at Anadarko, Okla- 
homa; Mrs. Mary S. Peeler, of Hudson township. Bates county, Mis- 
souri; Mrs. Rosa Peeler, Guthrie, Oklahoma; and Mrs. Dollie Nichols, 
of Vernon county, Missouri. The father died on his farm, where he 
had settled in 1867, in 1906 and five years later, in 1911. he was joined 
in death by the mother. Both parents are interred in the Baptist ceme- 
tery in Bates county. 

J. N. McDavitt received his education in the public schools of 
District Number 6, Bates county, Missouri. He afterward taught school 
for one term in the same district, while at the same time he was engaged 
in farming on his eighty-acre tract of land. In December, 1909, J. N. 
McDavitt moved from the farm to Rockville, having received the 
appointment of postmaster, and for three years he served efficiently 
in this capacity. Mr. McDavitt was one of the organizers of the Farm- 
ers Bank of Rockville and he has been the first and only president of 



^^2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

■ this financial institution, still holding this position at the time of this 
writing in 1918. A brief sketch of the Farmers Bank of Rockville, Mis- 
souri, appears in connection with the biography of E. C. Wilson, which 
will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. McDavitt opened a gen- 
eral store at his present location in Rockville in December, 1914, and 
is now the owner of one of the prosperous mercantile establishments 
of Bates county. He conducts a variety store, carrying a complete line 
of dry goods, gents' furnishings, and notions, and enjoys a large patron- 
age. 

The marriage of J. N. McDavitt and Alice M. Nearhoof, a daughter 
of Mrs, Catherine Nearhoof, of Round Prairie, was solemnized in 1878. 
The father of Mrs. McDavitt died when she was a little child. Mrs. 
Catherine Nearhoof died in 1910. To J. N. and Alice M. McDavitt 
have been born four children, who are now living, two who are deceased, 
as follow: Pearl, the wife of William Carter, of Horace, Kansas; 
Gertie, the wife of R. L. Piepmeier, CofTeyville, Kansas; Jessie, the 
wife of Vernie Rains; Grace, the wife of L. V. Brown, of Round Prai- 
rie; Hallie, who died at the age of seenteen years; and Joseph P., 
who died in infancy. 

Mr. McDavitt is a skilful accountant, one familiar with all the intri- 
cacies of banking, and his judgment in matters of finance" is seldom at 
fault. He has been an active participant in the public affairs of his town 
and township and has filled satisfactorily many public offices. In every 
station of life, official or otherwise, Mr. McDavitt has displayed superior 
ability and not a breath of suspicion has ever darkened his record. 
Plain and unassuming in manner, frank and genial, he has won and 
retains the good will, respect, and esteem of all with whom he has 
come in contact. Mr. and Mrs. McDavitt are numbered among the 
best citizens of Rockville. 

Henry William Schapeler, a late leading farmer and stockman of 
Prairie township, was a native of Germany. Mr. Schapeler was born 
in 1851 and came to the United States when he was a youth, sixteen 
years of age. He located first in the state of Texas, where he remained 
more than two years, going thence to Kentucky and from that state 
coming to Bates county, Missouri, where he, his mother, and his two 
brothers, Ferdinand and Hermann, located on a tract of land east of 
Prairie City, Missouri, for a few months, when they moved to a coun- 
try place south of the Redford church. Mrs. Schapeler and her three 
sons made their home together for several years, until each of the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



753 



boys married, Ferdinand being united in marriage with Mrs. Catherine 
Link and Hermann with jMinnie Drawe. The Schapeler brothers were 
associated in business and together purchased a large tract of land in 
Bates county. For many years, the three boys had but one pocket- 
book. They made the brick for the construction of their first resi- 
dences in Bates county, Missouri, building a small house for each one 
in the early seventies. These houses are still standing and are in use, 
but additions have since been made to the original structures. The 
Schapeler brothers during the early days, drove large herds of cattle from 
Texas and fattened them in Bates county. 

In the early days, Henry William Schapeler experienced a never- 
to-be-forgotten attack from a large rattlesnake. Mr. Schapeler was 
bitten on the foot, while barefoot plowing corn. He killed the reptile 
and then drank one and a half quarts of whiskey. The men who were 
with him in the field started with him to Papinsville, JDUt before they 
arrived the whiskey had taken effect and that saved his life. Mr. 
Schapeler had never before been or afterward became intoxicated. 

The marriage of Henry \\'illiam Schapeler and All^ertina Steffan 
was solemnized in 1883. Albertina (Steffan) Schapeler is a daughter 
of Tobias and Catherine Steffan. Mrs. Schapeler came to this country 
alone in 1880. To Henry William and Mrs. Schapeler were born three 
children, who are now living: Frederika Catherine, who is at home 
with her widowed mother; Hermann Tol^ias W'illiam, at home; and Carl 
Ferdinand Henry, at home. Mr. Schapeler died May 25, 1916. He 
was a devout Christian gentleman, an earnest and conscientious member 
of the German Reformed church and one of its most faithful workers 
and willing supporters. The Schapelers materially assisted in the found- 
ing of the Reformed church of Prairie township, the mother of Henry 
AVilliam Schapeler donating a tract of land embracing three acres for 
the site of the present church building and cemetery. 

The Henry William Schapeler estate comprises nine hundred twenty- 
three acres of valuable land in Bates county, Missouri, of which four 
hundred forty-three acres are in the home place. Mr. Schapeler was 
engaged in cattle raising and general farming. He was all his life a 
busy man, strong, active, energetic. His splendid estate is but a monu- 
ment to his industry and thrift. His two sons, Hermann Tobias AA'illiam 
and Carl Ferdinand Henry, are now in charge of the home place. They 
are successful and progressive, young agriculturists and stockmen, fol- 
lowing the vocations of dairying and stock raising and general farming. 

(48) 



754 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

They have a large herd of Shorthorn Durham cattle, usually keeping 
a registered male at the head of the herd, and they keep on the place 
from sixty to one hundred head of pure-bred Duroc Jersey hogs. For 
the past eight years, the Schapeler boys have been raising a few sheep 
Politically, they are affiliated with the Republican party. 

In 1870, Henry William Schapeler settled in Prairie township, 
Bates county, and for nearly fifty years he w^as one of the honored 
and respected builders of western Missouri. He was a gentleman of 
pleasing personality and his record in business is well worthy of emu- 
lation for he made it his policy to meet all obligations and no conii- 
dence reposed in him or trust confided to his keeping was ever betrayed. 
He and his most estimable wife always worked hard and as a result 
of their persistent efTorts, sound judgment, and wise economy they 
were in later years enabled to live in the ease and comfort, both so richly 
merited. Mr. Schapeler's influence was ever thrown to the side of 
morality and his manly, upright, God-fearing life won the respect and 
esteem of all who knew him. 

James E. Bartlett, a prominent citizen of Butler, is a representative 
of one of the first pioneer families of Bates county. He was born at 
the Bartlett homestead in Walnut township May 25, 1857, a son of 
Edmund and Maria L. (Cook) Bartlett. The Bartletts came to Mis- 
souri from Kentucky in 1844 and located temporarily in Morgan county. 
Two years later, Edmund Bartlett came to Bates county and located 
on the land wdiich is the present townsite of Spruce, whence he after- 
ward moved to a farm in Walnut township in 1849, where his son, James 
E., the subject of this review, was born. The Bartletts continued to 
reside on the farm in Walnut township until "Order Number 11" was 
issued in 1863, when they moved to Baldwin, Douglas county, Kansas, 
and there remained until the close of the war. They returned to their 
country home in Walnut township after the Civil War had ended and 
there resided until 1883. Edmund Bartlett was a member of the Bates 
county court in the early fifties during the time Judge Myers was a 
member. At one time. Judge Bartlett was the ownier of five hundred 
acres of land located in Walnut township. Bates county, a portion of 
which he entered from the government. He had succeeded in accumu- 
lating a handsome competence in spite of the hardships of pioneer life 
and the disasters of war. Before the outbreak of the Civil W^ar, much 
of his property was stolen and during the war all his farm buildings 
were burned and his stock taken. The Bartletts hauled their heavy 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 755 

merchandise from Boonville and from Pleasant Hill, using oxen. The 
senior Bartlett used to haul loads of pecans and hickory nuts to Boon- 
ville in Cooper county and trade the nuts for groceries and other neces- 
sities. Judge Bartlett died in January, 1898, and his remains are interred 
in the cemetery at Foster, Missouri. He was a splendid example 
of the brave, early pioneer, a strong, virile man, who nobly did his part 
and cheerfully discharged his duties in wresting the country from its 
primitive state and laying strong and deep the foundations upon which 
rests its present prosperity, a representative citizen and public-spirited 
gentleman of Bates county. 

Miss Josephine Bartlett, a sister of James E. Bartlett, was employed 
as teacher at Greenview school house when James E. began school 
work there. He recalls his second teacher, Miss Bradshaw. After 
leaving school, Mr. Bartlett began farming for himself on the home 
place and was thus engaged until 1883, when he located near La Cygne, 
Kansas. One year later, he returned to Bates county, Missouri, and 
for a year was located at Passaic, after which he located on a farm in 
the spring of 1885 of one hundred thirty-four acres of land, in Lone 
Oak township, wdiich he purchased for twenty-five dollars an acre. Mr. 
Bartlett improved his farm in Lone Oak township, adding a com- 
fortable residence and a good barn and all necessary farm conven- 
iences. While a resident of this township, James E. Bartlett was a 
leader in his community and filled many offices of public trust, serving 
as collector of taxes, township clerk, township assessor, and school 
director in his district for many years. 

The marriage of James E. Bartlett and Florence Phillips was 
solemnized in 1881. Mrs. Bartlett is a daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth 
Phillips, who settled near La Cygne, Kansas, in 1858. Mr. Phillips 
died in the autumn of 1883 and is buried in the cemetery located south- 
east of La Cygne. The widowed mother survived her husband until 
1906, when she joined him in death. Mrs. Phillips died in Lone Oak 
township. Bates county, and her remains were taken to the cemetery 
at La Cygne for burial beside those of her husband. To James E. and 
Florence (Phillips) Bartlett have been born two sons: Homer C, who 
is engaged in farming in Lone Oak township on the home place; and- 
Roy C, a well-known, progressive real-estate man of Butler, a sketch 
of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett 
moved to Butler March 1, 1918. 

As a good citizen, James E. Bartlett occupies no small place in the 



756 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

public esteem, being active in all that concerns the public good and 
liberal in his support of all worthy enterprises, which have for their 
object the material or moral advancement of the community. 

Robert Roland Earsom, a substantial citizen of Pleasant Gap town- 
ship, belongs to a prominent pioneer family of Missouri. He was born 
in Audrain county, Missouri, January 18, 1850, a son of James Madison 
and Mary Nowlan (Mahan) Earsom. The father was a native of Vir- 
ginia and the mother, of Kentucky. 

James Madison Earsom grew to manhood in Virginia, where his 
father was a large planter and an extensive slave holder, owning at one 
time nine hundred acres of land in the Shenandoah valley. In 1836, 
James Madison Earsom came to Missouri, settling in Audrain county, 
where he proved up on two hundred eighty-six acres of land where he 
spent the balance of his life. His wife and the mother of R. R. Earsom 
was also a very early settler in Missouri. She came to this state with 
her parents from Kentucky when St. Louis was little more than a trad- 
ing post, at most a small village. 

R. R. Earsom was one of a family of ten children born to his 
parents and he is the only one of the family now living. His oldest 
brother, John, served in the Union army during the Civil War, and his 
second oldest brother, Peyton, served in the Confederate army. These 
two brothers fought on opposite sides at the battle of Marshall, but 
did not know it until afterward. Peyton died at DuBall's Bluff, Arkansas. 

Mr. Earsom was reared in Audrain county, Missouri, and received 
the greater part of his education in the old log school house of that 
day and age. He came to Bates county in 1871 and settled in Pleasant 
Gap township which has since been his home. He at first bought eighty 
acres of land for which he paid $17.50 an acre, and later he accjuired 
more land, but within the last few years he has sold some and now 
owns a valuable farm of one hundred forty-five acres. Mr. Earsom has 
practically retired and rents his farm. 

On January 22, 1871, Mr. Earsom was united in marriage with 
Miss Celia J. Hukel, a native of Boone county, Missouri, where her 
parents settled at a very early date. To Mr. and Mrs. Earsom were 
born eight children, seven of whom are living, as follow: Isaac New- 
ton, Pleasant Gap township; Letta^ married Walter T. Little and tliey 
reside on the home place, they have two children, Robert Virgil and 
Leota; William M., Pleasant Gap; Anthony Marion, Butler; Minnie 
Bell, married Mark Spain, Pleasant Gap township; Rev. Charles Albertus, 




ROBERT ROLAND EARSOM AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY * 757 

Golden City, Missouri; and Earnest Earl, Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Ear- 
soni departed this life Fel^ruary 7, 1915, aged sixty-nine years. She was 
a Christian woman and lived an exemplary life. She had been a con- 
sistent member of the Christian church for forty years, she and Mr. Ear- 
som having- joined the old Macedonian church in Audrain county in 
1S67, of which they were charter members. 

Mr. Earsom saw many of the hardships of the pioneer days and 
like many others had a hard struggle to get a start in life, but he finally 
overcame difificulties and succeeded. AAdien he was a young man he 
worked one year for a man in the northern part of the state and received 
SI 75 for the year's work. During that year he split five thousand rails. 

Bates county was wild and unsettled when Mr. Earsom came here, 
compared with its present state. At that time there was not a barn 
between his place and Butler. He often saw deer, and other wild game 
was plentiful. 

Roy Bartlett, of the firm of Sleeth & Bartlett, abstract, loans and 
real estate, is one of the enterprising young citizens of Butler, Missouri. 
Mr. Bartlett was born May 10, 1885, a son of James E. and Florence 
(Phillips) Bartlett, a highly respected family of Butler, a sketch of whom 
appears in this volume. Roy Bartlett has an older brother, Homer C, 
who is a prosperous farmer of Lone Oak township. 

Mr. Bartlett, whose name introduces this review, received his edu- 
cation in 'the city schools of Butler, Missouri. After completing his 
school work, he engaged in agricultural pursuits until the autumn of 
1913, when he, in partnership with C. A. Sleeth, opened an office on Ohio 
street in the city of Butler and entered the abstract, real estate, and 
loan business, in which he has been profitably engaged for the past live 
years at the time of this writing in 1918. When Mr. Bartlett was but 
twenty-one years of age, he was elected a member of the tov.nship 
board of Lone Oak township and although he is still a young man 
thirty-three years of age, he has been twice honored w4th the office of 
justice of the peace, which he satisfactorily and capably filled for two 
terms. 

In 1909, the marriage of Roy Bartlett and Daisy Seelinger, a daugh- 
ter of John Seelinger, a well-to-do, intelligent farmer and stockman 
of Summit towmship. Bates county, Missouri, was solemnized. Mrs. 
Bartlett is a native of Summit township, a granddaughter of one of 
the honored pioneers of Prairie township. Bates county. To Rov 
and Daisy Bartlett have been born three children: Agnes Magdalene, 



758 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Helen, and Ruth Esther. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett and their daughters 
reside in Butler at 502 West Adams street. 

Fraternally, Roy Bartlett is affiliated with the Knights and Ladies 
of Security and the Yeomen, Politically, he is a stanch member of the 
Democratic party. Like his father before him, Mr. Bartlett is a man 
of prominence in his community and one of the substantial citizens of 
Butler and Bates county. 

H. C, Hyatt, Jr., manager of "Fairview Stock Farm" of four hun- 
dred acres of land located two miles east of Adrian in Deer Creek 
township, one of the finest stock farms in this section of the state, is 
one of the progressive, young agriculturists and stockmen of Bates 
county. "Fairview Stock Farm" was improved by Edward Argen- 
bright and purchased by H. C. Hyatt, Sr., in 1908. , The splendid im- 
provements on the place include a handsome residence, a house of two 
stories and nine rooms; a barn, 64 x 74 feet in dimensions, for horses; 
a barn, 40 x 80 feet in dimensions, for cattle and hay; and several good 
wells. One well on the place is only ten feet in depth, but with a wind- 
mill attached furnishes a sufficient amount of water to supply all the 
stock. There are three windmills on "Fairview Stock Farm." H. C. 
Hyatt, Sr., sold the farm in 1916 and H. C. Hyatt, Jr., is the present 
lessee. He has at the time of this writing in 1918 one hundred head 
of cattle and usually keeps on the farm at least one hundred head of 
hogs and at the present time has twenty head of horses and mules. One 
year ago, H. C. Hyatt, Jr., had two hundred fifty head of cattle and four 
hundred head of hogs at "Fairview Stock Farm." He is one of the most 
extensive feeders in Bates county and he states that he was reared 
in the stock business and knows no other, 

H. C. Hyatt, Jr., was born near Schell City in St. Clair county, 
Missouri, on March 11, 1889, a son of H. C. and Eliza (Lucas) Hyatt, 
residents of Clinton, Missouri. The junior Hyatt was reared and edu- 
cated in St. Clair county, Missouri. He came with his parents to Bates 
county in 1905 and with them located first in Mound township, coming 
thence to his present farm in 1908. The son was in partnership with the 
father until the latter sold the farm in 1916 and since that time H. C. 
Hyatt, Jr., has been employed as manager of "Fairview Stock Farm." 
He is an exceptionally capable and intelligent stockman and is making 
a marked success and a name for himself in the stock business. 

In 1907, H. C. Hyatt and Leora V. Beaman, a daughter of David 
W. and Missouri Ella Beaman. honored and respected pioneers of Sum- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 759 

mit township, Bates county, were united in marriage. To H. C. and 
Mrs. Hyatt have been born two children: H. C, "The Third," who was 
born February 7, 1912; and Elsie Marie. Mr. and Mrs. Hyatt are 
widely and favorably known in Deer Creek township and they have an 
enviable standing in the county, socially and financially. 

Reared in the country and from his boyhood days accustomed to 
toil in the field, meadow, and wood, the life of H. C. Hyatt, [r., has 
thus far been practically devoid of striking incidents, but has been the 
career of a dutiful son assisting his father in industriously discharging 
the obligations of a prosperous and successful husbandman and later 
of the independent, energetic farmer and stockman. 

William Buckles, of William Buckles & Son, merchant of Altona, 
Missouri, is one of the successful business men of Bates county. Mr. 
Buckles and his son, H. F., purchased the Tabler Brothers' stock of 
merchandise at Altona on March 1, 1917, and are engaged in conducting 
a general store at this place, carrying a splendid line of groceries, boots, 
shoes, rubber goods of all kinds, tanks, and oil, gas, and water pumps. 
The mercantile establishment owned by William Buckles & Son is 
located in their own two-story building in Altona, a building 24 x 60 
feet in dimensions, the second story of which is used as a dwelling. 
Altona is a little city situated seven miles east of Adrian, Missouri, 
having three churches, the Baptist, the Christian, and the Methodist, 
a postoffice of which H. F. Buckles is the efficient and popular post- 
master and Fred Cowgill the well-known carrier on Rural Route 1, 
a circulating library of two hundred volumes which is much appreci- 
ated by the citizens of the town who may have the privilege of read- 
ing all the volumes for the payment of two dollars membership fee 
used to obtain new books, a blacksmith shop, and the general store 
owned by William Buckles & Son. Altona is in the midst of the richest 
farming district of Bates county. 

W'illiam Buckles is a native of Iowa. He was born in 1859 in Van 
Buren county, a son of A. J. and Julia (Abbott) Buckles, the former, a 
native of Indiana and the latter, of Illinois. Both parents of Mr. Buckles 
died in Van Buren county, Iowa. He was reared and educated in 
Iowa and in early manhood came to Missouri, locating near Chilli- 
cothe in 1883, then in Benton county, whence he came to Bates county 
in 1893 and located on a farm in Grand River township, which place 
he rented for nearly thirteen years before purchasing the tract of land 
which he traded for the stock of merchandise previously mentioned. 



760 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

In 1881, AA'illiam Buckles and Ella Patterson, a daughter of Robert 
R. and Catherine Patterson, of Van Bnren county, Iowa, were united 
in marriage. Mr. Patterson is now deceased and the v\ndovved mother 
resides at Bolivar, Missouri. To William and Ella (Patterson) Buckles 
have been born seven children: Pearly G., superintendent of the Odessa 
High School, Odessa, Missouri; Robert Ernest, who is with the Kansas 
City Milling Company, Kansas City, Missouri; Harley E. and Charley 
E., twins, the former, the assistant postmaster of Altona from March 
until November, 1917, and the postmaster since November, 1917, a 
teacher emplo3xd at Altona for two years prior to entering business 
with his father and now his father's willing, able, and energetic assistant, 
and the latter, an industrious and successful agriculturist and stock- 
man of Grand River township. Bates county, Missouri; Nora, the teacher 
at Smoky Row in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri, who resides 
at home with her parents; and Howard and Homer, twins, both of 
whom are now sophomore students in the Adrian High School, Adrian, 
Missouri. 

The life of William Buckles has been one of untiring activity and 
has been crowned with a degree of success attained by those only who 
devote themselves indefatigably to the work before them. Mr. and 
Mrs. Buckles and their family are highly respected and valued in Altona 
and they have scores of friends in Bates county. 

Charles W. Wolfe, a retired farmer and stockman of Butler, Mis- 
souri, one of the honored Union veterans of the Civil W^ar, is one of 
the leading citizens of Bates county. Mr. Wolfe is a native of Athens 
county, Ohio. He was born October 9, 1842, a son of Jacob and Sallie 
(Bryson) Wolfe, the father, a native of Ohio and the mother, of Bed- 
ford county, Pennsylvania. Jacob Wolfe was a son of George \\'olfe, 
a native of W^estmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Both parents of 
Charles W. W^olfe are now deceased and their remains lie interred in. 
a cemetery in Athens county, Ohio. 

In the common schools of Athens county, Ohio, Charles A\\ AA'olfe 
received his education. At the age of nineteen years, he enlisted in 
the Union army on April 22, 1861, and for five months served with 
Company A, Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, when taken ill with measles 
and honorably discharged. Mr. AVolfe re-enlisted with the Eifteenth 
Iowa Infantrv on September 26, 1864, and he was with Sherman on 
his famous march from Atlanta to the sea. Charles AA^ AA^olfe was 
mustered out and received his final honoral)lc discharge at Louis\-ille, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 761 

Kentucky, and his pay at Davenport, Iowa. After the close of the 
Civil AVar, Mr. Wolfe returned to his home in Ohio, coming to Bates 
county, Missouri, in 1869, and locating on a farm in Charlotte town- 
ship, in which township he has since owned several different country 
places. Later, he purchased a farm of one hundred forty-eight acres 
of land in Homer township and at the present time is the proprietor 
of a country place located near Old Virginia. Mr. Wolfe retired from 
the active pursuits of agriculture in 1910 and moved to his home in 
the city of Butler, a comfortable residence at 116 West Fort Scott 
street. 

The marriage of Charles W. Wolfe and Mary Young, a native 
of Athens county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Mary Ann (Higgins) 
Young, was solemnized in January, 1862. John Young was born in 
Ohio and Mrs. Young was born in West Virginia near Wheeling 
and both departed this life at the Young homestead in Athens county, 
Ohio. To Charles W. and Mary (Young) Wolfe have been born five 
children, four of whom are now living: James, a noted attorney of 
the state of Kansas, who practiced law with Senator Stone of Mis- 
souri and was admitted to the bar under him when located at Nevada, 
Missouri, a popular author whose book, "Why Is a Bachelor?" has 
been widely read throughout the country, a recently appointed mem- 
ber of advisory draft board of Kansas, receiving his appointment from 
Governor Capper, and a talented lecturer who has traveled extensively 
on chautauqua circuits; David C, who was a successful and prosperous 
farmer and stockman at the time of his death at the age of forty-nine 
years at Virginia, Missouri, and he has left a widow, Telia May (Parks) 
Wolfe, and several children; Julia Etta, the wife of W. F. McKibben, 
of Amsterdam, Missouri ; Reverend J. J., a graduate of the Butler High 
School and a former teacher in the Bates county public schools, a 
recently ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal church at present 
serving at Garden City, Missouri ; and Bertha L., the widow of Andrew 
Simpson and the mother of two daughters: Mary Josephine, a graduate 
of the Butler High School in the class of 1915 and now a teacher in 
the pul^lic schools of Bates county, Missouri ; and Lee Etta, a student 
in the Butler High School, Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe 
have repeatedly opened their hearts and home and welcomed other lit- 
tle ones for whom they have cared with the same solicitude bestowed upon 
their own children and they have reared, in addition to their own, 
three children, nameh^: Robert Tye Wolfe, a grandson, who is now 



762 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

with his father, Reverend J. J. \\'olfe, at Garden City, Missouri, and 
is a student in Kansas City Business College ; Maud Hockett, now the 
wife of Reverend Edward Skidmore, of Sugar City, Idaho; and Ivy 
Cathey, now the wife of Claude Kenion, of Amoret, Missouri. Mr. and 
Mrs. Wolfe are lovers of children and they are very proud of their 
fifteen grandchildren and three great-gTandchildren. Mrs. Wolfe is 
a remarkable woman, a lady of boundless energy and deep and abiding 
human sympathy. Mr. Wolfe, at the age of seventy-six years, is still 
physically and mentally alert and as active as many men several years 
younger than he. He is a fluent and interesting conversationalist and 
justly proud of his splendid family of boys and girls. 

Hermann A, W. Schapeler, a late prominent farmer and stockman 
of Prairie township, was one of Bates county's prosperous and success- 
ful citizens. Mr. Schapeler was born in Germany in 1847. He emi- 
grated from his native land and located in Texas in the United States 
in 1870, going thence to Kentucky, where he remained but a short 
time, when he came to Missouri in 1873 and settled in Bates county on 
the farm now owned by his widow, Mrs. Minnie Schapeler. Hermann 
A. W., Ferdinand, and William Schapeler, three brothers, with their 
widowed mother, Mrs. Frederika Schapeler, settled on a tract of land 
in Prairie township, Bates county. Mrs. Schapeler donated the land 
which is the present site of the Reformed church and cemetery, a 
tract of three acres, and she was the second person to be laid to rest 
in the cemetery. "Johnny" Flick was the first to be interred in the 
cemetery of the Reformed church. Mrs. Schapeler died July 26, 1879. 

The marriage of Hermann A. AA\ Schapeler and Minnie Drawe 
was solemnized May 30, 1879. Minnie (Drawe) Schapeler was born 
August 8, 1859, in Fayette county, Texas, and is a daughter of Louis 
and Katherina Drawe, who were residents of Texas at the time of 
the marriage of their daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Schapeler were born 
the following children : William L., of Hudson township. Bates county, 
Missouri; Hermann H., of Prairie township, Bates county, Missouri: 
Louis F., of Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, Missouri; Frederika, 
who died at the age of nine years; Henry J. and Edward E., who reside 
at home with their wndowed mother. 

For many years, Hermann A. W. Schapeler fed cattle extensively 
and was one of the progressive men of his connnunity. Mr. Schapeler 
increased his holdings until he had at one time an estate of eight hun- 
dred acres of valuable land. He and his two brothers, Ferdinand and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^763 

William, were in partnership in farming- and stock raising until all three 
were married. To his sons Mr. Schapeler gave at the time of his 
death one hundred sixty acres of land each. Hermann A. AV. Schapeler 
died May 2, 1916. He was one of the most substantial and enterpris- 
ing stockmen of Bates county and as a citizen, neigh1)or, and friend 
his record was an honorable one, his good name being far above re- 
proach. Mr. Schapeler was a man of much public spirit and stanchly 
supported every laudable movement made in behalf of the general good 
of his township and county. He was a faithful and consistent adherent 
to the creed of the Reformed church and contributed freely of his 
means and influence in support of the Gospel and those who knew Mr. 
Schapeler best know that he fearlessly met his "Pilot, face to face," when 
he had crossed the bar. He has been sadly missed in his home and in 
the community. 

The Schapeler farm lies two miles north and one mile west of 
Prairie City, Missouri. Henry J. and Edward E. Schapeler have charge 
of the place and their mother is their homemaker, housekeeper, and 
counselor. Mrs. Schapeler recalls many old settlers of Bates county, 
among whom were the following: Leonard Hegnauer, Samuel Kaiser, 
Tony Hammer,- Peter Grop, John Camp, William Burris, John Barrows, 
and George Malbley. She states that "Nick" Johannas was the merch- 
ant of Prairie City in the early seventies. Reverend Kinerem was 
the first minister of the Reformed church of Prairie township. He died 
in St. Clair county, Missouri, and was succeeded by Reverend Hinski. 
The church was organized shortly after the Schapelers came to Bates 
countv, and from the time of their coming here they have been active 
in promoting the moral and spiritual welfare of their township. Mrs. 
Schapeler's boys have gained recognition and prestige as capable and 
energetic agriculturists and public-spirited citizens. Mrs. Schapeler is a 
devoted member of her church and a lady of refinement and true 
culture. 

H. Steiner, a successful and prosperous merchant of Prairie City, 
Missouri, was born June 30. 1880, a son of Rudolph. Sr., and Elizabeth 
(Wertz) Steiner, both of whom were born in Switzerland. Rudolph 
Steiner, Sr., located at Rockville, Missouri, on coming- to the United States 
and engaged in his trade of blacksmithing for several years. In later 
life, the senior Steiner moved with his family to Prairie City, Missouri. 
He died about 1915 and interment was made in the cemetery at Rock- 
ville. Rudol]:)h Steiner. Sr., is survived by his widow, who resides at 



764 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Nevada, jMissouri, and seven children, as follow: Rudolph, Jr., a well- 
known hardware merchant of Rockville, Missouri ; John, Galveston, 
Texas; H. Steiner, the subject of this review; Emma, Nevada, Mis- 
souri; Walter, a highly respected grocer of Rockville, Missouri; Mrs. 
Mary Theno, Nevada, Missouri ; and Albert, who is one of our "Sam- 
mies" in the service of the United States in the present world war. 

In the city schools of Prairie City, Missouri, H. Steiner obtained an 
excellent common-school education. After leaving school Mr. Steiner was 
engaged for nine years in blacksmithing. He opened his present general 
store in 1904, at Prairie City, Missouri, erecting a new building in 
1912, a building 24 x 50 feet in dimensions. Mr. Steiner carries a 
general line of merchandise and since he entered the mercantile busi- 
ness fourteen years ago he has enjoyed a liberal patronage and at the 
time of this writing- in 1918 has a splendid and lucrative trade. 

H. Steiner and Johanna Caroline Filgus were united in marriage 
in 1901. Mrs. Steiner is a daughter of August Filgus, a prominent 
citizen of Rockville, Missouri. To this union have been born three 
children : AA^ill)ert, Delmer, and Fern. Mr. and Mrs. Steiner are widely 
known in Bates county and they are held in the highest regard in 
Rockville, where the Steiners have long been respected as good neigh- 
bors, faithful friends, and honest, substantial citizens. 

Politically. Mr. Steiner is a Republican of the orthodox stamp and 
he has always manifested a lively interest in public and political ques- 
tions. Fraternally, he is aiTfiliated with the Modern Woodmen of Ameri- 
ca. He is one of the progressive men of the county and is ever ready 
to give his support and influence to aid every enterprise calculated to 
promote the ^prosperity of the country and to elevate the standards of 
citizenship. 

W. G. Sellon, owner of a splendid tract of two hundred forty 
acres in Charlotte township, was born in Pike count}', Illinois, January 
3, 1853, but has lived in Bates county, Missouri, since 1881. He was a 
son of Benjamin and Harriet (Grimshaw) Sellon. His father was born 
in England and accompanied his parents to America when h^ was two 
years of age. When he attained young manhood he located in Pike 
county, Illinois, during the early thirties. The mother of AV. G. Sel- 
lon was born in Ireland, a daughter of W^illiam Grimshaw who immi- 
grated to America and settled in Harrisburg\ Pennsylvania. Benjamin 
Sellon was industriously engaged in tilling his farm in Illinois when the 
Civil War began. Like Cincinnatus of old, he left his plow in the furrow 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 765 

and organized a company of Unionists in his neighborhood and joined 
the Third Missouri Cavah-y Regiment, serving for four years in the 
United States army. Later, he was appointed to the captaincy of a col- 
ored company and was badly wounded at the battle of Blakely, Ala- 
bama. This was near the close of the war and hostilities had ceased by 
the time he had recovered from his wound. x\fter the war he received 
the appointment of deputy internal revenue collector at Ouincy, Illi- 
nois, and served for six years in this important official position. Prior 
to the war he had filled the post of census enumerator for Pike county, 
Illinois, in 1850. He died in July, 1881, and after his death the widow 
came to Missouri in the fall of 1883 and died in 1885, at the home of 
the subject of this review. There were five children in the Sellon family: 
John, deceased; Harriet, deceased; Sidney, deceased; Charlotte ]., 
deceased; and W. G., subject of this biography. 

The early education of W. G. Sellon was obtained in the schools of 
Pike county, Illinois. When he attained young manhood, he came 
West in 1881, and in the spring of that year made a permanent settle- 
ment in Bates county. He and his brother, John, purchased a farm 
of two hundred forty acres and farmed it together in amicable and 
lucrative partnership until the latter's death in 1912, possession then 
passing to the survivor. Mr. Sellon raises Shorthorn cattle, and has 
one of the finest herds of pure-bred cattle in this section of Missouri. 
The Sellon herd numbers from sixty to eighty head at all times and 
are of the pure-bred, registered stock which bring high prices when 
placed upon the market for disposal. Mr. Sellon also maintains a drove 
of pure-bred Poland China swine and raises mules for the market. He 
is a stanch Republican who has been prominently identified with the 
party in Bates county for a number of years. He has served as a mem- 
ber of the township board and filled the post of justice of the peace of 
his township for two terms. He is a member of the Episcopal church 
and is highly regarded as a substantial and desirable citizen of Bates 
county. 

Jonathan Yost, an honored pioneer of Bates county. Missouri, was 
born October 9, 1833, in one of the cantons of Switzerland. He is 
a son of Christian Yost, a member of Napoleon Bonaparte's bodyguards. 
Mr. Yost came from his native land to America in 1851 and located 
first in the state of Wisconsin and was in Chicago when it was but a 
hamlet. Pie was very ill throughout the ocean voyage and was glad 
when the ship came to port. He spent some time in the city of 



766 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Philadelphia and thence went to the state of AVisconsin. Mr. Yost has 
during his lifetime traveled very extensively, both in Europe and in 
the United States, has visited the countries of Germany, France, Eng- 
land, Ireland, and Scotland and worked in seventeen different states 
in the United States. He is well acquainted with the territory of Alsace 
Lorraine, which has figured so prominently in the present world war. 
From Wisconsin, Mr. Yost went to Tennessee in 1860. He was 
employed in the navy yards at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1862, and from 
St. Louis he moved with his family to Illinois and there located on a 
farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Yost came to Bates 
county, Missouri, from Illinois in 1878 and settled on a farm in Prairie 
township, a tract of land comprising one hundred sixty acres of produc- 
tive soil formerly owned by Mr. Billman, and followed general farming. 
The place was slightly improved at the time of Mr. Yost's purchase 
and he constantly labored bettering and adding to it. While in Ten- 
nessee, in the years prior to the Civil War, Jonathan Yost was employed 
as foreman of a large plantation by a wealthy slaveholder. 

In Tennessee in 1860, Jonathan Yost and Agatha Gansner were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Yost was born January 10, 1842. To Jonathan 
and Agatha Yost have been born three children, two of whom are now 
living: "Nick," of Madison county, Illinois; Anna, who died at the age 
of seven years; and Mary, the wife of W^illiam Woods, of Papinsville, 
Missouri. There are four generations of the Yost family represented 
among the living members, namely: Jonathan, who makes his home 
wnth his grandson, George N.. a sketch of whom will be found else- 
wdiere in this volume ; "Nick," the son of Jonathan, now living in Illi- 
nois; George N., the son of "Nick," the subject of a biographical review 
to be found in this book; and Lloyd George, the only son and young'est 
child of George N. 

Fraternally, Jonathan Yost is a member of the Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons, with whom he affiliated in 1862 at Pocahontas, Illi- 
nois. He has long been one of the most conspicuous and familiar 
citizens of Bates county, one of the leading men of Prairie township, 
where he has been a resident for forty years. He has always manifested 
a deep and commendable interest in his county's development and 
prosperity and has nobly done his part in furthering both. Although 
he is now far past the allotted span of human life, being at the time 
of this writing in his eighty-fifth year, Mr. Yost retains to a remarkable 
degree his bodily and mental vigor. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 76/ 

George N. Yost, a successful farmer and stockman of Prairie town- 
ship, proprietor of the "George N. Yost Stock Farm" one mile north 
of Prairie City, is a representative of a pioneer family of Bates county. 
Mr. Yost is a son of "Nick" Yost, now a resident of Madison county, 
Illinois. "Nick" Yost is a son of Jonathan and Agatha (Gansner) 
Yost, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. 

In the public schools of Prairie City, Missouri, George N. Yost 
received his education. Practically all his life he has been engaged in 
agricultural pursuits in Prairie township. Bates county. In 1906, he 
purchased his present country place, a farm comprising ninety acres 
of land, formerly owned by his grandfather, Jonathan Yost. The 
"George N. Yost Stock Farm" is nicely improved, the improvements 
including a good barn, erected ten years ago, 20 x 36 feet in dimensions, 
having a sixteen-foot shed attached; a silo, 14 x 28 feet in dimensions, 
built on a concrete base ; a crib, 25 x 32 feet in dimensions ; several 
sheds; and the residence, a well-constructed house of two stories and 
six rooms, built in 1910. Mr. Yost has eighteen head, of Holstein dairy 
cattle, of which two heifers are registered. He also owns a registered 
male Holstein. Mr. Yost sells the products from his dairy to the cheese 
factory at Prairie City. 

In 1909, George N. Yost and Sophia Schapeler were united in 
marriage. Sophia (Schapeler) Yost is a daughter of Ferdinand and 
Katy (Kauffman) Schapeler, of Pleasant Gap township. Both parents 
of Mrs. Yost are now deceased. To George N. and Sophia Yost have 
been born three children : Vera, Helen, and Lloyd George. 

Fraternally, George N. Yost is affiliated with the Papinsville Chap- 
ter No. 140, of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, joining in 
1906. Mr. Yost is at present chairman of the Prairie township chap- 
ter of the Red Cross. Politically, he is a stanch supporter of the 
principles of the Republican party. 

William Frank Finklang, of Prairie township, secretary and treas- 
urer of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville, a well-known and 
prosperous farmer and stockman, was born November 9, 1878 at Her- 
mann, Missouri, a son of Jacob and Minnie (Vogelsang) Finklang, 
natives of Germany. Jacob Finklang came to the United States in 
1853 and located at Hermann, Missouri, wdiere he was married in 1861 
and resided until 1882, when he moved with his family to Bates county 
and fohowed his trade of blacksmithing at Papinsville, then a flourishing 
town. Mr. Finklang enlisted in the Civil War in 1861 at St. Louis and 



768 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

served under General Lyons, who fell in the battle of Wilson's Creek. 
The day before the engagement, the regiment in which Jacob h^inklang 
was serving was sent to Jefferson City to guard the capital and thus 
he was not in the battle. He served faithfully and well for twenty- 
nine months, when he was honorably discharged and he returned to his 
home at Hermann, Missouri, whence he came to Bates county. Mrs. 
Finklang, mother of William Frank, died at Hermann. Mr. Finklang 
was again married, his second wife being Mrs. Mary Bollweg, to whom 
he was wedded in 1890. He died March 4, 1918, and his widow resides 
at Rockville, Missouri. Interment was made for Jacob Finklang in the 
cemetery of the German Reformed Church in Prairie township, of 
which he was a highly respected member and earnest worker since 
1890. Besides his widow, Jacob Finklang left the following children: 
Bertha, the wife of Briska Siedler, of Hermann, Missouri; Henry, who is 
in the employ of the Santa Fe Railway Company at Dodge City, Kan- 
sas; William Frank, the subject of this review; Ludwig, a well-to-do 
farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, Mis- 
souri; Mary, the wife of Albert Kaepili, of Meridian, Mississippi; Lena, 
who is now taking a course in nursing at St. Joseph, Missouri ; and 
Anna, wdio resides at home with her mother at Rockville, Missouri. 

In the public schools of Bates county, William Frank Finklang 
obtained his elementary education, which was later supplemented by 
two years' college work at Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Mis- 
souri. After leaving college, Mr. Finklang entered the employ of the 
Simmons Hardware Company at St. Louis, Missouri, and for two and a 
half years remained with this company, after which he was employed by 
the Rock Island Railway Company at Forsyth Junction, St. Louis, ]\Iis- 
souri, for five and a half years. He then settled on his present farm 
of eighty acres, one and a half miles northwest of Prairie City. Mr. 
Finklang is the owner of a splendid farm and he is successfully engaged 
in raising cattle and hogs and in general farming. 

December 27, 1903, William Frank Finklang and Frederika Schape- 
ler were united in marriage. Mrs. Finklang is a daughter of Ferdi- 
nand and Jacobine ( Kauffman ) Schapeler, of Prairie township, Bates 
county, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Finklang have been born five chil- 
dren, four of wdiom are now living: Calvin, Ella. ^Nleta, Pauline, and 
Paul, who died in infancy. 

Mr. Finklang manifests a most commendable interest in civic and 
political affairs and he has capably filled the office of assessor of Prairie 



JJIS'IORY OF BATES COUNTY 769 

township for three terms, or six years. He is secretary and treasurer and 
one of the members of the directorate of the Farmers' Equity Union 
of Rockville, Missouri, a company composed of ninety-eight stockholders 
organized February 1, 1915, proprietor of the Farmers Elevator at Rock- 
ville. The present capital stock of the Farmers' Equity Union is sixty- 
five hundred dollars. The shares are valued at tv\^enty-live dollars each 
and no one may hold more than eight shares. This company is grow- 
ing and prospering to a marked degree and is now one of the foremost 
grain firms in Bates county. Politically, Mr. Finklang is a stanch Repub- 
lican. 

William Frank Finklang is an enterprising American, of progressive 
spirit and stands for everything which promises the betterment of his 
county and community. Mr. Finklang has had a wide experience in 
business affairs and seldom engages in enterprises which do not even- 
tually redound to his advantage, thus proving his judgment sound and 
discriminating, his knowledge of men keen, his endowment of good com- 
mon sense plentiful. 

E. H. Himi, of Prairie township, Bates county, was born at Pap- 
insville in 1886, a son of Christian and Lena (Wirtz) Hirni, the father, 
a native of Switzerland and the mother, of Illinois. Christian Flirni 
came to Illinois with his father. Christian Hirni, who was a member of 
Napoleon Bonaparte's bodyguard when he, the son, was three years of 
age and later located at Papinsville, Missouri, in 1869, at which place 
he was engaged in conducting a butcher shop for a few years. After- 
ward, he and Jacob Hirni and Mart Bennett operated the old Papinsville 
mill, the only mill in this vicinity, none being nearer than Pleasanton, 
Linn county, Kansas. E. H. Hirni still has a part of the boiler, which 
is now used as a reservoir tank in the stock yards of his country place. 
It was originally twenty-eight feet in length, including the fire box and 
all fixtures. The burr-stone was quartz rock containing irregular cavi- 
ties and made a good millstone. Christian Hirni was elected treasurer 
of Bates county in 1890 and he left a most honorable record of efficient 
management, being probably the most capable man who has ever held 
this offfce. Mr. Hirni gave special attention to collecting back taxes and 
he was instrumental in the accumulation of so large a fund obtained from 
this one source that Bates county was out of debt at the close of his 
term of ofiice. Mr. Hirni was a most valued member of the Ancient Free 
and Accepted Masons of Papinsville. He died in 1912, leaving a widow 
who resides at Rockville, Missouri, and fifteen children. He had been 

(49) 



//' 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



married three times, his second wife being a cousin of his first wife and 
the third wife was a Miss Lena Wirtz. 

E. H. Hirni, the subject of this review, was educated in the public 
schools of Papinsville, Missouri, and practically all his life he has been 
engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He is now cultivating a good 
farm, embracing one hundred sixty-four acres of land in Prairie town- 
ship, located two miles north of Prairie City. All the improvements on 
the place are in excellent repair and with the exception of the residence 
all have been placed there by Mr. Hirni. The barn is well constructed, 
32 X 60 feet in dimensions and thirty-three feet to cone. The farm is 
well supplied with good water from a drilled well, drilled in the autumn 
of 1917, three hundred four feet in depth, the water from wdiich is so 
abundantly supplied with natural salts that the stock require none addi- 
tional. Mr. Hirni has sixty head of cattle, eight to ten horses, and fifty 
head of Duroc Jersey hogs constantly on his place and of his present 
herd of cattle twenty are registered Aberdeen Angus. Mr. Hirni is an 
enthusiastic "booster" of red clover as a soil builder, profitable crop, and 
stock conditioner. 

January 7. 1909, E. H. Hirni and Alma Hirschi were united in mar- 
riage. Alma (Hirschi) Hirni is a daughter of Gottlieb and Emma (Ham- 
mer) Hirschi, formerly of Pleasant Gap township, now residents of Rock- 
ville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Hirni are the parents of four children : 
Alma Adelaide, Ruby Gladiola, Leroy Hirschi, and Troy Edward. 

In the spring of 1917, E. H. Hirni was elected trustee of Prairie 
township and he is now ser\'ing in this capacity. He is the treasurer of 
Consolidated School District No. 7. Mr. Hirni is vice-president of the 
Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville and a stockholder in the Farmers 
Bank of Rockville. He is township committeeman of Prairie township 
and a stanch Republican in politics. Fraternally, he is a member of the 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Papinsville, as was his father 
before him. E. H. Hirni is distinctively one of the leading men of his 
township, a citizen of much more than local repute, a respected son of 
one of Bates county's honored pioneers. 

Mr. Hirni is prol)al)ly the only citizen of Bates county who has 
in his possession a piece of lumljer taken from the old wooden bridge 
which spanned the river at Papinsville. This piece of lumber is five by 
ten inches and is a part of Mr. Hirni's scales. 

Albert B. Thurman, a successful and prominent agriculturist and 
sheep raiser of Mingo township, is a representative of one of the pio- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 77I 

neer families of Warren county, Missouri, a son of F. A. Thurman, who 
came to Missouri from Franklin county, Kentucky, when two years of 
age, in 1831, with his parents. The Thurmans settled on land in War- 
ren county and there F. A. Thurman was reared to maturity. He came 
to Bates county, Missouri, in 1879 and located on the Highley place 
in Mingo township, purchasing later forty acres of prairie land from 
the widow of Doctor Tuttle, of Adrian. To F. A. and Armilda (Sher- 
man) Thurman, the latter a native of Warren county, Missouri, were 
born the following children: Henry, who died at the age of fifteen vears; 
Mrs. Susan Robinson, deceased; Mrs. Mollie Laughlin, who died in Colo- 
rado; Mrs. Huldah Mickleberry, deceased; Mrs. Rebecca Jones, who died 
in Colorado; Albert B., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Maggie Crow, 
of Wenatchee, Washington; and five children died in infancy. The 
mother died in October, 1886, and interment was made in West ceme- 
tery. Mr. Thurman survived his wife five years, when in July, 1891, they 
were united in death and he, too, was laid to rest in West cemetery. 

Albert B. Thurman attended school at Peter Creek school house in 
a district composed of the west half of Mingo township. This school 
house was erected before the Civil War and during the conflict was 
used as a dwelling. It was about 24 x 32 feet in dimensions, and for 
many years one of the land-marks in Bates county. John Witten, of 
Johnstown, Missouri, was Albert B. Thurman's first instructor. The 
following families sent children to Peter Creek school house to be edu- 
cated : Thornburgs, Settles, Staleys, Gilberts, Wolfenbergers, Utleys, 
Cumptons, Graggs, Lakeys, and Mays and Judge Nicholas and Dr. Lee 
Bradley, of Warrensburg-, Missouri. After leaving school, Mr. Thur- 
man engaged in farming and stock raising in Mingo township and with 
the exception of two years has been continuously employed in these 
vocations in this township to the date of this w'riting in 1918. Mr. 
Thurman purchased his present home in 1901 for seventeen and a half 
dollars an acre from Thomas J. Suttles and since acquiring the owner- 
ship of the farm has made it one of the splendid country places in Mingo 
township. He has followed sheep raising for the past twelve years and 
has had as many as two hundred head of Shropshires and Oxfords on 
the farm at one time, but he now has probably one hundred. He raises 
high-grade animals and finds the production of wool very profitable. 
Mr. Thurman sold the first wool produced for eleven cents a pound, 
which price compared with the present market quotations of ninety 
cents to one dollar presents a striking — and to the producer — very satis- 
factory difTference. 



77-2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

March 27, 1894, Albert B. Tburman and Eva Stayton, a daughter 
of J. W. and Nancy (Hendrickson) Stayton, were united in marriage. 
Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Stayton were both born in Adair county, Kentucky. 
The Staytons came to Bates county in 1881 and Mr. Stayton now resides 
on his farm near Aaron, Missouri. To Albert B. and Mrs. Tburman has 
been born one child, a daughter, Ruey, who is now the wife of George 
Wells, of Mingo township. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are the parents of two 
children: Eva and Lucille. Mr. Wells is the owner of a valuable farm 
comprising eighty acres of land located two and one-fourth miles north- 
east of Aaron, Missouri, a part of the old John Massey place. 

Mr. Thurman takes a most commendable interest in public affairs 
and he has held the office of constable and of collector of Mingo town- 
ship. He was a candidate for judge of the county court from this dis- 
trict in 1916. 

Willie M. Hardinger. — The Hardinger family is one of the oldest 
and most prominent families in Bates county, and the subject of this 
review has been a resident of this county since 1867. His fine farm 
of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township is widely known 
as the "Cloverdale Stock Farm," one of finely improved places in the 
county, and noted for its crop production and livestock. Mr. Hardinger 
was born in Linn county, Iowa, September 21, 1866, and is a son of 
William Nathaniel and Mary E. (Berryhill) Hardinger, late prominent 
residents of Bates county. 

William Nathaniel Hardinger was born in Bedford county, Penn- 
sylvania, in the year 1837, and was a son of George and Mary Hardinger. 
His parents removed to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1852, and in 1856 he 
removed to Linn county, Iowa, where he followed farming until his 
removal to Bates county in 1867. In 1865 he married Mary E. Berry- 
hill, a native of Linn county, Iowa, and who was born in 1843, a daughter 
of Joseph and Jane (Butler) Berryhill, the former a native of Ohio and 
the latter a native of Michigan. When Mr. Hardinger came to Bates 
county he located on section 35 in Charlotte township and improved 
one hundred twenty acres of land. In 1880 he made a trip to 
California and remained there until 1881, when he returned and erected 
a store building at Virginia, conducted a store there for a little over 
a year and then disposed of the business to George Short. For his 
first forty acres bought in this county he paid ten dollars an acre. Mr. 
Hardinger continued to reside upon his farm until his deatli on Sep- 
tember 23, 1917. His death marked the passing of one of the best 
known and best beloved citizens of the countv, whose honestv and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 773 

Christianity were proverbial. For many years he was identified with the 
Presbyterian church and was active in church work. He was promi- 
nently identified with the Democratic party and served for a time as 
justice of the peace of his township. His wife had preceded him in 
death eleven years, her death having occurred in March, 1906. Willie 
M. Hardinger, subject of this review, is the only child of his parents. 

The education of Willie M. Hardinger was supplemented by a 
course in the Butler Academy and he then settled down to the life of 
a tiller of the soil. All of the days of his residence in Bates county have 
been spent on the Hardinger farm. He has increased the original acre- 
age to two hundred forty acres, he and his wife owning one hun- 
dren twenty acres about three miles distant. "The Oloverdale 
Stock Farm" is located about one and a half miles south and five and 
a half miles west of Butler. Mr. Hardinger carries on general farming 
activities and raises ked Polled and Shorthorn cattle for the markets. 

He was married, May 24, 1888, to Ida L. McElroy, who was born 
and reared in Charlotte township, a daughter of William A. McElroy, 
an early settler of this township. Mr. and Mrs. Hardinger have four 
living children: Lee M., who is married and resides upon one of his 
father's farms ; Elmer, Arthur, and Ruth, at home with their parents. 

William A. McElroy, father of Mrs. Hardinger, was born Septem- 
ber 27, 1839, in Jefferson county, Ohio, and was a son of Thomas and 
Elizabeth (Humphrey) McElroy, both natives of the Buckeye -state. 
The family settled in Fulton county, Illinois, in 1844. The mother died 
in 1878 leaving five children. William A. McElroy was reared to young 
manhood in Illinois and during the Civil War, he served in the Seventy- 
second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. On August 30, 1866 he 
married Miss Sarah J. Drum, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, 
May 23, 1844. In 1869 Mr. McElroy located on section 28, in Charlotte 
township and has resided in Bates county for nearly fifty years. The 
following children were born to them : Mary C. Drysdale, on the old 
home place; Minnie E. Hendrickson, Los Ang^eles, California; Nellie B. 
Burk, Charlotte township; Ida L., wife of the subject of this review; 
Frank W., Texas ; and Clarence J., Arizona. 

Mr. Hardinger has been more or less active in political affairs since 
attaining his majority and has always been a supporter of the Demo- 
cratic party. During Governor Folk's administration he received the 
appointment of county assessor of Bates county and ably performed 
the duties of this office. He has also served as justice of the peace and 
as township assessor. He is affiliated fraternally with the Butler Lodges, 



774 [TISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of 
America. Both he and Mrs. Hardinger are members of the Presby- 
terian church and take an active interest in church works. Mr. Har- 
dinger is a director of the Missouri State Bank of Butler and takes a 
prominent part in all county movements of a meritorious and beneficial 
character, 

Willis Isaiah Yeates, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Mingo 
township, is one of Bates county's representative citizens. Mr. Yeates 
was born November 24, 1846, in Kentucky, a son of John D. and Anna 
Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates. Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates was a 
great-niece of Daniel Boone, the most famous of American scouts, pio- 
neers, and hunters. Mr. and Mrs. Yeates came to this state from Ken- 
tucky in 1851 and located in Franklin county on Labadie bottom land. 
They came to Bates county in 1883 and settled on a farm in Mingo 
township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. John D. 
Yeates purchased the country place, where his son, Willis Isaiah, now 
resides and at one time his estate embraced two hundred five acres of 
valua])le farm land in Mingo township. Mr. Yeates was engaged in 
farming and stock raising. To John D. and Anna E. Yeates were born 
the following children: Willis Isaiah, the subject of this sketch; John 
Thomas, who now resides in Texas; William Samuel, deceased; Mrs. 
Martha Mildred Shelton, New Haven, Franklin county, Missouri ; James 
E., Seattle, Washington; Mrs. Mary E. Doherty, of Mingo township, 
Bates county, Missouri ; and Mrs. Rose Ingham, of Henry county. Sam- 
uel Boone, a brother of Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates, erected the 
first building, a cabin, in Paola, Kansas, at a time when the Miami 
Indians still haunted that section of the country. The father and mother 
both died in Mingo township. Bates county, and they are buried in 
Cove Creek cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. John D. Yeates were held in the 
highest respect and esteem in their community and they were widely 
and favorably known throughout Bates county. 

Willis I. Yeates received his education in the public schools of 
Franklin county, Missouri. On account of the necessarily primitive 
conditions of pioneer life and the hardships imposed by the Civil War, 
Mr. Yeates enjoyed but few educational advantages or opportunities of 
any sort. The school house which he attended was a rude log struc- 
ture, having a dirt floor. He came to Bates county in 1883 and pur- 
chased eighty acres of land, which he still owns, and to his original 
holdings he has since added two tracts of land, one comprising eighty 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 775 

acres, the other twenty-two acres of timber land. Mr. Yeates built his 
present residence in 1909, situated on the Urich and Creighton road. 
The Yeates place is nicely improved and well kept. Mr. Yeates is not 
now actively engaged in farm work, but rents his land. 

June 3, 1908 Willis I. Yeates and Kate L. Board were united in 
marriage. Kate L. (Board) Yeates is a daughter of John and Mary 
(Duvall) Board, who came to Bates county in 1875. Both parents of 
Mrs. Yeates are now deceased and their remains are interred in Oak 
Hill cemetery in Spruce township. Mr. and Mrs. John Board were the 
parents of the following children: Thomas Board, Rockville, Missouri; 
James W., Altona, Missouri ; -Mrs. Annie Stayton, Aaron, Missouri; 
Mrs. Eleanor Poage, Marshall, Missouri ; Mrs. Cora McRoberts, Adrian, 
Missouri; Mrs. Ida Rexrode, Adrian, Missouri. Bv a former marriagre 
Mr. Yeates is the father of one child, a son, John Thomas, of Mingo 
township. 

Fraternally, Mr. Yeates is affiliated with the Wadesburg lodge of 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Creighton, Missouri and was 
formerly a member of the Johnstown lodge. In earlier days, Judge 
Estes Smith and Mr. Yeates together attended the meetings of the 
Wadesburg lodge. Mr. Yeates has always taken an active interest in 
the pul)lic aftairs of his township and county and he is recognized as 
a public-spirited citizen in his community. 

William Henry Charters, a late prominent farmer and stockman 
of Bates county, Missouri, the one who pushed the big bone Poland 
China hogs to the front in western Missouri, was a native of New York 
City. He moved with his parents to the state of Ohio, when he was a 
child five years of age, and in that state was reared and educated. 

In 1881. Mr. Charters came to Bates county, Missouri and pur- 
chased sixty acres of land. He later added to his original purchase a 
forty-acre tract of land, making a nice farm of one hundred acres located 
nine miles east of Butler. Mr. Charters brought with him, when he 
came to Missouri from Ohio, a big bone Poland China hog and he 
devoted his time, attention, and energies to introducing this breed of 
hogs in this section of the country. His son, William Henry, Jr., has 
continued the work begun by his father and is now one of the leading 
producers of big bone Poland Chinas in Bates and adjoining counties. 
The hogs shipped from Ohio are from the Clever herd, a celebrated 
herd of Poland China hogs in that state. Prior to his coming to Mis- 
souri, Mr. Charters was manager of the Greenwood herd of Shorthorn 



jy6 , HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Durham cattle, the most famous herd of Durhams in the United States, 
for twelve years on the farm located ten miles west of London, Ohio. 

The marriage of William Henry Charters and Margaret Carroll 
was solemnized at London, Ohio in 1880. Margaret (Carroll) Charters 
was born in Morgan county, Ohio, a daughter of Philip and Margaret 
Carroll, the former, a native of Pennsylvania and the latter, of New 
York City. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carroll were reared and educated in 
the state of Ohio. The Carrolls came to Bates county, Missouri in 
1881 and settled on a farm in Deepwater township, a country place 
located nine miles east of Butler, where they still reside. Mr. Carroll 
is now at the advanced age of eighty-seven years and his wife 
is but three years his junior. To Philip and Margaret Carroll were 
born the following children: Mrs. Margaret (Carroll) Charters, the 
widow of the subject of this review; M. V., of Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. 
E. S. Onion, Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Rose Clark, Chicago, Illinois; 
George, of Woodward, Oklahoma; Mrs. Celia Hubbard, Kincaid, Kan- 
sas; Frank, Spruce, Missouri; Clark, of Butler, .Missouri; and two sons, 
James and John, who are deceased. Margaret (Carroll) Charters was 
educated partly in a convent at London, Ohio and partly in the pul:)lic 
schools of Madison county, Ohio. William Henry and Margaret (Car- 
roll) Charters were the parents of five children, who are now living: 
Mrs. Aline Herman, the wife of John A. Herman, Jr., a sketch of whom 
appears elsewhere in this volume; William Henry, Jr., Butler, Missouri; 
Mrs. Lola Young, Spruce, Missouri; Mrs. Mabel Smith, Spruce, Mis- 
souri; and L. J., an electrician and machinist, Wichita, Kansas. Mr. 
Charters, Sr. was accidentally killed in an automobile tragedy on July 
5, 1916 when sixty-five years of age. His remains were laid to rest in 
the cemetery at Butler. Mrs. Charters resides in the city of Butler at 
314 West Mill street. 

W'illiam Henry Charters was a model stockman and a careful 
farmer, as the splendid condition of his place in Bates county attested, 
and as a business man he was noted for clear insight and sound judg- 
ment which rarely failed to redound to his advantage. He was an "all- 
round man," earnest in his purpose, candid in his relations with his 
fellowmen, honorable and upright in all his transactions. He was held 
in the highest esteem by his neighbors. 

John A. Herman, Jr., a successful agriculturist of Shawnee town- 
ship, a capable and popular merchant of Culver, Missouri, is one of the 
county's prosperous and progressive, young citizens. Mr. Herman, Jr., 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY jyj 

was born January 3, 1880 at the Herman homestead in Shawnee town- 
ship, Bates county, Missouri, a son of John A., Sr.. and Mrs. Herman, 
pioneers of Shawnee township. John A. Herman, Sr. came to this part 
of Bates county, Missouri in 1868 and settled on the farm where he now 
resides and which his son, John A., Jr., manages. Mr. Herman, Sr. 
has been one of the most successful and prominent farmers and stock- 
men of western Missouri and in former days a hard worker. He placed 
all the improvements now on his place, a tract of land embracing two 
hundred forty acres, including a handsome residence, two well-con- 
structed barns, and a silo. Formerly, Mr. Herman, Sr. was a busy 
stockman, but he has now retired from active farm labor. He is eighty- 
two years of age. John A. Herman, Jr., manages his father's place in 
addition to his own, an eighty-acre tract of land, upon which his store 
is located. 

In Shawnee township. Bates county, John A. Herman, Jr. was 
born, reared, and educated. He resided on the home place until about 
eight years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, at which 
time he purchased J. W. Cole's general store at Culver, Missouri and 
he moved to his farm, previously mentioned, and has since been engaged 
in the mercantile business in addition to farming and managing his 
father's country place. Mr. Herman, Jr. carries an excellent and com- 
plete line of general merchandise and from the time of his entering the 
business to date has had a splendid trade. He hauls his merchandise 
from Passaic and his store is a convenient market for the produce from 
the surrounding country. He is located on Rural Route 2 from Butler, 
Missouri. The Culvers of Butler, Missouri conducted the first mercan- 
tile establishment at this place, which was named in honor of them. Mr. 
Herman, Jr.'s farm and store are located eleven and one-fourth miles 
northeast of Butler, Missouri and eight miles east of Passaic. 

John A. Herman, Jr., was united in marriage with Aline Charters, 
a daughter of William H. and Margaret (Carroll) Charters, a sketch of 
whom will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Charters is now 
deceased and his widow resides at Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. John 
A. Herman, Jr. are highly regarded in their community and popular with 
the young people of their township. 

Alonzo Wilson Shay, a prosperous and successful farmer and stock- 
man of Lone Oak township, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Shay was 
born October 20, 1858, in Allen county, a son of Thomas and Nancy 
(Dobbs) Shay, the father, a native of Ireland and the mother, of Ken- 



yj^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

tucky. Mrs. Shay died in Kentucky in 1859. Thomas Shay enlisted 
with the Federal army and served throughout the war of 1861 and died 
at the close of the conflict at Louisville, Kentucky. 

Mr. Shay, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the 
public schools of Bates county, Missouri. He came to this state in 1869 
with his guardian, James Wygal, and with him resided for many years. 
Mr. Wygal went to California about thirty years ago and there his death 
occurred. He owned a farm in Lone Oak township, the place now 
owned by the Lyons brothers. Alonzo Wilson Shay w-as first employed 
in Bates county by Dr. Decatur Smith at a remuneration of ten dollars 
a month. Doctor Smith is still living at Butler, Missouri and a sketch 
of him appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Shay labored by the 
month until the time of his marriage in 1881. During the autumn and 
winter of 1869, Mr. Shay and twenty-six others from Illinois camped 
at Rocky Ford in Lone Oak township, all in one building having a fire- 
place fourteen feet in length. Dr. T. C. Boulware, of Butler, was the 
first physician whose services were needed that winter at Rocky^ Ford. 
When Alonzo Wilson Shay was a boy, eleven years of age, he assisted in 
hauling the lumber from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, fifty-five miles away, 
used in the construction of the residence of Laben Warren, which is across 
the road from Mr. Shay's present home. L. P. Carlton was the proprie- 
tor of the country place, now owned by Alonzo Wilson Shay, in 1869 
and the latter recalls that in the autumn of that year Mr. Carlton was 
putting out an orchard on his farm. Mr. Shay purchased his first tract 
of land in New Home township. Bates county, in 1882 and at the present 
time is owner of one hundred thirteen acres of land in that township, a 
nicely improved farm, in addition to his sixty-eight acres of land in Lone 
Oak township, where he resides. Mr. Shay farms both places and is 
profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising, keeping cattle, 
hogs, and horses. The Shay residence was built in 1911 and is one of 
the attractive, comfortable homes of the township. The Shays receive 
mail on Rural Route 6 from Butler, Missouri. 

March 15, 1881 Alonzo Wilson Shay was united in marriage with 
Ella B. McClintock, a daughter of Dr. H. D. McClintock, an early pio- 
neer physician from Virginia, who settled in Bates county in 1869. Mrs. 
Shay was born in Virginia. To Alonzo Wilson and Ella B. (McClin- 
tock) Shay were born the following children: Wilson, who died Sep- 
tember 21, 1914; Clarence L., of El Paso, Texas; Lulu, the wife of How- 
ard Hooper, of Midland, Texas; George Emmett, of El Paso, Texas; 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



779 



Charles F., who died November 12, 1911. One son, Henry Arthur, died 
in infancy on February 14, 1885. The mother died November 20, 1893 
and her remains were laid to rest in Morris cemetery. On March 9, 
1397 the marriage of Alonzo Wilson Shay and Mrs. Emma (Spicer) 
Morgan, widow of Henry Morgan, was solemnized. Mrs. Shay's father, 
James Spicer, was a native of Delaware and her mother, Margaret 
(Reesor) Spicer, of Ohio. He died February 2, 1890 and his wife was 
united in death with him on July 29, 1899. Both parents died in Jewell 
county, Kansas. Mrs. Shay was first married to Henry Morgan and to 
them were born three children: Maud Ethel, who is employed as teacher 
in Black district in Bates county, Missouri; Odie, who died November 
17, 1892; and Mrs. Stella M. Rowden, of Jamestown, Colorado. All the 
children were born in Jewell county, Kansas. Their father, FTenry Mor-. 
gan, was a native of Illinois. He had resided in Lone Oak township. 
Bates county but one year when his death occurred on December 12, 
1893. 

There is no man in Bates county more worthy of the title "a self- 
made man" than is Mr. Shay. Left motherless in infancy and father- 
less at the age of seven years, a poor orphan boy, Alonzo Wilson Shay 
has by industry, thrift, and perseverance proven his sterling worth and 
is now one of the most substantial citizens of Lone Oak township. 

Jefferson Sells, father of C. J. Sells of Butler, came to Bates county 
in the early fifties and located in Walnut township. When the war 
broke out, being of Southern sympathies, he decided to go to Lawrence 
county, Missouri to escape the danger of the Kansas raiders. His 
father, John Sells, came with him to Bates county and he was leaving 
for the same destination. He had gone ahead with his wagon and 
Jefferson and John Sells, his sons, were driving the stock. As they came 
to the crossing at Walnut, bushwhackers supposedly Kansas jayhawkers, 
ambushed them and both brothers were killed. Of the seven or eight 
men in the party all escaped but the two brothers. The home on the 
John Sells farm in Walnut township was one of the few that escaped the 
ravages of the war. 

C. J. Sells, now living in Butler, Missouri, was left an orphan when 
about three years of age and his grandmother reared him. He farmed 
for some years in Walnut township prior to coming to Butler. His wife 
was Bell Osburn of Pleasant Gap township whose father also was killed 
in the border warfare. He was called out from his residence on Double 
Branches and shot. Mr. and Mrs. Sells have five children: Charles Sells, 



780 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Horseshoe Bend, Idaho; Ethel, who married Jason Woodfin, now dead; 
Inez, now Mrs. Ira Rockhold of Butler; Cannie, a daughter, at home. 
Clyde L., the third of the children, is now in France. He attended Mis- 
souri University at Columbia, Missouri, and took military training there 
as well and enlisted with a Montana company with a lieutenant's com- 
mission. 

Judge R. F. Harper, — The life story of Judge R. F. Harper, a lead- 
ing citizen of Bates county, and highly successful agriculturist of Char- 
lotte township, ex-presiding judge of the county court, and pioneer set- 
tler, takes one back over a half century of the development period of 
this county. The tale of his career in this county begins at a time when 
the entire territory which comprises this county was in an unsettled 
state and much of the land was open prairie over which herds of deer 
roamed and wild game was plentiful. There were few roads in the 
county, and such as the pioneers traveled on their way to market were 
but beaten trails which lead straight across country to the destination. 
The nearest trading and shipping- point was at Pleasant Hill, fifty miles 
away, and it was a two or three days' journey to carry produce to this 
market. The period of Judge Harper's life previous to locating in Bates 
county, borders on the romantic and savors of the old days of the bound- 
less Western plains which he crossed on foot. It would reveal something 
of the life of the hardy adventurer in the mining camps of the Rocky 
mountains, and subsequent service under the Union flag in the wilds 
of Colorado and New Mexico and the stirring scenes of a campaign 
against hostile Indians in which he participated. R. F. Harper w^as 
born March 23, 1841 in Athens county, Ohio and was a son of Theron 
and Catherine (Allen) Harper. His father was born in Allegheny county, 
Pennsylvania and his mother was born in Gallia county, Ohio. The par- 
ents of Theron Harper were early settlers in Athens county, Ohio, and 
here the father of R. F. Harper w^as reared to manhood and married. 
Both of Judge Harper's parents lived all of their days in Athens county, 
Ohio, and died there, the father dying in January, 1851. They were 
parents of ten children. 

After receiving such education as was afforded by the public schools 
of his neighborhood, R. F. Harper attended the old Albany Academy 
in Athens county. His father died when the son was ten years old and 
he then assisted in the support of his widowed mother and his brothers 
and sisters until the second marriage of his mother. He then made his 
home with an uncle who assisted him in acquiring an education. Thrilled 




JUDGE R. F. HARPER. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 781 

with the news of the great gold discovery at Pike's Peak, early in 1860, 
he determined to make his way to the new gold fields. He got as far 
as St. Joseph, Missouri, and there persuaded a freighter to allow him to 
accompany his outfit. The freighter agreed to feed him the entire dis- 
tance to Denver but it was necessary for him to make his way afoot. 
He paid the freighter twenty-five dollars for this privilege. There were 
seven men and one woman in the party which convoyed one wagon 
loaded with freight and drawn by ox-teams. The seven men took turns 
herding the oxen upon camping at night, Mr. Harper taking his turn 
regularly. Mr. Harper walked the entire distance of six hundred miles 
in thirty-two days and arrived in Denver, then a straggling frontier 
camp, with but five dollars in his pocket. This money was soon stolen 
from him by a man whom he thought was a friend and he obtained 
employment as a miner at a wage of one dollar per day and his board. 
He humorously recalls that he got the board all right but never received 
the dollar-per-day wages which were promised him. 

On August 20, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, First Colorado 
Cavalry and served for four years, two months and ten days. Pre- 
viously, he had made up his mind to go to Leavenworth, Kansas, and 
join the command of Col. Jim Lane, the famous Kansan who had taken 
such a prominent part in the struggle to make Kansas a free state. Mr. 
Harper saw active and continuous service of the hardest frontier char- 
acter in Colorado and New Mexico. He took part in the battle of Apache 
Canyon, twenty miles from Santa Fe and fought from March 26 to 
March 28, 1862. His command met and engaged the Confederate forces 
and drove them back to Santa Fe. Later he participated in another 
engagement on the Rio Grande below Albuquerque. In 1864, the west- 
ern Indians became hostile and a great uprising was threatened. His 
command was sent against them on the plains of Kansas and Colorado 
and they operated as far east as old Fort Dodge, Kansas. He was hon- 
orably discharged from the service on October 30, 1865, at Denver and 
started at once for home. The Indians were still troublesome and it 
was dangerous for white men to travel except in considerable bodies. 
In order to retain their side arms the discharged soldiers were required 
to pay for them. This he did, retaining both rifle and revolver. At 
Julesburg, Colorado, Mr. Harper and others organized into a formidable 
and well armed band of one hundred men and made the trip across 
the plains to civilization in safety. He then went to Johnson county, 
Missouri, arriving there in November, 1865, and rented a farm owned 



782 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

by an uncle until March 19, 1868, at which time he came to Bates 
county and made a permanent settlement in Charlotte township. 

Mr. Harper has a splendid farm of two hundred seventy-six 
acres in the southwestern part of Charlotte township with substantial 
and imposing improvements. His large, handsome residence is located 
on an elevation overlooking the river valley of the Marais des Cygnes 
and he has had the extreme satisfaction of creating his fine farm from 
unbroken land during the fifty and more years since he first came to 
this county. In the early days of his residence here, Mr. Harper saw 
plenty of deer, wild turkeys and prairie chickens from the doorway of 
his home. He is a progressive farmer and maintains a fine herd of thor- 
oughbred Red Polled cattle. 

While on a furlough in 1864 to the old homestead in Athens county, 
Ohio, he was married to Miss Olive Young, a native of Athens county, 
Ohio, and daughter of John and Mary (Higgins) Young. This mar- 
riage was solemnized on June 26, 1864, and has been a happy and 
prosperous one. Miss Young was a school mate and old sweetheart of 
his younger days, and it is probable that Mr. Harper had plighted his 
troth with her before he made the adventurous trip to the far West. 
Three children have blessed this marriage : Thaddeus S., well-to-do 
stockman and farmer owning a splendid farm in Charlotte township; 
Katherine, wife of Luther Judy, Charlotte township; and John T., the 
youngest, a successful farmer of Charlotte township, and residing on 
the old home place. John T. married Florence Bean, and has two chil- 
dren. Roderick David, born January 18, 1897, and Mary. 

Judge Harper has long been a leader of the Republican party in 
Bates county and has filled various township offices such as assessor, 
trustee, and tax collector, serving several terms in office. He served as 
presiding judge of the county court January 1, 1907 to 1911 and acquitted 
himself acceptably in this important position. During his term of office 
the drainage project for the Marais des Cygnes flood area was inaugur- 
ated in 1906 and as presiding judge he signed the first issue of three 
hundred fifty-five thousand dollars worth of bonds to pay for the drain- 
age ditch in 1907. He is inclined to be independent in his political views 
and votes independently in local affairs. 

Mrs. Asenath C. Barrows, who died at Rich Hill, Missouri, January 
28, 1908, was born at Union Mission, fifteen miles east of Ft. Gibson, 
Indian Territory, January 5, 1822. Her father, Rev. William F. Vaill, a 
graduate of Yale College, and later a pastor of the Presbyterian church 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 783 

at North Gilford, Connecticut, was sent in the year 1820, by the l^oard 
of the United Foreign Missionary Society in New York City, to establish 
the aforesaid mission. In less than two years after their arrival, the sub- 
ject of this sketch was born, and at this mission was thoroughly taught, 
by her cultured parents and other instructors, in divine as well as literary 
matters. 

Among some of the notable happenings was the visit at different 
occasions of Washington Irving and Gen. Sam Houston, who were guests 
of her father at the mission, while Irving was making his tour to the wild 
western prairies, and upon which is based his story of the "Capture of the 
Wild Horse," found in "McGuffey's Fourth Reader." The time arrived 
for placing Asenath in school to complete her education. In the summer 
of 1834, in company with her father and mother, she made an overland 
trip to Lexington, Missouri, where they took passage by steamboat for 
St. Louis, making the trip to Cincinnati, where three days were spent 
visiting the family of Rev. Lyman Beecher. On this occasion Mrs. Bar- 
rows made the acquaintance of Miss Harriet Beecher, a young lady then 
of eighteen years, who afterward became Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, 
being a sister of Henry Ward Beecher, and a woman who became cele- 
brated as author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." From thence to New York 
City and on Long Island to Hadlyme, Connecticut, the original home of 
her parents, where in a short time her mother died. 

Miss Vaill was soon after placed in the Munson Academy. While 
there she became a member of the Congregational church. From the 
Munson Academy she was sent to the Mount Holyoke Seminary at Holy- 
oke, Massachusetts, where she received two years of thorough training. 
At this time Miss Vaill was nineteen years of age. She then returned to 
the West, arriving in December, 1841. Here she met Freeman Barrows, 
a young man from New Bedford, Massachusetts, a man of good business 
attainments and at that time the county and circuit clerk of Bates county, 
Missouri, to wdiom she was married August 23. 1842, soon afterward 
locating two miles east of the old town of Papinsville. 

In April, 1861 Mr. Barrows died. Mrs. Barrows continued to reside 
here until 1892. having lived a half century on the estate where she 
and her hus1)and first located in 1842. The last four years of her life were 
spent at her home in Rich Hill. 

Waller Washington Graves, member of the supreme court of Mis- 
souri since April, 1906, his term to continue until 1918, was born in 
Lafayette county, this state, December 17, 1860. His father, Abram L. 



784 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Graves, was a prosperous farmer of that county and subsequently became 
a resident of Bates county. He had been left an orphan at an early age 
and was reared by his grandfather, Abram Larsh, one of the earliest set- 
tlers of Lafayette county, the Larsh family having come from Maryland, 
where representatives of the name had resided from a period antedating 
the Revolution. The Graves family were mostly from North Carolina, 
where they owned and cultivated large cotton plantations prior to the 
Civil War. Abram L. Graves was born in Palmyra, Missouri, and has 
made farming his life work. He wedded Martha E. Pollard, a native of 
Kentucky, whose girlhood, however, was largely passed in this state. 
She came of an old Virginia family. Her mother was a Waller and her 
ancestors were nearly all people who were among the colonists of this 
country. Several of the family took part in the struggle for American 
independence. Mrs. Graves passed away in 1910. 

At the usual age. Waller W. Graves became a public-school pupil 
in his native county and later had the advantage of training in the State 
University until 1881. He took up the profession of teaching, but 
regarded that merely as an initial step to other professional labor. He 
read law in the ofifice of Parkinson & Abernathy, two of the prominent 
attorneys in his section of the state, and was admitted to practice by 
the circuit court at Butler in 1885. That his former preceptor, Judge 
Parkinson, had entertained high regard for the young law student is 
indicated in the fact that he admitted him at once to a partnership 
that was maintained until 1893, when it was dissolved by reason of 
Judge Parkinson's removal to Kansas City. Mr. Graves was then joined 
by Harvey C. Clark under the style of Graves & Clark and they soon 
gained a place among the prominent representatives of the bar of 
southwestern Missouri. 

Various positions of trust have been accorded Mr. Graves who 
through appointment of Governor Marmaduke became school com- 
missioner of Bates county to fill a vacancy, and at the close of the 
term he was reelected by a handsome majority. He undertook many 
reform steps and largely improved the condition and raised the stand- 
ard of the schools. Ever in sympathy wath the cause of higher educa- 
tion, his fine executive talent was brought to the discharge of his duties 
and his efforts were highly satisfactorily effective. He was also city 
attorney of Butler from 1890 until 1892. He there continued in the 
practice of law as a member of the firm of Graves & Clai'k until 1899, 
when he was elected circuit judge, serving upon the circuit bench for 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 785 

a term of six years. He then resumed law practice, but in April, 1906, 
was again called to a judicial position in his appointment to succeed 
Judge Marshall of the state supreme court, who had resigned. Later 
in the same year he was elected for a short term of two years and in 
1908 was reelected for the full term of ten years. 

On the 30th of June, 1892, Mr. Graves was married, in Butler, to 
Miss Alice M. Ludwick, a lady of innate culture and refinement, daugh- 
ter of John L. and Mary (Fletcher) Ludwick, both of whom are now 
deceased. Her father was one of the first settlers of Bates county, 
and a splendid representative of the German American element. Mr. 
and Mrs. Graves have three children : Ludwick, attending the Will- 
iam Jewell College ; Waller W., a graduate of the Jefferson City High 
School; and John L., aged twelve, attending the public schools. Some 
years ago a contemporary biographer wrote : 

"Mr. Graves is one of Butler's most patriotic and enterprising citi- 
zens. Seldom is any plan instituted for the benefit of his town with 
which he is not identified. His progressiveness follows a course of the 
widest civic patriotism, in which there is no alloy of special self-interest, 
as is too often true of enterprises intended to benefit the community. 
The same distinction applies to his connection with politics, in which 
he engages solely because of his interests in and desire of good gov- 
ernment. Although a life-long and ardent Democrat, he lets it be 
known that he is not an ofiice seeker, and the only ambition cherished 
by him is that of ranking high as a lawyer. He is a leader of his party 
and is always willing to give his services to the cause on the stump or 
in the council. 

"Those who know him do not wonder that he is so thoroughly 
en rapport with the work of his profession, for he has been eminently 
fitted therefor both by nature and training. Tall and large, handsome, 
of commanding presence, with a rich,' full and strong voice which has 
been highly cultivated, ready of speech and with an ample fund of 
words on which to draw, it is no exaggeration to state that he is one 
of the most pleasing, logical and convincing speakers among the lawyers 
of Missouri. In presenting a case to court or jury his arguments are 
always strong, forcible and clear, abounding in concise statements and 
logical reasoning. As a counsellor his judgment may always be de- 
pended upon and he is noted for his ready tact in the trial of a case. 
One of his strongest points is his thorough preparation in all cases 
that he undertakes and as a result he knows the strength and weakness 

(50) 



786 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of both' sides of the contention and thus he is always ready for any 
eventuaHty. In the trial of a case he never takes extensive notes, but 
is possessed of the rare faculty of remembering the evidence in detail 
of all witnesses, their bearing on the stand, etc., and months afterward 
can readily call it to mind. This alone makes him formidable, as always 
being ready to take advantage of any discrepancies of conflicting state- 
ments. He is an expert technician and abounds with ready references, 
precedents and decisions; in fact, he treats his profession as a technical 
science. The case that is so poor it has to depend upon the ability of 
the lawyer rather than evidence is fortunate if Mr. Graves appears in 
its behalf." 

Judge Graves ranks today with the ablest jurists of Missouri and 
there are many who predict that still higher professional honors will 
come to him. In his conduct and relations he is a gentleman of the 
old school. In his profession he stands as a representative of that 
progress which has characterized the profession, being in close touch 
with the work of the courts in later years as well as the old time legal 
principles which constitute the foundation of the law. 

Judge Graves was offered the appointment to the United States 
senate by Governor Gardner to succeed the late Senator Stone at 
the death of Senator Stone, but he declined to accept. 

Chester A. Chambers has been of great value to the development 
of Bates county in various capacities. For a number of years he was 
a progressive farmer and thus contributed toward the development of 
agricultural interests. At the same time and subsequently he engaged 
in teaching school and at present is the popular postmaster of But- 
ler, discharging his duties efificiently and with a courtesy toward the 
general public which has earned for him the general good-will. 

Mr. Chambers was born in Bates county, July 10, 1871, and is a son 
of William Nelson and Martha Philena (Dobson) Chambers, the for- 
mer born in Ohio, March 2, 1841, and the latter in North Carolina in 
1844. William N. Chambers followed farming throughout life with 
the exception of three years which he spent as a soldier during the 
Civil War. He enlisted in the Forty-second Ohio Infantry, becoming 
a private in Company H. and he gallantly defended the Union for three 
years. Subsequent to the war, in the spring of 1866, he located in 
what is now Deepwater tow^nship, Bates county, on a farm of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres. The land is still in the possession of the family. 
There Mr. Chambers continued until his death, transforming prairie 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 787 

land into one of the most valuable agricultural properties of his dis- 
trict. As his means increased he added to his holdings, owning at the 
time of his death, February 14, 1892. four hundred and fifty acres. Al- 
though Mr. Chambers, Sr., was a public-spirited man, he never aspired 
to office. Besides carrying on general farming he was extensively 
interested in the livestock business, deriving a gratifying addition to 
his income from this line of endeavor. He was a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. Mrs. Chambers died May 1, 1881, and he subsequently 
married again, his second wife also having passed away. Mr. Cham- 
bers was the father of eight children, of whom our subject is the third 
in order of birth. 

Chester A. Chambers acquired his education in the rural schools 
in Deepwater township, the Appleton City Academy and the State 
Normal School at Warrensburg. He was twenty years of age when 
his father died and in that year gave up his school work and returned 
to the homestead. There he remained for three years, farming during 
the summer seasons and attending school during the winter. He then 
took up teaching in the neighborhood but continued to farm and also 
engaged in the livestock business on the old home place. For about; 
twelve years he carried on these various interests but then experienced 
a severe attack of illness which forced him to give up the arduous labor 
connected with the operation of a farm. Selling out, he removed to 
Butler and a few weeks later again turned to teaching, filling a vacancy 
caused by the sudden death of an instructor. For five years Mr. Cham- 
bers was principal of the Fraiiklin school of Butler. He has now been 
postmaster lor a number of years but still is a landowner, giving his 
attention to the management of a valuable property one mile west of 
Butler, wdiich he operates as a stock farm. 

On February 13, 1894, Mr. Chambers married Miss Sue Helen 
Coleman, who was born in Bates county, Missouri, and is a daughter 
of Judge John Melender and Elizabeth (Bledsoe) Coleman, the former 
born in Kentucky, January 7, 1851, and the latter in Henry county, Mis- 
souri, December 26, 1854. The father came to Missouri with his family 
when quite young. He followed farming and also engaged in business 
as a contractor and carpenter and died July 22, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. 
Chambers have three children: Vivian Maurine, attending high school; 
and Bonny Mignon and Alice Elizabeth. 

Mr. Chambers is a Republican and has always taken a most help- 
ful part in promoting the interests of his party. He was appointed 



788 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

postmaster under President Taft and at present serves in that capacity. 
He is an approachable, kindly and courteous gentleman and liked by 
all who know him. Mr. Chambers has held various township offices, 
among them that of assessor and is at present interested in the manage- 
ment of the city of Butler, representing the first ward in the city council, 
and is also an active member of the board of education. He stands 
high in the Masonic order, belonging to the chapter and council. 

George Falloon, late prominent resident of Mound township. Bates 
county, was born in Toronto, Canada, April 3, 1852. He was the son 
of James and Mary Ann (Frazier) Falloon, both of whom were natives 
of Canada and of Irish and English descent, respectively. James Falloon 
received a good education in Canada and learned the trade of carpenter 
and builder. He began his successful career as a contractor and builder 
in his native country and was possessed of a considerable fortune when 
he moved from Toronto to Wheeling, West Virginia. He became a 
builder of bridges wath headquarters at AYheeling and had charge of the 
erection of the great bridge crossing the Ohio river at Wheeling. No 
task was too great for him to attempt, and he lost and made large sums 
of money in his various ventures. Some years later he located at Athens, 
Ohio and was engaged in the erection of public buildings and in rail- 
road construction in that vicinity. He became one of the prominent 
citizens of Athens and was a stanch and firm friend of the Ohio Uni- 
versity which was located at Athens. He was father of a family of ten 
children, eight sons and two daughters, three of whom are yet living. 
Six of the children of James Falloon died within two years past. A 
brother of George Falloon, who was a widely known lawyer in Nebraska, 
Hon. Edward Falloon, died at his home in Falls City, Nebraska, in April, 
1917. At the time of his death he was the dean of the Richardson county, 
Nebraska bar and was admittedly one of the ablest attorneys in 
Nebraska. His son, Virgil Falloon, is now county judge of Richardson 
county. 

George Falloon was educated in the public schools of Athens, Ohio, 
and received a classical and scientific education in the Ohio University, 
located in his home city. He educated himself for the profession of 
civil engineering and made it his life work. He served as county sur- 
veyor of Athens county and was associated with his father in his con- 
tracting business for some years. He took a prominent and active part 
in politics of his native state and served a term as a member of the Ohio 
State Senate, being a member of the Seventy-second Ohio General 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 789 

Assembly, 1896-1897. Like his father before him, he was a strong friend 
of the Ohio University, and while a member of the Ohio Senate, he 
introduced and had passed a bill providing for the permanent endow- 
ment of the university. He had previously established a lumber busi- 
ness in Athens, and he conducted this business until 1898, at which time 
he sold out his holdings in his home city and moved to Charleston, West 
Virginia, and engaged in the lumber business in that city for a few years. 
Some time during the eighties he had invested in a tract of about one 
thousand acres of land in Bates county, part of which is now owned by 
his daughter, Mrs. Miller, who owns six hundred fifty-seven acres 
of the original tract. In 1901 he came to Bates county and took charge 
of his large estate, maintaining a home and business in Kansas City, as 
well as a residence in Mound township, near Adrian. He conducted 
a loan business in Kansas City in addition to looking a'fter his farming 
interests. 

Mr. Falloon was married on December 29, 1875 to Susan E. Brown, 
a native of Athens county, Ohio, and this union was blessed with one 
child, a daughter, Jessie Brown, wife of A. A. Miller of Mound town- 
ship, concerning whom a sketch is given elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. 
Miller was educated in the public schools of Athens, and at the Ohio 
University, following which she studied in the Cincinnati College of 
Music, and the National Park Seminary, specializing in vocal and instru- 
mental music. For several years she was very niuch interested in church 
work and became widely and favorably known as a soloist of ability. 
She was first married to Charles W. Cooley and after the marriage, 
Mr. and Mrs. Cooley removed to Grainfield, Kansas, and resided on a 
ranch. Mr. Cooley died at Grainfield, September 25, 1905 and Mrs. 
Cooley conducted the ranch for six years after his death. An account 
of her marriage with Mr. A. A. Miller and subsequent movements is 
given in connection with Mr. Miller's sketch. She is mother of one 
child by her first marriage, Susan Falloon Cooley, born January 29, 1900. 

George Falloon died May 7, 1915. His wife had preceded him in 
death over twenty years, her death occurring August 16, 1894. George 
Falloon was a successful business man, intelligent, broadminded, and 
widely read, a citizen who took a keen interest in the public cpiestions 
of the day and was a writer of force and pronounced ability. He was 
opposed to the single tax theory and wrote a number of pamphlets and 
books giving his ideas upon the subject and setting forth valid reasons 
for not being in favor of the single tax idea. He also campaigned against 



790 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the single tax and delivered many addresses in opposition to the plan. 
He was possessor of a mind which was unusually brilliant and was a 
close student of governmental affairs. While a resident of Athens he 
was constantly striving to advance the growth of his home city. He 
was a great reader of the standard authors and kept abreast of current 
literature. His diversion was in hunting and fishing and he enjoyed 
many fishing and hunting expeditions during his life. His favorite book 
was the Holy Bible of which he made a deep and thorough study, his 
researches only serving to confirm his belief in Christianity. Possessing 
a very retentive memory, when he became interested in any subject, he 
made a thorough and exhaustive study of its underlying principles and 
easily remembered his readings. George Falloon was a member of the 
Presbyterian church and was affiliated with the Ancient Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons. "Falloon Heights," the splendid country estate which 
he founded and built up, is located in the northern part of Mound town- 
ship, near the town of Adrian. The beautiful residence is situated almost 
in the middle of the tract which is two miles in length and one-half 
mile wide. 

A. A. Miller of Mound township, has one of the largest and best 
equipped country estates in Bates county, the residence being fitted up 
with every modern convenience to facilitate the farm and house work. 
The farming operations of his tract of over six hundred acres are car- 
ried on, on an extensive 'Scale and wherever possible, electric and gasoline 
power is made to do the work formerly done laboriously by hand. The 
Miller home, consisting of fourteen rooms, is one of the finest and most 
modern in Bates county to be found outside of the cities. There is little 
desire upon the part of the occupants to leave the farm for the comforts 
of the city when a modern automobile brings them to town in a few 
minutes, and when by simply pushing a button, the house is lighted by 
electricity generated by a private plant on the place. This modern home 
is also equipped with a water plant providing both hot and cold running 
water. Three tenant houses and commodious and well built barns and 
sheds adorn the Miller place. Mr. Miller was born on a farm near 
Oskaloosa, Iowa, Mahaska county, May 22, 1866, a son of George and 
Elizabeth (McDowell) Miller, the former of whom was a native of 
Zanesville, Ohio, and the latter a native of Piqua, Ohio. 

George Miller was among the first settlers of Mahaska county, 
Iowa, and the father of Mrs. Miller erected one of the first flouring mills 
in that vicinity. In 1868, George Miller removed with his family to 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 79I 

Linn county, Kansas, near the town of Pleasanton where he resided for 
several years engaged in farming. He now resides at Perry, Kansas, and 
is eighty-four years of age. Mrs. Elizabeth Miller died on October 3, 
1914, aged seventy-four years. The three children of the Miller family 
are: Charles Miller, a grain dealer and shipper at Perry, Kansas; A. A., 
subject of this sketch; and Miss Mattie Miller. 

The early education of A. A. Miller was obtained in the district 
school located in the neighborhood of his father's farm in Linn county, 
Kansas, and he also attended the public schools of Pleasanton, Kansas. 
Pie took up the study of telegraphy and was in the employ of the Fort 
Scott & Memphis railroad as telegraph operator and station agent 
until 1888. In that year he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and was 
engaged in the livestock commission business until 1905. He then 
located at Grainfield, Kansas, where he became connected with a ranch 
and livestock raising proposition in which he is still interested. After 
his marriage in 1911, he took up his residence in Bates county, Missouri 
and is now managing the large farm of six hundred fifty-seven acres 
located in the northwestern part of Mound township. Besides the hand- 
some residence of fourteen rooms occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Miller, the 
place has three sets of tenant houses and four large barns. 

Mr. Miller was married in 191 1 to Jessie Cooley, a daughter of 
George Falloon, deceased, concerning whom an extended biography 
appears elsewhere in this volume. By a former marriage, Mr. Miller 
has three sons: Charles Porter, Harry, and George, all of whom are 
serving in the National Armv. Charles Porter has been in trainino- at 
Camp Lewis, Washington, Headquarters No. 362. By a former mar- 
riage, Mrs. Miller has a daughter, Susan Falloon Cooley. Mr. Miller 
has always been a stanch Democrat and is fraternally afifiliated with the 
Knights of Pythias. 

Lucien Green, a son of Stephen W. and Lucy Green, was born in 
Athens county, Ohio, July 10, 1844. He was a private in Company A, 
One Hundred Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He 
enlisted in July, 1863 and was mustered out with the regiment at tlie 
expiration of his term of enlistment in March, 1864. He was married 
to Polly Smith in August, 1868. In January, 1874, he with wife and 
son, A. C. Green, came to Bates county, Missouri, and for a few years 
resided on a farm near Butler. In January, 1882, he with his family 
moved to Hudson township, where he now resides. Mr. Green is a 
Republican in politics and in 1894 was candidate for county recorder. 



792 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Meglasson Family. — Among those families who came to Bates 
county early after the Civil War and settled in that locality known as 
Harmony Mission, were Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Meglasson and two small 
sons, Benjamin, and Conn, who, together wnth three other children, 
Eliza, Flora, and Walter, who were born here, all grew up on the farm 
settled by their parents. 

Mrs. Meglasson died early in life, leaving the husband and father 
to be both father and mother to their five little ones, which duty was 
sacredly lived up to until the day of his death. This worthy couple 
now rest side by side in Mount Hebron cemetery at Mayview, Missouri. 

Of their five children, Ben, the eldest, preceded the father in death 
many years ago, and in his departure there went out a life that gave 
promise of being a beautiful and useful one. Conn and his family, 
together with Eliza, now Mrs. W. R. Green, now live at Kuna, Idaho. 
Flora is unmarried and lives in Chicago. Walter, the youngest is 
married and lives at St. Ignatius, Montana. 

Eliza Meglasson, now Mrs. W. R. Green, was a teacher in Bates 
county and taught in the Butler schools several years. She then taught 
in Colorado and was recognized as a faithful, competent, successful 
teacher. Walter Meglasson was for a number of years in the govern- 
ment service in Washington and later held a responsible government 
position at Fort Peck. He was afterward transferred to the Blackfeet 
Indian Reservation and only recently cjuit public service and is now 
engaged in the mercantile business at St. Ignatius, Montana. Mr. 
and Mrs. W. T. Meglasson were cultured people and their children 
are an honor to the memory of their parents. The passing of this 
family out of Bates county is only one of the many changes wrought 
in a little over half a century. 

Judge Francis M. Steele, a late prominent citizen of Bates county, 
an ex-judge of the county court of Bates county, was one of the lead- 
ing and most influential citizens of this county. Mr. Steele was born 
in Callaway county, Missouri, December 21, 1833. His father was 
Flardin Steele, a native of Kentucky, and his mother was Minnie Ann 
Howell before her marriage. Hardin Steele came to Missouri in 1827 
and was one of the early pioneer settlers in Callaway county, where 
he resided until 1836 when he took up his residence in Jackson county. 
F. M. Steele was reared in Jackson county and learned the trade of 
carpenter and builder which he followed for some years in Kansas 
City. In 1857 he came to Bates county and was engaged in working 
at his trade until after the Civil War. In the fall of 1869 he located 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 793 

on a farm in Hudson township and 1)ecanie owner of three hundred 
sixty acres of excellent farm land which he developed and improved. 
In 1878 he was elected justice of the peace in Hudson township and in 
1880 he was elected a judge of the county court, positions which he 
ably filled to the satisfaction of the people of the county. Mr. Steele 
resided on his farm until the year 1886 when he and Mrs. Steele took 
up their residence in Butler and Judge Steele served as deputy sheriff 
under Sheriff Colyer, for four years. He maintained his residence in 
Butler until his death. 

December 12, i860, Francis M. Steele and Rebecca W. Myers were 
united in marriage, the Reverend Horn, of Johnstown, Missouri, offi- 
ciating at the altar. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele was born July 2, 
1841 at Evansville, Indiana, a daughter of John D. and Mary M. (Hall) 
Myers, both of whom were natives of Virginia. John D. Myers came 
with his family from Indiana to Missouri in 1845 and they located on 
a farm in Hudson township. Bates county, on a tract of land compris- 
ing three hundred sixty acres which Mr. Myers entered from the 
government for two dollars an acre. He built their cabin home and 
spent many years improving the place and in general farming and stock 
raising. John D. Myers was a gentleman of much intelligence and 
ability. He served as county judge of the Bates county court for 
many years and as registrar of deeds in the first years following the 
Civil War. Mr. Myers enlisted in the Union army during the Civil 
War and served under Captain Donnohue. After the war had ended, 
John D. Myers located at Butler, later removing to Appleton City, 
where he died in 1876. Interment was made in Pleasant Ridge ceme- 
tery. Mary M. (Hall) Myers had preceded her husband in death many 
years. She died in 1849 and her remains were laid to rest in Pleasant 
Ridge cemetery. Mrs. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele has one sister liv- 
ing, Mrs. Susan Snodgrass, Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Steele recalls 
her first teacher, "Uncle Peter" Stratton, a gentleman of strong south- 
ern sentiments employed in teaching the young people of the southeast 
corner of Hudson township in the days prior to the outbreak of the 
Civil War, who, in 1861, went south and never again returned to Mis- 
souri. Her last teacher was Miss Margaret Lutsenhizer, who is now 
deceased. Mrs. Steele states that she is a "graduate" of the old Willow 
Branch school in Hudson township. Henry Myers, the present United 
States senator from Montana, is a nephew of John D. Myers, the father 
of Mrs. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele. To Francis M. and Rebecca' W. 



794 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Steele were born five sons : Emmett A., a prosperous hardware merch- 
ant of Parker, Linn county, Kansas; Robert E., of Piedmont, Okla- 
homa; Charles Bruce, of Lamar, Colorado; John H., of Kansas City, 
Missouri; and Arthur F., of Fort Laramie, Wyoming. All these sons 
are doing well in life and each is admirably maintaining the splendid 
reputation established by his father and the name Steele is the synonym 
of honesty, honor, and moral rectitude wherever it is known, whether 
it be in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, or Wyoming. The 
father died at Butler January 28, 1917, and interment was made in Oak 
Hill cemetery. 

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, on account of "Order 
Number 11," in 1863, Francis M. Steele moved with his family to Pettis 
coimty, Missouri and there remained until the conflict had closed. When 
they left their home, the Steeles put all their household possessions of 
value in a wagon drawn by oxen, leaving only the house and lot located 
in the southern part of Butler. When they returned, the lot only was 
left. Mrs. Steele is an eyewitness of the two burnings of Butler, 
one by the Union men and the other by the Confederates. Francis M. 
Steele took an active and interested part in public and political affairs 
and for several years was a judge of the county court and later the 
deputy sheriff during the administration of Sheriff Colyer. As an 
official, citizen, gentleman, Francis M. Steele established a record far 
above reproach and he was widely know^n in Bates county as a man 
of honorable dealings, upright conduct, and strict integrity, command- 
ing the respect and esteem of his acquaintances and neighbors to an 
unlimited degree. Although he has passed from the scenes of his earthly 
labors into "that mysterious realm where each shall take his chamber," 
Francis M. Steele still lives in the memory and aft'ection of the people 
of Bates county. His widow, Mrs. Rebecca M. (Myers) Steele, one 
of Missouri's pioneer women, still survives her husband and now at the 
age of seventy-five years is as active physically and mentally as many 
women a score of years her junior, Mrs. Steele enjoys recalling the 
days gone by, the happy times of her girlhood and early womanhood 
spent on the prairies of Bates county and in the city of Butler, and she 
has attracted to herself a large circle of friends who admire and respect 
her for her sterling worth. 

James K. Hodges, an honored pioneer of East Boone township. 
Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hodges was born 
in 1844, a son of Joseph and Eliza Hodges. Joseph Hodges was a son 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 795 

of Seth Hodges, a native of Tennessee. James K. Hodges is one of six 
children, born to his parents, fonr of whom are now living, namely; 
John, Drexel, Missouri; James, the subject of this review;. Joseph, 
Leavenworth, Kansas; and William, Lees Summit, Missouri. 

The marriage of James K. Hodges and Jemima Walker, a daugh- 
ter of George B. and Mary A. Walker, who settled in East Boone town- 
ship, Bates county, Missouri in 1870, was solemnized in 1867. To this 
union have been born nine children, six of whom are now living: Charles 
M., deceased; James Ira, deceased; Mrs. Mary A. Lacy, Merwin, Mis- 
souri; Mrs. Georgia M. Miller, Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. Pearl Frazier, 
Adrian, Missouri; John E., deceased; Thomas R., Weldon, California; 
C. R., who resides in Canada; and Mrs. Alberta Riley, Drexel, Missouri. 
Mrs. Hodges is a highly esteemed member of the Baptist church. 

Nearly a half century ago, Mr. Hodges settled in Bates county, 
Missouri and he has a vivid recollection of the appearance and condi- 
tion of the country at that time. He states that the land vvas prac- 
tically all open prairie, that one might drive from his home to Butler, 
a distance of twenty-two miles, and not pass a lane, that pasture land 
was open and free, and prairie fires often lighted the night until it 
was as bright as day. In those early days, large herds of Texas cattle 
were brought to Missouri for pasturage. Wild game might be found 
in abundance and easily trapped or shot. James K. Hodges was an 
expert huntsman in his youth and has killed as many as seven prairie 
chickens at one shot. The first home of the Hodges family was a rude 
log-cabin, made from logs cut by Mr. Hodges himself and finished 
with lumber brought from Pleasant Hill. Mr. Hodges recalls that 
Green Valley school house was erected in 1870 and that Miss Park 
w^as employed as the first "school mistress" there. The children of 
James K. and Jemima Hodges later attended school at Green Valley 
school house. Reverend Evans and Reverend Smiley were pioneer 
preachers, to whom Mr. and Mrs. Hodges frequently listened, and in 
the early davs they conducted religious services in the homes of the 
settlers. 

Mr. Hodges purchased a small tract of land, when he came to Bates 
county, and to his original holdings he has since added until he is now 
the owner of a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of land. 
Until the past two years, he was engaged in raising high grade cattle 
and Poland China hogs, but Mr. and Mrs. Hodges now rent their farm 
and are spending the eventide of life in quiet retirement. They have 



796 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

both worked long and hard and well deserve the ample competence 
which they are now enjoying, and though it is no longer absolutely 
necessary that either toil, they find much pleasure in attending to their 
cows, pigs, and chickens. 

Politically, Mr. Hodges is a member of the Democratic party. Mr. 
Hodges is a Democrat, but he served one and one-half years in the army 
under General Sherman and was with him on the march through Georgia 
and w^as in the battle of Allatoona Pass. In his prime, he w^as a man of 
great endurance, strong, vigorous, and alert in body and mind, a splendid 
type of symetrically developed manhood and by temperance in all things 
and healthful exercise out-of-doors, he has conserved his energies and 
prolonged his life past the allotted three score years and ten. His past 
record has been an honorable one and his honesty and integrity have 
always been far above reproach. James K. and Mrs. Hodges will bequeath 
to their descendants a good name, that which is "rather to be chosen 
than great riches." 

R. H. Rush. — The present is an era of specialization in agriculture 
as well as in the industrial world. The intelligent farmer who pursues 
a definite course as a specialist and studies the science of animal hus- 
bandry, is practically certain of success and can avoid many of the pit- 
falls which await those who refuse to progress along the lines laid down 
by modern research. The farmstead of R. H. Rush, located in Mound 
township, on the Jefferson highway just one mile south of Adrian and 
nine miles north of Butler, is a model of its kind, and is noted for the 
fact that the cattle, hogs, and poultry produced on the place in large 
numbers are absolutely purebred, and the owner of this fine place 
intends to adhere to the definite policy of having none but purebred 
livestock on the Rush farm. R. H. Rush, owner of two hundred 
forty-three acres of splendid Bates county land, was born near Martin- 
town, Greene county, Wisconsin, May 24, 1857, a son of Henry and 
Nancy Hannah (W^arren) Rush. 

Henry Rush, his father, was born in Bavaria, German Empire, in 
1823 and was brought to America by his parents in 1827. During the 
long passage across the Atlantic by sailing vessel, his mother died, and 
one year after the arrival of the father and children in this country, 
the father died. Henry Rush was thus left an orphan at the tender age 
of five years and was reared to young manhood 1)y kind strangers in 
Seneca county, Ohio. During the Mexican War he served his country 
on the battlefields of the Southern republic from 1846 to 1848. In reward 




R. H. RUSH AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 797 

for his services he received a grant of government land in Wisconsin, 
located in Greene county, the original land plat patent for which hav- 
ing been signed by President Franklin Pierce. He cleared a splendid 
farm from the Wisconsin wilderness and became well-to-do, being owner 
of five hundred acres of well improved farm lands prior to his death. 
He died in 1913 at the great age of ninety-three years. His wife died 
in 1858 when the subject of this review was aged but one year. There 
were three children born to Henry and Nancy Ann Rush, namely; 
Lucetta, who married Willis Breon, and lives in Juneau county, Wiscon- 
sin; Nancy Jane, wife of J J. Parker, lives on part of the old home 
place in W^isconsin. Nancy Hannah (Warren) Rush was born in Seneca 
county, Ohio and was a descendant of the W^arren family of Revolution- 
ary fame, of which General Warren, the hero of Bunker Hill, was a 
member. The Warren family is one of the oldest and most distinguished 
in the annals of American history, an extensive genealogy of whom 
is in existence and is kept up to date by the members of this noted 
family. 

R. H. Rush was reared and educated in Greene county, W'iscon- 
sin and followed farming pursuits in his native state until 1900, when 
he went to Iowa, purchased a farm and lived on it three years, or until 
1903, when he came to Bates county, Missouri, having in 1902 invested 
in his farm of two hundred forty-three acres of land in Mound 
township which is considered to be one of the finest and most produc- 
tive country places in this section of Missouri. Mr. Rush is engaged 
in the breeding of Hereford cattle of the thoroughbred variety, and 
raises purebred Poland China hogs. He has a fine drove of purebred 
Shropshire sheep and Mrs. Rush has charge of the pens of thorough- 
bred Barred Rock chickens which are the pride of the farm. 

On January 1, 1881, Mr. Rush was united in marriage with Bessie 
Anne Robinson, a native of Greene county, W^isconsin, who at the time 
of her marriage was living in Independence, Iowa. Her parents, Charles 
and Mary (Wright) Robinson, were born and reared in England, and 
upon immigrating to America, first settled in Wisconsin on May 24, 1857, 
later moving to Iowa, where both parents died. To Mr. and Mrs. Rush 
have been born five children: Charles, farmer and stockman, living near 
Passaic, Bates county ; Cora May, at home with her parents ; Dora B., 
wife of J. W. Moore, a farmer of Bates county; Ruth, wife of Mack 
Hawkins, Bates county; Fay Ralph, who is operating the home farm in 
partnership with his father. 



798 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Politically, Mr. Rush is a Democrat. He became a member of the 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Wisconsin several years ago and 
has attained the Royal Arch degree of Masonry. Mr. and Mrs. Rush 
are well known and highly esteemed in their section of Bates county 
and are looked upon as valuable additions to the citizenry of this county, 
being progressive and enterprising and ever ready to do their part in 
bettering conditions in their adopted county and state. 

Sam Walls, one of Adrian's leading and most prominent citizens, 
chairman of the city council of Adrian, a member of the Jefferson High- 
way Commission, one of the organizers and a present member of the 
directorates of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri and of the 
Denton-Coleman Loan Company of Butler, Missouri, formerly a popu- 
lar manager of a Butler hotel, now a successful pharmacist of Adrian, 
is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Walls was born in 1861 in Carlisle, Ken- 
tucky, a son of Thomas and Sarah W^alls. Both the paternal and 
maternal grandfathers of Sam \\'alls were prosperous plantation owners 
in Nicholas county, Kentucky. 

When Sam Walls was a child, six years of age, his parents moved 
from Nicholas county, Kentucky to Georgetown, Vermilion county, 
Illinois. He attended school in Illinois until 1877, when he came with 
his parents to Bates county, Missouri and they settled on a farm located 
one and a half miles northwest of Butler. Sam Walls then attended 
the city schools of Butler until he had attained maturity. At that time, 
there was not a railroad in Bates county and he and his father engaged 
in freighting, working between Butler and Kansas City, Missouri. It 
required five days to make the trip and in the summers father and son 
would camp nights along the road, which was merely a miserable, 
uncared-for trail, frecjuently impassable. They could see far over the 
open prairie and often killed wild turkeys and prairie chickens. Thomas 
Walls died in 1903 and eight years later he was united in death with 
his wife. Mrs. Walls died in 1911. Thomas and Sarah Walls were the 
parents of nine children, six of whom are now living, namely: Mrs. 
Lydia Bagby, Kansas City, Missouri; Sam, the subject of this review; 
Mrs. Lizzie Grimm, Kansas City, Missouri; Thomas, Kansas City, Mis- 
souri; Mrs. Vertie Dudley, Fort Scott, Kansas; and Mrs. Stella Ham- 
mer, Kansas City, Missouri. 

For several years, Sam Walls was engaged in farming and stock 
raising on his father's farm in Bates county. In 1884, he entered the 
mercantile business at Butler and until 1890 successfully and profitably 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 799 

conducted a grocery store in this city, at which time he returned to 
agricultural pursuits and again resided at the old homestead for several 
years. Later, he returned to Butler and became associated with Dr. 
Lansdown in the hotel business at Butler, the two conducting the 
Arlington Hotel until 1897, when Mr. Walls purchased the Lansdown 
Drug Store at Adrian, where for the past twenty-one years he has 
been engaged in the drug business, carrying a splendid and complete 
line of drugs, paints, and sundries. Dr. Walls was not an inexperi- 
enced druggist at the time of his purchase of this store, for he had at 
one time owned a large pharmacy at Amsterdam, Missouri. 

The marriage of Sam Walls and Mary L. Lansdown was solem- 
nized in June, 1887. Mary L. (Lansdown) Walls is a daughter of Dr. 
and Mrs. W. J. Lansdown, who settled at Butler, Missouri in 1876. 
Mrs. Walls is a native of Camden county, Missouri. The Walls resi- 
dence is located in Adrian and is one of the beautiful, modern homes 
of the city, an imposing structure of ten rooms surrounded by a nice, 
well-kept law^n. Both Mr. and Mrs. Walls are members and earnest 
supporters of the Methodist church. 

Fraternally, Mr. Walls is affiliated with the Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of 
America, the Elks, the Mystic W^orkers of the World, and the Eastern 
Star lodges. He has been a life-long Democrat and always takes a 
keen and commendable interest in political matters and in elections. 
Since he has been a member of the city council of Adrian, forty miles 
of concrete walks have been laid in this city. He is an aggressive 
worker for internal improvements and, as a member of the Jefferson 
Highway Commission, is an enthusiastic "booster" of good roads. Sam 
Walls assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of Adrian, 
Missouri in 1913 and he is now a member of the board of directors 
and a stockholder of the bank. He also was one of the organizers 
of the Denton-Coleman Loan Company of Butler. Missouri, and is one 
of the present directors of that company. 

Mr. W^alls remembers well his first teacher in Bates county. Pro- 
fessor Schaffer. and a minister, to whom he often listened in his boy- 
hood days, Reverend Burgess. He knows full well the hardships and 
difficulties which beset the way of the young man who must make his 
own wav, unaided, in the world. He has labored many ten-hour days 
for the mere pittance of fifty cents. Mr. Walls invested his first sav- 
ings in a calf, which investment proved to be a safe and profitable one. 



800 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Now, honored and respected by all his friends and acquaintances, Sam 
Walls occupies a conspicuous place and high standing among the best 
and most substantial citizens of Bates county, and none is more worthy 
of mention and commendation in a work of this character. Mr. Walls 
is one of the representative, public-spirited, "self-made" men of this 
part of Missouri. 

T. W. Blount, a successful agriculturist of Deer Creek township, 
is one of the highly respected and valued citizens of Bates county, a 
member of one of the first and best pioneer families of this section of 
the state. Mr. Blount was born in Bates county in 1873, a son of Allen 
and Eliza J. Blount. 

Allen Blount settled in Bates county, Missouri in the days before 
the Civil W^ar and the remainder of his life was spent in the arduous 
toil necessary in the making of a home in a new and unsettled country, 
and toil it was in the fullest sense of the word, a never-ceasing round 
ot work from early dawn until sundown. He cleared much land and 
devoted his life to farming and stock raising. Mr. Blount was the type 
of brave pioneer that took his life and future in his own hands and 
introduced civilization into the great West, exposing himself to hard- 
ships and perils of which the people of the present day can form no 
adequate conception, yet completing his life work like a hero, although 
his memory may never be commemorated in song or story. He was 
called upon to suffer more of the tragedies of pioneer life than fell to 
the lot of the ordinary pioneer and had more than one close call and 
narrow escape from a tragic death, yet he cheerfully endured all his 
heavy burdens and lived to a noble old age. Allen Blount was a skill- 
ful woodsman and hunter and he had abundant opportunities for the 
exercise of his prowess in life on the frontier. He used often to relate 
how he once stood in his wagon and from that vantage-point killed a 
fine specimen of deer. He used yokes of oxen in the work of breaking 
the virgin sod on his farm and in hauling supplies from Pleasant Hill. 
In an old "day-book," kept in the early days by one of the pioneer 
merchants of old Crescent Hill, are many entries made of articles sold 
to Allen Blount. His son, T. W., the subject of this review, has in 
his possession an old-fashioned staple taken from an ox-yoke which 
his father used to own. 

To Allen and Eliza J- Blount were born seven children, four of 
whom are now living: J- W., CofTeyville, Kansas; E. M., Simmons, 
Arizona; T. W., the subject of this review; and Mable, who resides 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8oi 

with her brother, T. W., at the Blount homestead near Adrian. The 
mother died in 1892. She was survived by her husband twenty-three 
years, when in 1915 they were united in death. Allen Blount was a 
man of wide acquaintance in Bates county, a gentleman of the old 
school, courteous, kindly, and charitable, whom to know was to esteem 
and honor. He was considered more conservative than progressive, 
still he was one of the first settlers to purchase a farm in Bates county, 
Missouri. In many respects, Allen Blount was worthy of the respect 
universally accorded him and of mention and commendation in a work 
of this character. 

T. W. Blount attended school at Liberty school house in Deer Creek 
tov/nship. Bates county. His first instructor was A. J. Smith and he 
was succeeded by William Duncan and he, in turn, by Miss Amanda 
McGraw. Rev. Aaron Showalter had charge of the moral and religious 
welfare of the community, when T. W. Blount was a lad, and to the 
teachings of this pioneer preacher he has often listened. Mr. Blount 
recalls how, in his boyhood days, he was want to ride an old-style corn 
planter and drop the seed in the designated marks, for his father and 
their neighbors. His father told him how he used to ride a still more 
primitive machine made of wood, in his youth, and drop corn. Mr. 
Blount, Jr. has spent his entire life on the farm in Deer Creek town- 
ship, on the place which he now owns. The Blount homestead was 
given T. W. Blount by his father, who desired that his son should 
remain on the home place and care for his sister, Mable. Mr. Blount 
is profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising and this past 
season, of 1917, harvested three hundred bushels of oats and had twenty- 
five acres of the farm planted in corn. 

In every community, there are always a few rare men who are 
unmistakably identified with the material growth and prosperity of the 
country, who are invariably stanch supporters of every worthy enter- 
prise which has for its object the advancement and betterment of their 
fellowmen, wdio are always alert and ready when called upon for assist- 
ance in enhancing the importance of their locality, yet who are so 
unobtrusive that the people in general hardly realize their importance, 
as their presence and value are not thrust upon them, the public only 
unconsciously feel their impress. Yet just as surely do they exert a 
wholesome influence in their respective communities. Such a one is 
T. W. Blount, who in a quiet, but forcible, way- has done and is still 
doing much to advance the interests of his home township and countv. 

(51) ' 



802 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

He is numbered among the citizens of highest standing in Bates county 
and is a worthy son of a most worthy father. 

T. W. Lightfoot, a prosperous and influential agriculturist and 
stockman of East Boone township, is a member of one of the early, 
leading families of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Lightfoot is a native 
of Indiana. He w^as born in 1858 in Wells county, the only child of 
P. G. and Rebecca (Hunt) Lightfoot. P. G. Lightfoot was a son of 
William Lightfoot, a native of Kentucky and of Welsh and Irish 
descent. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot, the parents of T. 
W., the subject of this review, was solemnized in Wayne county, Indi- 
ana and from Indiana the Lightfoot family came to Missouri in 1868 
and settled on a farm in East Boone township. Mr. Lightfoot, Sr. pur- 
chased a tract of land embracing eighty acres, at the time of his com- 
ing West, and to his original holdings constantly added until he was 
the owner of a farm of one hundred twenty acres of land. He engaged 
in general farming to a certain extent, but devoted most of his time 
and attention to stock raising, specializing in Shorthorn cattle, buying 
large herds and feeding for the market. P. G. Lightfoot was a man of 
high moral principles, a devout member of the Baptist church, an inde- 
fatigable Christian worker. He organized a Baptist congregation, 
which met at his own home, and which afterward founded the Burdett 
Baptist church. He w^as many times honored by his church, being sent 
as messenger to various Baptist associations. Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot 
are now deceased. 

At Mudd school house in Bates county, T. W. Lightfoot attended 
school after his parents had moved here from Indiana. He began his 
educational career in Indiana and later attended school at McNeil 
school house. In addition to the teaching of "the three r's," preaching 
was frequently done at the school houses and among the pioneer 
preachers, whom Mr. Lightfoot knew well, were Reverends Lacy, J. 
W. Sage, Gwinn. Wright, Lewis, and Swift. The settlers from miles 
around came to church services in the early days. T. W. Lightfoot 
began life for himself engaged in farming and stock raising as he had 
always been interested in these pursuits and was reared on a farm. 
He remained on the home place with his parents as long as they lived. 
The first money he ever earned was made driving cattle and hogs to 
Pleasant Hill, Missouri for James Bufford. His first investment was a 
young colt, which proved, after much worry and many hours of anxi- 
ety, to be a very profitable one. Mr. Lightfoot is now owner of two 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 803 

hundred acres of land and is profitably engaged in general farming and 
stock raising, having, at the time of this writing in 1917, forty-three 
head of Shorthorns, seventy-five head of Poland Chinas, tw^o thousand 
bushels of corn, and six hundred bushels af oats. This past season of 
1917, Mr. Lightfoot not only harvested the aforementioned grain, but 
had twenty-one acres of the place in wheat. He built a handsome resi- 
dence in 1904 and also one of the best barns in this part of the state. 
The Lightfoot place is one of the fine stock farms of East Boone town- 
ship, being well watered and conveniently located. 

The marriage of T. W. Lightfoot and Annie Mudd, a daughter of 
Austin Mudd, one of Bates county's first, brave pioneers, was solem- 
nized in Bates county, Missouri. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot had 
long ago united with the Baptist church and she was one of the most 
beloved members of the church. Mrs. Lightfoot took a deep interest 
in church work and faithfully served for many years as organjst and 
president of the Ladies' Aid Society. Mr. Lightfoot has been the trusted 
treasurer and trustee of his church for a long time. He has always 
remained true to the beautiful faith in which he was reared. Mrs. 
Lightfoot was ever her husband's most sympathetic counsellor, faith- 
ful companion, and tried and true friend and Mr. Lightfoot has never 
recovered from the blow which the Grim Reaper inflicted in taking 
her from him. 

Politically, T. W. Lightfoot is af^liated with the Democratic party. 
In business. Mr. Lightfoot is a very practical man, possessing much 
force of character and excellent judgment and his career has been very 
satisfactory. As a citizen, he stands high above reproach, being widely 
known for his honest and honorable dealings, and he commands the 
unqualified respect and esteem of all his friends, neighbors, and 
accjuaintances. 

O. W. Stanfill, of Elkhart township, like a great number of succes.s- 
ful Bates county citizens, began his career in this countv without a 
dollar which he could call his own. He has, by tireless industry and 
decided ability coupled with good financial management during the 
thirty-two years of his residence on his farm in this county, accumu- 
lated a fine farm of two hundred acres with good improvements thereon. 
He was born in Bath county. Kentucky, February 14, 1857 and was a 
son of John and Jane (Rice) Stanfill, both of whom were born and 
reared in Kentucky. The family came to Missouri in 1858 and settled 
in Jackson county. The Stanfill farm in that county was destined to 



804 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

become a historic spot inasmuch as the famous battle of W'estport was 
fought on the very ground where the subject of this review^ was want 
to roam as a boy. After the Civil War, the Stanfills moved to Cass 
county, later locating in Bates county, ]\Iissouri where they made a 
permanent home. Mr. Stanfill resided in Bates county from 1S75 until 
his death in 1888. The wife and mother died in 1891. Eight children 
were born to John and Jane Stanfill, three of whom are living: ]\Irs. 
Jackson Bennett, of Joplin; Letcher Stanfill, living in Pittsburg, Kan- 
sas ; and O. W. Stanfill, subject of this review. 

The boyhood days of O. \\'. Stanfill were spent in Jackson and 
Cass counties and his early young manhood was spent in Elkhart 
township. He has always followed farming as a life vocation and has 
resided at his present home since 1885. Upon his splendid farm of 
two hundred acres he carries on general farming and stock raising, 
producing average native cattle and hogs for the markets. Mr. Stan- 
fill was married on November 20, 1883 to Miss Virginia McGuire, who 
was born in Illinois, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William INIcGuire. of 
Jackson county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Stanfill have three children : 
May, wife of James Wilson, Amsterdam, Missouri ; Annie, wife of 
Milton Reeves, of New Home township; Albert Freeman, residing in 
Elkhart township. 

Mr. Stanfill has generally been allied with the Democratic 
party, though at one time he embraced the doctrines of the Peoples 
party and supported the principles of that party, for a time. He is 
one of the sterling, upright citizens of this county, one who has won a 
firm and substantial place among the great body of well-to-do citizens 
of the county. 

William Bale, a prosperous and influential farmer and stockman of 
Deer Creek township, near Adrian, is one of the highly respected, "self- 
made" men of Bates county. Mr. Baie is a native of Illinois. He was 
born in 1860 in DeKalb county, a son of Christian, Jr. and Minnie Baie. 
Christian Baie, Jr. was a son of Christian Baie, Sr., who was born in 
Germany and came to America when he was a young man, eighteen 
years of age, and settled in Kane county, Illinois. The father of Will- 
iam Baie, Christian Baie, Jr., was a successful and well-to-do agricul- 
turist of DeKalb county, Illinois, owner of more than six hundred acres 
of land in DeKalb county. He died in 1907 and the widowed mother 
still makes her home in Illinois. To Christian, Jr. and Minnie Baie were 
born eleven children, all of whom have been reared to maturitv and 




WILLIAM BAIE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 805 

are now living: Henry, Adrian, Missouri; William, the subject of this 
review; Herman, Hinckley, Illinois; Mrs. Lena Marsh, Hinckley, Illi- 
nois; August, Waterman, Illinois; Mrs. Amelia Troeger, Hinckley, 
Illinois; Louis, Hinckley, Illinois; Mrs. Minnie Remsneider, Hinckley, 
Illinois; Mrs. Ida Walgrin, who resides in Pierce township, DeKalb 
county, Illinois; Carl, Waterman, Illinois; and Mrs. Ada Remsneider, 
Hinckley, Illinois. 'Mrs. Minnie Bale died February 15, 1918. 

In 1887, William Baie came from Illinois to Missouri and settled 
on a tract of land located near Adrian, a farm comprising two hundred 
acres, to which he has constantly added until at one time he was owner 
of three hundred seventy-three acres of choice land in Bates county, but 
he has recently sold eighty-three acres of his place to his son, Roy. Mr. 
Baie began life in Missouri under very discouraging conditions, being 
in debt and having ill-fortune in raising crops for the first few years. 
He had a very hard time to get a start in the new Western home, but 
by unflagging industry, perseverance, and tenacious endeavor, Mr. Baie 
has prospered and is now the owner of one of the attractive country 
places in his township. He has remodeled the residence, has built a 
large barn and several smaller barns, and has added implement sheds 
and other necessary farm buildings on his place and is now well equipped 
to handle large herds of stock and amounts of grain and hay. Mr. Baie 
keeps a nice herd of Shorthorn cattle and forty head of Poland China 
hogs. This past season, of 1917, he harvested two thousand bushels of 
oats and more than one hundred tons of hay and in addition had fifty- 
seven acres of the farm in corn, which yielded an average of forty bushels 
to the acre. He is a most progressive farmer and is an advocate of crop 
rotation and the constant use of the manure spreader. In former years, 
William Baie operated a steam thresher and corn sheller for many years 
in this vicinity and was very successful in this line of work. 

William Baie and Carrie Ridelspeger, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Frank Ridelspeger, were united in marriage in 1884 in Illinois. To this 
union were born five children: Mrs. Jennie Troeger, Hinckley, Illinois; 
Frank, San Simon, Arizona; Mrs. Cora Temme, deceased; Mrs. Ida 
Black, Kansas City, Missouri; and Roy, Adrian, Missouri. The mother 
died in 1894. Mr. Baie remarried, his second wife being Ida George, 
a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William George, of DeKalb county, Illinois. 
William Baie and Ida George w^ere united in marriage in 1899 and to 
them were born two children : Elizabeth and Sadie, both of whom 
reside at home with their father. Their mother, Ida (George) Baie 



8o6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

died September 23, 1915 and Mr. Bale and his two daughters reside 
alone at the old homestead. 

Politically, William Baie is affiliated with the Democratic party. He 
takes a keen interest in public and political affairs and has held several 
offices of honor and trust in his township. Mr. Baie has served his 
township as school director ever since he came to Bates county thirty- 
one years ago and he has been president of the school board and of the 
township board. He has been a member of the town board of Adrian 
for five years and was justice -of the peace of Deer Creek township for 
five years. He is a worthy and highly valued member of the German 
Lutheran church and has been a deacon and the church treasurer for 
many years. William Baie is numbered among the enterprising and 
public-spirited citizens of Bates county. 

J. W. Cox. — To Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Cox of Elkhart township belong 
the proud distinction of having one of the largest families in Bates 
county, or this section of Missouri. If they have accomplished during 
a life time of endeavor, no more than the rearing of their fourteen 
children to become good and worthy men and women they will have 
done something well worth while. Mr. Cox is one of the native born 
old settlers of this county while still comparatively young as age goes 
in this part of Missouri. He was born in a log cabin built by his father 
in Homer township, on July 15, 1867, a son of Felix and Mary (Hardi- 
nian) Maloney Cox, the former born in Clay countv, Missouri, 
and the latter was born in Ireland. The parents of Felix Cox were 
among the earliest pioneers of Clay county. The Cox home in Clay 
county was near that of the James boys and J. W. Cox remembers 
them very well and recalled that the James brothers frequently came 
to the Cox store to purchase provisions and trinkets. When the Civil 
War began, Felix Cox was eighteen years of age. He soon enlisted 
in the Tenth Kansas regiment and served with this organization until 
the close of the conflict as second lieutenant of his company. He 
fought in the battle of Westport and Mine Run and at one time was 
taken prisoner by the enemy. After the close of the war he came to 
Bates county in 1865 and made a settlement in Homer township, resid- 
ing there until August, 1867 when he came into possession of the farm 
where his son, J. W. Cox, now resides in Elkhart township. He spent 
the remainder of his life on this place with the exception of a few }/ears 
when he resided in Butler for the purpose of giving his children better 
educational advantages than that afforded by the district school. He 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 807 

was engaged in mercantile business at Vinton for a time. He was a 
Republican in politics and always took a keen interest in political 
affairs. Felix Cox died in March, 1895, aged fifty-two years, the wife 
and mother dying in 1906 at the age of sixty-five years. 

After receiving a fair education in the district school of his neigh- 
borhood and the Butler public schools, J. W. Cox took up farming for 
his life work and has since been diligently engaged in farming and 
stock raising upon his eighty-acre tract in Elkhart township. Mr. Cox 
was married in 1888 to Anna Peel)les who has borne him fourteen chil- 
dren, as follow: Gertrude, married Albert Ferguson and lives in Elk- 
hart township; Florence, wife of Louis Wilkerson, resides at Road 
House, Illinois; Joseph, lives in Elkhart township; Lewis, resides at 
home; Laura, wife of \A'ill McMein, living near Amsterdam, Missouri; 
Clay, a farmer in Elkhart township; Ethel, Lucille. Floyd and Lloyd 
(twins), John and James (twins), Darrell, and Murrel. at home with 
their parents. The mother of this large family of children was born 
in Illinois, a daughter of Abraham Peebles who came to this county and 
bought a half section of land whereon he resided until his death a few 
years later. After his death the other members of the Peebles family 
returned to Illinois. 

Mr. Cox is an independent voter and is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America. His memory of the early days in this county 
is vivid and at the time of his father's settlement in Homer township, 
much of the territory now dotted with farm homes was a vast unfenced 
prairie over which herds of deer and cattle roamed at will. He recalls 
the building of the first wire fence in his neighborhood and remem- 
bers when parties cut the strands of wire of one fence which had been 
built across the highway. He remembers that Jesse and Frank James 
and two others of their band called at his father's store for the pur- 
pose of purchasing provisions and trinkets and tobacco. His father 
split rails and fenced his eighty-acre farm before the days of wire fence. 
He has seen herds of deer grazing on the prairie numbering eight and 
ten head and witnessed the killing of a deer by a bull dog, also saw 
several bands of Indians. Wolves were likewise numerous but he 
thinks that nothing has been more v/onderful than the great changes 
that have taken place in the appearance of the country since the days 
of his childhood. 

George Crooks of Charlotte township has lived in Bates county 
for over half a century and can readily be classed as one of the real 



8o8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

"old settlers" of the county. He was born in Grundy county, Illinois, 
in 1860 and is a son of Peter and Caroline (Owens) Crooks. His 
father was a native of Scotland and during his younger days was a 
deep sea sailor and ship carpenter who was promoted to become a 
mate of sailing vessels. For several years he sailed the high seas and 
finally immigrated to America, where he was married to the wife of his 
choice who was born in Illinois state. He settled down to farming in 
Grundy county, Illinois, and resided there until his removal to Bates 
county. He was one of the early settlers in Grundy county, where the 
father of Mrs. Owens was one of the pioneers. Mr. Owens frequently 
recalled that at one time he was offered a quarter section of land within 
the city limits of Chicago in exchange for a pair of boots but did not think 
that he would get the worth of the boots. The site of Chicago in those 
early days was not an enticing place for settlers and Mr. Owens was 
not the only pioneer who declined an opportunity to own a piece of 
swamp land. The Crooks family located in Charlotte township when 
they came to Bates county in 1866 and Mr. Crooks resided upon his 
farm for the remainder of his life. He was a Republican and wielded 
quite an influence in local politics but always declined political prefer- 
ment. There were five children in the Crooks family, as follow: Laura, 
wife of John Cope, New Home township, Bates county; James, Santa 
Cruz, California; Agnes, married James H. Park, living near Virginia, 
this county; George, subject of this biography; and Peter, deceased. 

George Crooks has practically grown up with Bates county, and 
was educated in the old Butler Academy after his course in the local 
school. He has always followed farming and stock raising and ably 
cultivates his fine farm of one hundred sixty acres. He is a Republi- 
can in politics and has served as a member of the local school board. 
Mr. Crooks is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Vir- 
ginia. He has a good recollection of conditions in this county during 
his boyhood days and remembers seeing herds of deer, wild turkeys 
and game of all kinds. The family came to this county at a time when 
the greater part of the county was unfenced prairie land, and the trails 
ran straight across country, taking the shortest distance between two 
points. This was the condition until the coming of the wire fencing 
which required that regular roadways be laid out throughout the county. 
All those changes, Mr. Crooks has witnessed, and has seen the unset- 
tled country transformed into a productive and fertile land dotted 
with handsome farm homes and towns and villages. He has witnessed 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 809 

the days of the ox-team give way to the horse-drawn vehicles and that 
in turn give way to the automobile as a more rapid method of trans- 
portation. 

S. C. McKee, of Elkhart township, is a native son of Missouri, 
having been born on a pioneer farm near Austin in Cass county, in 
1852. He is a son of James and Louisa Jane (Best) McKee. His 
father was born in Tennessee and accompanied his brother, John McKee, 
to Cass county where they made a settlement near Austin. James 
McKee was the first blacksmith to open a shop in iVustin, and he died 
there wdien S. C. McKee was but six months old. His wife, Louisa 
Jane (Best) McKee, was born in Dayton township, Cass county, and 
after the death of James McKee, she married John Tate. When Order 
Number 11 was issued, the family located in Harrisonville, Missouri, 
where they resided until the fall of 1864 then they went to Illinois and 
lived in McLean county. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tate spent the remainder 
of their days in Illinois. To James and Mary McKee were born three 
children : William, was killed while serving in the Union army dur- 
ing the Civil War; Mrs. Louisa Jane Tate, lives in Illinois; S. C, sub- 
ject of this sketch. To the second marriage of Mrs. Louisa Jane McKee 
with John Tate, was born a son, Thomas Tate. 

In 1873, S . C. McKee returned to Missouri and took charge of the 
old home place of his father in Cass county. Ten years later he came 
to Bates county and purchased his present home place of one hundred 
forty acres in Elkhart township. He has since been engaged in gen- 
eral farming and stock raising and raises Shorthorn cattle and Poland 
China hogs. He w^as married in 1874 to Catherine Stambaugh, a native 
of Cass county, wdio has borne him twelve children: Magdalene, wife 
of John James, Windsor, Colorado; Charles W., Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia; Ida Ethel, married Lester Anderson, Omaha, Nebraska; Maude 
Estelle, wife of Oscar AVarnick, Warrensburg, Missouri; Oscar Law- 
rence, Great Falls, Montana; Dora Juanita, wife of Jack Bigler, Kansas 
City, Missouri; Tempest Alice, living in New York City; Trixie 
Annetta, Doyleston, Massachusetts ; Samuel Sullivan, Red Oak, Iowa ; 
George Washington, farming in Bates county; Olive Annie, a pul)lic 
school teacher, Centerview, Missouri ; Stanley Carrollton, at home. 
Two children have died : Bertha and Hallie. Bertha died in infancy, 
and Hallie Maye, wife of Joe Earnest Duvall, of Amsterdam, is deceased. 
Her death occurred at Joplin, Missouri. The mother of this large 
family of children was born in Cass county, a daughter of George AA^ash- 



8lO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ington and Jennie L. (Huff) Stambaugh. Her mother was a daughter 
of L. B. Huff and was born in Indiana near Terre Haute, and came to 
Missouri with her parents in 1855. She is now living in Kansas City. 
George W. Stambaugh was a native of Kentucky, born of Virginia 
parents. He became prominent in the affairs of Cass county where 
he settled in about 1854. He lost his life at the hands of "bushwhackers" 
at the beginning of the Civil War. After his death, his widow married 
J. E. Sawyer and to this marriage were born three children: Josephine, 
wife of James Owens, Kansas City; K. B., a Christian Science reader 
and practitioner, Kansas City; Dr. J. F., a practicing physician at Kan- 
sas City. 

Had Mr. and Mrs. McKee accomplished no more than the rearing 
of their splendid family of twelve children they would be entitled to 
more than honorable mention in this history of Bates county. Better 
than wealth, fame, or honors, is the credit of having contributed to 
the Nation a fine family of sons and daughters who have taken their 
places in the world and are living useful lives according to the precepts 
laid down by their parents. Mr. McKee is a Democrat who has found 
time while rearing his family, to fill the offices of tax collector and 
constable in his township. He was a member of the Farmers Alliance 
years ago and is now connected with the Farmers Union, its natural 
successor. 

George H. Pahlman, cashier of the Bank of Amsterdam, Missouri, 
is one of the youngest bankers in Missouri and is one of the most effi- 
cient and capable in Bates county today. He is a native of Bates county, 
having been born on a farm in Charlotte township, March 28, 1889, 
a son of G. C. and Anna J. (Dutton) Pahlman, natives of Illinois. 

G. C. Pahlman was born in Illinois in 1861 and was reared to young 
manhood in his native state. He migrated to Missouri in 1885 and 
made a settlement in Charlotte township. Bates county soon after his 
marriage with Anna J. Dutton who was born in Illinois in 1865 and 
came to Bates county with her father, Samuel Dutton, in 1870. Mr. 
and Mrs. Pahlman still reside on their farm in Charlotte township. 
They are parents of the following children : James T., Carmen, Okla- 
homa; G. H., subject of this review; Glenn W., Nashua, Montana; 
Holly F., a farmer of Charlotte township; Emma E., a student in But- 
ler High School. 

G. H. Pahlman was educated in the public schools of Bates county 
and the State Normal College at Warrensburg, Missouri. For a period 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8ll 

of three years he taught school in this county and then entered the Bank 
of Amoret as assistant cashier. In the year 1916 he took charge of 
the Bank of Amsterdam as cashier. This bank was first organized in 
1892 by W. J. Bard, John McKee, C. A. Emerson and H. P. Nickel 
with a capital of ten thousand dollars. The first cashier was C. A. 
Emerson and the first president was H. P. Nickel. Mr. Emerson was 
succeeded as cashier by W. W. Badgeley, who was followed by W. W. 
Rubel, who was succeeded by Clyde Bailey. Mr. Pahlman followed 
Mr. Bailey as cashier of the bank. The bank was burned out in the 
fire which occurred on February 3, 1916 and practically swept away 
the business district of Amsterdam. The bank being well insured the 
loss was slight, being but about $750 all told. A new bank building was 
erected and opened for business in the spring of 1917. This building is 
built of Ijrick with a tiled floor and fitted up with handsome modern 
fixtures at a total cost of $4,100, the building costing $2,600 and the 
new fixtures costing $1,500. The bank's capital and surplus in Decem- 
ber of 1917 is $15,000. The undivided profits are over $5,000. The 
deposits will exceed $125,000. The present officers are: John McKee, 
president ; William Henderson, vice-president ; cashier, G. H. Pahlman 
and the assistant cashier is Mrs. M. Pahlman. The directors are : John 
McKee, John Morewood, Alex Morewood, W. A. McBurney, and G. 
H. Pahlman. In addition to his duties as cashier, Mr. Pahlman conducts 
a fire insurance and farm loan department on his own account. 

In politics Mr. Pahlman is allied with the Democratic party. He 
is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married Octo- 
ber 28, 1912, to Miss Mayme E. McKibl)en, who was born in Charlotte 
township a daughter of William F. and Julia E. (Wolfe) McKibben, 
natives of Illinois. William F. McKibben, who is now living in Amster- 
dam, was born November 8, 1855, in Stephenson county, Illinois, a son of 
David T. and Eliza J. (Tompkins) McKibben, natives of Pennsylvania 
and Canada, respectively. The McKibben family came to Bates county, 
Missouri, in 1869 and located at Butler, where the parents lived a retired 
life -until death. AVilliam McKibben engaged in farming on liis own 
account in Charlotte township in 1885. After renting land for three 
years he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he 
improved, added eighty acres thereto and sold out in January, 1917. 
He was married in 1884 to Julia E. Wolfe, a daughter of C .W. \\'olfe, 
who came to Bates county from Iowa in 1869. The following children 
were born to this marriage : Bertha Gertrude, wife of O. W. A\^alker, 



8l2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Kansas City, Missouri; Mary E., wife of the subject of this review and 
who is assistant cashier of the Bank of Amsterdam. 

Edward C. Hess^ a well-known and prosperous farmer and stock- 
man of Deer Creek township, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hess was born 
in LaSalle county in 1875, a son of Gotthard and Catherine (Kern) Hess, 
who settled on a farm in Deer Creek township, Bates county, Missouri 
in 1879. When the Hess family settled in this part of the state, there 
were very few settlements, wild game might be found in abundance, 
and even the cattle, horses, and hogs ran at large over the open prairie. 
Before Adrian was founded, the trading point of the Hess family was 
Harrisonville. .Gotthard Hess was born in Germany, in 1844, and died 
in 1896. He came to America when a young man and first located in 
LaSalle county, Illinois, and there married Catherine Kern, also born 
in Germany in 1834, and died January 17, 1906. They were parents of 
four children: Henry, Madison, Kansas; Mrs. Ida Schmidt, Mound 
township. Bates county; Mrs. Emma Eeraris, Mound township. Bates 
county; Edward C, subject of this review. By a former marriage with 
Mr. Haas, Catherine Kern Hess was mother of four children, two of 
whom were reared: Mrs. Louise Rogers, died in January, 1917; Fred, 
Kansas City, Missouri. 

Mr. Hess, whose name introduces this review, attended school at 
Hess school house in Deer Creek township. Will Duncan was his first 
instructor and, later, he was taught by Professor Putnam and then by 
the professor's wife, Mrs. Putnam. He remembers one of the pioneer 
preachers of Bates county, to whom he often listened in his boyhood 
days, Reverend Showalter. Mr. Hess states that Reverend McClintock 
was the chief carpenter of those who built his father's residence in 1881. 
Revival meetings were frequently held in the brush arbors, in the early 
eighties, and attracted immense crowds of settlers from all parts of the 
country, the young people coming long distances to attend, riding on 
horseback. "Spelling bees" and "debating societies" afforded oppor- 
tunities for instruction, entertainment, and recreation for the pioneers^ 
opportunities which were universally seized. E. C. Hess has spent his 
entire life, up to the time of this writing in 1918, on the farm and he 
has always been interested in agricultural pursuits. The first money 
he ever earned was made by hauling a load of wood to town and his 
first investment was a young pig, which he watched and cared for with 
all the solicitude and caution of one who has all his earthly possessions 
at stake. Mr. Hess is now owner of a splendid farm in Deer Creek 



'K 

\> 

,0 




HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 813 

• 

township, a place comprising two hundred forty acres of valuable land. 
He, in addition, rents a tract of land embracing three hundred three 
acres and is engaged in raising stock extensively, having at the present 
time, in 1918, three hundred head of stock on the farm. He devotes 
some time to general farming and this past season, of 1917, harvested 
one thousand five hundred sixty-three bushels of wheat, one thousand nine 
hundred bushels of oats, and fifty tons of fine hay and one hundred thirty 
acres of the farm were planted in corn, which averaged forty bushels to 
the acre. Mr. Hess planted seventy-five acres of his land in wheat last 
autumn. His farm is well equipped with all needed conveniences for 
handling large herds of stock and amounts of grain and hay. 

The marriage of E. C. Hess and Anna Feraris, a daughter of Peter 
Fera' IS, a prominent citizen of Bates county, was solemnized in 1901. 
To this union have been born six living children: Louis, Marie, Earl, 
Rolla, Hadley, and Pauline, all of whom are at home with their parents. 
Aubrey was born August 4, 1904, and died September 30, 1904. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hess are members of the German Lutheran church. In the social 
circles of Deer Creek township, there is no family more highly respected 
and valued than that of which E. C. Hess is head. E. C. Hess is one of 
the best class of citizens, a gentleman who, because of his sterling per- 
sonal qualities, is today occupying a prominent position among the lead- 
ing, successful farmers and stockmen of this section of Missouri. 

Dr. William A. Williams, — For the past thirty-seven years Dr. W. 
A. Williams has been ministering to the sick and ailing in the section 
contiguous to Hume, Missouri. He is one of the best-known pro- 
fessional men of the county and for many years has been an active and 
prominent figure in the political history of Bates county. He is one 
of the real leaders of the Missouri Democracy, and Doctor Williams 
enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance among the people of this sec- 
tion of his native state, for he was born in Missouri, a son of one of 
the early pioneers of Missouri. 

John H. Williams, his father, was born in North Carolina, 
April 1, 1820, a son of Absalom Williams, who emigrated to Missouri 
in the fall of 1845 and settled in Pettis county, where he resided until 
his death in April, 1867. John H. Williams was reared to young man- 
hood in Pettis county and was married in Johnson county to Miss x-\ra- 
bella C. Gilliam on June 6, 1851. They were the parents of nine chil- 
dren, four living, of whom the subject of this review is the eldest, the 
others being: Joseph P., residing in Hume, Missouri; Mrs. S. H. Thomp- 



8 14 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

son, Kansas City; Mrs. R. F. Collins, Enid, Oklahoma. The mother 
of these children was born at Boone's Lick, Howard county, Missouri. 
January 25. 1832, a daughter of A\'illiam Gilliam, who located in Howard 
county in 1831, and moved to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1840. Mrs. 
Williams is now living in Hume. John H. Williams started for Illi- 
nois during the Civil War time but abandoned his intention of locating 
in that state. When peace was declared, he located at Dresden, Pet- 
tis county, where he became a merchant and live-stock dealer. During 
his younger years he taught school and followed the profession of civil 
engineer. Afterward, he moved to a farm on the Blackwater in Pettis 
county. For sixty-seven years he was a constant sufferer from asthma, 
an affliction which prevented him from attaining the maximum of suc- 
cess which was his just due. He removed to Hume, Missouri, in 1881 
and resided there until his untimely death on May 5, 1889, his demise 
being caused by a fall which resulted in a fractured hip, death resulting 
soon afterward. 

Doctor Williams was reared and educated in Pettis county, receiv- 
ing his classical education at Lake Forest Academy, after which he 
studied medicine for one year at the University of Missouri. Following 
his course at the Missouri University he entered the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, and graduated from this 
institution on February 14, 1877. He began the practice of his profes- 
sion at Logwood, Pettis county, where he remained for two years. He 
then practiced for tw^o years at Lamonte, Missouri, and in August, 1880, 
went to Silver Cliff, Colorado, remaining there for one year. In Sep- 
tember, 1881, he made a permanent location in Hume, Bates county, 
and for the past thirty-seven years has successfully practiced his pro- 
fession. Doctor Williams has kept abreast of the advances made in the 
science of his profession and rarely a month passes which does not find 
him in the hospitals of Kansas City, frequently visiting the city twice 
each month in the interest of his professional practice. 

Doctor Williams was married in 1905 to Miss Edna Z. Bacon, wdio 
was born in Vernon county, Missouri, and is proprietor of the Fashion 
Store at Hume. He is a member of the Bates County, Tri-County. and 
the Missouri State Medical Societies. Doctor Williams is affiliated 
fraternally with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 1026, 
Rich Hill, Missom^i, and is prominently identified with the Knights of 
Pythias Lodge. He has served as Chancellor Commander of the Hume 
Lodge of Pythians since its organization with the exception of but a few 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ' 815 

years and has been a member of the Grand Lodge and representative 
from the Hume Lodge since 1893. He has attended the sessions of the 
Grand Lodge of Pythians in the state of Missouri for the past twenty- 
four years. For fourteen years he was supreme representative of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen and is past master for the state of 
Missouri in this order, having filled practically every executive office in 
the order. He is also affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and 
the Degree of Honor. 

Politically, Doctor Williams is one of the most influential Demo- 
crats in this section of Missouri. For many years he has been active 
in the councils of his party and has assisted many of his friends to 
political preferment. For thirty years he has been identified with the 
party organization in Missouri and has never missed a county or state 
convention where he has been one of the guiding spirits. Having no 
desire for political or civic honors himself he has been interested in 
politics for pure love of the game and the excitement of taking part in 
a political contest. 

E. D. Fitz Gerald. — The career of him whose name forms the caption 
of this review is that of a self-made man who in the course of a few 
years has accomplished as much and more than the average individual 
does in a life time of endeavor. He is one of those excellent citizens 
of Bates county who came here from an adjoining state and has taken 
his position as an important member of the civic body of the county. 
E. D. Fitz Gerald, owner of a splendid farm of two hundred and forty 
.acres in section 21, Howard township, was born at Chetopa, Kansas, in 
1871, and was a son of William G. and Martha (Robinson) Fitz Gerald. 

William Fitz Gerald, his father, was a native of Ireland of Scotch- 
Irish parentage who married Martha Robinson, a native of London, 
England, and soon after the marriage immigrated to America in 1868. 
They w^ere early settlers in the state of Kansas where Mr. Fitz Gerald 
was engaged in banking. For a numl)er of years he was cashier of a 
bank at Chetopa, in Miami county, Kansas. He died in 1873. To AA^ill- 
iam and Martha Fitz Gerald were horn the following children: Edward 
D. Fitz Gerald and Geraldine E. Fitz Gerald. 

E. D. Fitz Gerald was reared and educated in Kansas and early in 
life took up the vocation of agriculturist. He came to Bates county, 
Missouri, in 1899 and for some years worked at farm labor. He was 
industrious and saving of his earnings and after his marriage in 1901 
he began renting land. He leased the farm which he now owns, for 



8l6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

a period of seven years and then purchased it. Since coming into 
possession of the property he has added several substantial improve- 
ments, a house, a barn, and a large silo. During the past year he has 
harvested sixty acres of corn which yielded an average of forty bushels 
to the acre and has sown fifty acres to wheat. He sells from his place 
an average of seventy head of hogs annually and other products which 
yield him a good income. 

Mr. Fitz Gerald was married December 24, 1901, to Miss Rose Ann 
White, who was born in Vernon county, Missouri, a daughter of Cass 
and Eva (Benham) White, natives of New York, who immigrated to 
Missouri in 1872 and made a settlement in Vernon county, where Mr. 
White became a successful farmer and stockman. Mr. W^iite died in 
1912 and his widow makes her home in Vernon county. Seven children 
have been born to E. D. and Rose Ann Eitz Gerald, as follow^: Beulah 
Anna, aged fifteen years; Wayne Miles, aged thirteen; UUis James, 
eleven years of age; Charles Bronson, ten years old; David Arnold, aged 
five years; Hattie May, who died January 16, 1911, at the age of one 
year and two months; Edith Pauline, four years of age. 

Mr. Eitz Gerald is a Democrat in politics and takes a keen interest 
in civic and educational matters, having been a strong advocate of 
the inauguration of the consolidated school system, he being one of the 
school directors, which has provided transportation and graded school 
facilities for the children of Howard township at Hume, Missouri. He 
and Mrs. Fitz Gerald are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
South, and contribute of their time and means to the furtherance of relig- 
ious works. Mr. Fitz Gerald is a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America and Domestic W^orkers, and Mrs. Fitz Gerald is affiliated with 
the Domestic Workers (Royal Neighbors). Both are popular and highly 
esteemed in their home community where they are valued and useful 
citizens. 

W. P. Connell. — The name of Connell is a historic one in Kansas 
and Bates county, jMissouri, and recalls recollections to the old timers 
of both Kansas and Missouri of the days when the state of Kansas 
was in the making and that Jesse Connell, father of W. P. Connell, 
was a member of the first state constitutional convention held in Kan- 
sas and played a very prominent part in the making of a new state. 
History also records that he later came to Bates county and became 
prominently identified with the People's Party movement in this county 
and at the time of his death in 1892. he was the presiding judge of the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 817 

county court in this county. W. P. Connell, an intelligent and highly 
respected old resident of West Boone township, owner of one hundred 
and sixty acres of land, was born January 9, 1845, in Trimble county, 
Kentucky, a son of Jesse and Nancy (Johnson) Connell, both of whom 
were natives of Kentucky. 

The late Judge Jesse Connell was born in Kentucky in Trimble 
county and reared and educated in his native state. He was an intelli- 
gent, versatile citizen of excellent educational attainments, a natural- 
born leader of men, so it is not strange that after locating in Leaven- 
worth county, Kansas, in 1854, he soon became identified with the his- 
toric making of a great state. He soon became identified with political 
movements in his section of Kansas and was elected to represent Leav- 
enworth county as a member of the first state constitutional conven- 
tion held in 1857. He played a prominent and effective part in the 
making of the first set of laws under which Kansas was governed and 
resided in that state until 1875, when he came to Missouri and located 
on a farm in Clay county. He resided in Clay county until 1880 and 
then came to Bates county. His powers of leadership soon evidenced 
themselves in this county and he became identified v/ith the People's 
Party movement which was then sweeping the Western states and 
gaining in strength and power each continued year of its existence. He 
was a candidate for judge of the county court of Bates county in the 
election of 1892 when the People's or Populist Party swept the county 
and elected practically all the county officials. He was made presiding 
judge of the county court as a result of this decisive election but died 
during the year, in Butler. His remains are interred in Oak Hill ceme- 
tery. The death of judge Connell marked the passing- of one of the 
truly historic characters of the border days. He was the father of 
ten children, five of whom are yet living as follow : Robert, living in 
Clay county, Missouri; Mrs. Nannie Watkins, Liberty, Missouri; May, 
also living in Liberty, Missouri; Jack, a resident of Centerview, Mis- 
souri ; Mrs. Kate Wright, Long Beach. California ; William P., subject 
of this review^ 

W. P. Connell received his early education in the common schools 
of Leavenworth county. Kansas, and pursued a course at St. Benedict's 
College, Atchison, Kansas. He removed with his father to Clay county, 
Missouri, in 1875, and came to Bates county with him in 1880. For 
a period of twenty-seven years, Mr. Connell cultivated a farm located one 
mile south of his present home place and in 1907 purchased eighty 

(52) 



8l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

acres, which in connection with a farm of eighty acres, forty acres owned 
by his brother-in-law, makes a good farm of one hnndred and sixty acres 
which they cultivate in common. 

Mr. Connell w-as married in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1866, to 
Sarah Viola Cox, born in Hancock county, Illinois, in 1844, a daughter 
of Luke and Elizabeth (Daws) Cox, natives of Virginia. Luke Cox 
her father, died in Illinois in 1857. The widow, born in 1829, was mar- 
ried, second time, to Robert Perry Higdon, of Alabama, and moved to 
Leavenworth county, Kansas, in 1864. Her second husband died at 
Ft. Smith, Arkansas, during the Civil AVar period. She was married, 
third time, to John Freeland, who died in Leavenworth county, Kan- 
sas. Mrs. Freeland is now living at the Connell home. The following 
children have been born to W. P. and Sarah Viola Connell: Mrs. Minnie 
Scott Black, living on a farm near Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Bettie 
Wright, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Johanna Clapp, Montana. Mr. and 
Mrs. Connell have eleven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. 
In 1916 this worthy couple celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary 
and a considerable gathering of friends and relatives were present to 
wish them many returns of the day and to partake of their hospitality 
and cheer. 

Mr. and Mrs. Connell are members of the Quaker faith and are good, 
worthy citizens of Bates county who are respected and admired by all 
wdio know them. He is a Democrat in politics and has served his town- 
ship for eight years as trustee and was justice of the peace for eight 
years. W. P. Connell is a worthy son of an honored and revered par- 
ent whose name will live long in history as one of the makers of a 
great state. 

G. B. Bohlken, prosperous farmer and stockman of Homer town- 
ship, vice-president of the Bank of Amoret, Missouri, is a Bates county 
citizen of German birth wdio has made a splendid record in his adopted 
land. He began life in this country as a farm hand, followed by a period 
of homesteading on the plains of Nebraska, where his home was a sod 
house, and later by a successful career in Bates county as farmer and 
stockman. Mr. Bohlken w^as born in Germany in 1845, a son of C. H. 
and M. Bohlken, who lived and died in their native land. Mr. Bohlken 
received a good education in the schools of his native country and in 
1869 he immigrated to America. He was endowed with very little of 
this world's goods when he arrived in Illinois and his work was as farm 
hand for six months at a wage of twenty-fiA'e dollars per month. He 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 819 

then rented a farm and cultivated rented land in Illinois until 1886, when 
he went to Cheyenne county, Nebraska, where he homesteaded a half 
section of land whereon he grazed cattle for a number of years. His 
home on the prairie was a sod house, which followed the dugout whexein 
he and his family first lived. He ranged cattle on the plains and im- 
proved his land, and it can be said that Mr. Bohlken has no complaint 
to make of any hardships endured while on his ranch, life being easy, 
and no hard work connected with herding cattle. He disposed of his 
Nebraska land in 1895 and came to Bates county, where for the follow- 
ing twelve years he operated a tract of Scully land on a lease. In 
1907 he bought his present splendid farm of two hundred and eighty 
acres in Homer township. 

Mr. Bohlken was married in Germany in 1869 to Catherine Hemen 
and came directly after his marriage to America, accompanied by his 
bride. Mrs. Bohlken was a faithful helpmeet to her husband until her 
death in 1897. Children were born to this marriage as follow; Mrs. 
Margaret Emanuelson ; Mrs. Mary Fitz; Mrs. Annie Wilkerson; Mrs. 
Helen Alberts; William, Sina, and George, at home with their father; 
Henry, deceased. Mr. Bohlken is independent in his political views and 
votes as his conscience dictates. He is a member of the Lutheran 
denominational faith and is highly esteemed as one of Bates county's 
most substantial citizens. 

J. R. Trent, foreman of the A. H. Warren Cattle Ranch in Bates 
county, was born at Humansville, Cedar county, Missouri, in 1890. He 
is the son of T. S. and Jennie (Knapp) Trent, the former of whom was 
a native of McDonald county, Missouri. Mrs. Jennie Trent was born in 
New -York state and came to Missouri with her parents in 1880. Mr. 
and Mrs. Trent came to Bates county in 1913 and are now living in Sum- 
mit township. J. R. Trent was reared and educated in Cedar county, 
Missouri, and took up the vocation of farming and stock raising. He 
came to Bates county in 1909 and managed the Frank Robinson farm 
until he took charge of the A. H. Warren ranch in 1913. This ranch 
comprises a total of two thousand one hundred and thirty-one acres in 
Summit, Shawnee, and Mound towaiships and has been in operation for 
the past ten years. It w^as first placed in operation by Messrs. Huffing- 
ton and Warren, of Kansas City, but upon Mr. Hufiington's death, Mr. 
A. H. Warren became sole proprietor of the ranch. There are now 
two hundred sixty-two head of cattle on the ranch, sixty-three of which 
are on full feed. This number is somewhat below the usual number of 



820 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

cattle kept on the place and there is usually a carload of hogs in feeding" 
for the markets. The land comprising the ranch is all in lease and is 
part of the Scully lands in this county, all being owned by the Scully 
estate excepting ninety-three acres, which is owned by Mr. AVarren. The 
residence on the place was built by Green AA'alton. and is situated four 
miles north and three and three-fourths miles east of Butler, Missouri. 
Four men are employed to assist in the operations of the ranch. 

J. R. Trent was married on October 18, 1908. to Miss Freda Nel- 
son, a daughter of N. Y. and Mary Nelson, of Cedar county, Missouri. 
Mrs. Trent was born in Princeton, Illinois, Bureau county, and came to 
Missouri in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are parents of four children 
besides Mrs. Freda Trent, as follow: Palmer E. ; Mrs. Selma Mitten; 
Mrs. Jennie E. McDonald, Kansas City. IMissouri ; and Mrs. E. G. Ward, 
Butler, IMissouri. A brother of Mr. Trent, named Loren Trent, resides 
on a farm at Manzanola, Colorado. 

Mr. Trent is one of the best stockmen in this section of ^Missouri 
and has learned thoroughly how to care for livestock by being asso- 
ciated with stockmen, applying himself, and being by nature possessed 
with a natural liking for his profession. His employer says of him that 
he is one of the best stockmen he ever employed. The Warren Com- 
pany ships from eight to ten cars of livestock to the markets each year 
and modern methods of feeding are used on this large ranch. It is 
equipped with the largest silo in Bates county having a capacity of two 
hundred and fifty tons of silage, and erected in 1914. Mrs. Trent attends 
to the poultry department on her own account and has at the present 
writing over one hundred and fifty Barred Rock chickens on the place. 
Mr. and Mrs. Trent are energetic, industrious and ambitious people 
who are determined to make a success of their lives and will without 
doubt meet with the greatest success in their chosen vocation. 

A. J. Smith, a leading attorney of Bates county, Missouri, one of 
Adrian's most prominent and influential citizens, president of the Old 
Settlers Association, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Smith was born in 1855, 
a son of J. J. and Deborah (Blue) Smith, of Delaware county, Ohio. 
Deborah (Blue) Smith was a daughter of Michael Blue, a native of Ohio 
and of Irish descent. J. J. Smith moved from Delaware county, Ohio 
to Columbus in Franklin county and in 1866 came to Bates county, Mis- 
souri and purchased a tract of land, comprising one thousand eighty 
acres, for three dollars and sixty cents an acre. Two years afterward, 
in 1868, Mr. Smith returned to this part of the state with his family 




A. J. SMITH. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 82 1 

and they located temporarily at Butler. In the spring of 1869, the Smiths 
settled on the farm, in Alound township, a part of which the son, A. J., 
now owns. Their residence was a small box house, scarcely large 
enough for their family. J. J. and Deborah (Blue) Smith were the par- 
ents of six children, three of whom are now living: Dr. Norman P., 
deceased; Mrs. Mary E. Walter, Adrian, Missouri; Dr. Harvey B., de- 
ceased; John C, Adrian, Missouri; A. J., the subject of this sketch; and 
Deborah, deceased. The mother died in Ohio, when her youngest son, 
A. J., was a little child, three years of age. Several years after the 
death of Mrs. Smith, J. J. Smith remarried, his second wife being Mar- 
tha Livingston, a daughter of Judge Livingston, of Ohio. Mr. Smith 
was a highly intellectual man and well educated. He was engaged in 
teaching school for many years in Ohio but after coming West and 
settling in Bates county he devoted his entire time and energies to the 
pursuits of agriculture and stock raising. During his career, he suffered 
many financial reverses, but he was the type of man who knows no 
failure and his perseverance and invincible spirit in the end brought him 
a fair measure of success. J. J. Smith was one of Bates county's most 
highly respected and valued citizens and his death on May 18, 1895 
was universally lamented in this part of the state by all who knew him. 
In the public schools of Bates county, Missouri, A. J. Smith received 
his elementary education. He later entered Butler Academy and after 
completing the academic course was engaged in teaching school for 
several years until he had saved from his earnings a sum of money 
sufficient to enable him to pursue a course in law at the Missouri State 
University. Mr. Smith graduated from the Missouri Law School at the 
State University in 1881 and after completing his work at the university 
he returned to his father's home on the farm to obtain a much needed 
rest. Prior to opening his law office at Adrian, Mr. Smith again entered 
the teaching profession and taught school for one term. For twenty 
years, he was engaged in the regular practice of law, since which time 
he has been doing office practice only. In 1898, A. J. Smith purchased 
the interests of the other heirs to the old home place and is the present 
owner of two hundred fifty acres of land in Mound township, a farm of 
one hundred sixty acres upon which he has built a very nice, comfort- 
able cottage of six rooms, and a farm of ninety acres also well improved 
with a pleasant residence, a cyclone cellar, a sufficient number of barns, 
and supplied with an abundance of good water. Mr. Smith rents both 
places and from them derives a very satisfactory income. He is also 



822 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the owner of a large lot in Adrian, 140 x 200 feet, upon which he has 
built two residences. The older house was his first home in Adrian 
and the new one is his present home, a handsome, modern structure of 
thirteen rooms supplied with both hot and cold water and finished with 
hardwood floors, built in 1911. 

The marriage of A. J. Smith and Laura M. Hunter, a daughter of 
W. M. and Elizabeth Hunter, of Butler, Missouri, was solemnized Sep- 
tember 29, 1885 and to this union were born three children: Alvin C, 
deceased; Mrs. Martha E. Wallace, Altamont, Missouri; and Leon H., 
Adrian, Missouri. The mother died in 1900, leaving the three small 
children, the youngest but five years of age. Mr. Smith remarried, his 
second wife being Mary L. Nichols, a daughter of Stephen Nichols, and 
to them has been born one child, a daughter, Mary Lucile, who is at 
home with her parents. 

Politically, A. J. Smith is affiliated with the Republican party. He 
takes a keen and commendable interest in public and political affairs 
and has served as city attorney of Adrian for many years. He is in 
close connection with the financial interests of Bates county and is at 
present a stockholder and the attorney of the Adrian Banking Com- 
pany, of which institution he was vice-president and director for thirty 
years. 

Mr. Smith readily recalls the time in Bates county, when one might 
travel a distance of many miles and not pass a settlement, when he 
from the doorway of his father's home has killed countless wild ducks 
and prairie chickens, and when the old stagecoach used to travel from 
Grand River to Butler by way of the Mound. Later, the route of the 
stagecoach was changed, after a trail had been beaten, so that it passed 
the Smith homestead. Mr. Smith relates in his own inimitable way 
many delightful stories of his youth, many incidents, too, of hardship 
and privation which he experienced in his boyhood days and in his 
early manhood, and many interesting cases which he has had in his 
later years since entering the practice of his profession. Mr. Smith is 
president of the Bates County Old Settlers' Association. 

The record of A. J. Smith is the record of a man of talent, who 
began life under the embarrassing circumstances which poverty entails 
and who, by his own unaided efforts, has worked himself up from a 
lowly position to one of the highest standing in Bates county, Missouri. 
From the first, Mr. Smith's life has been one of industry and persever- 
ance and the honorable course he has undeviatingly followed, the admir- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 823 

able methods he has invariably adopted, have won for him the support 
and confidence of all with whom he has had business or social relations. 
It is to such strong-minded men that our country's prosperity is chiefly 
indebted, for in the building of communities and in laying the broad, 
deep foundations of future progress they are potential factors and must 
be considered as true benefactors of the race. A. J. Smith deserves 
great credit for the rapid strides he has made from a most humble sta- 
tion in life to one of influence and affluence in his community. Bates 
county is proud to enroll such gentlemen as he among the county's best 
and most intellectual, substantial citizens. 

Stephen Cole Collier, prosperous and enterprising farmer and stock- 
man of Walnut township, is a member of one of the oldest of the Mis- 
souri pioneer families who is keeping up the reputation of his ancestors 
as able and intelligent tillers of the soil. In his own right he is 
owner of a splendid tract of two hundred and forty acres of prairie 
land in Walnut township, located south of Foster — a beautiful, level 
tract of land which is kept in a high state of cultivation by the proprietor. 
During 1917, Mr. Collier harvested 3,500 bushels of corn from a tract of 
sixty acres with other crops in proportion. He has fifty acres planted 
to wheat for the next harvest and has thirty-three head of cattle on his 
place at the present time, aiming to feed from fifteen to twenty-five 
head of cattle each year for the markets. 

S. C. Collier was born August 11, 1867, in Saline county, Missburi. 
He is a son of James S. Collier, born in 1832 and departed this life 
October 27, 1913. His mother was Margaret Elizabeth Cole, prior to 
her marriage, and was born in 1838 and died in 1885. James S. Collier 
wa^ born in Virginia and made a settlement in Saline county, Mis- 
souri, during the fifties. In 1872 he made a trip to Montana, where 
he was engaged in ranching and cattle raising with his brother-in- 
law, Frank Cole, the men driving a herd of five hundred heifers across 
the plains to the free ranges of Montana. He returned to Missouri 
in July, 1879, and made a visit to Bates county. Taking a liking to 
the country he purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres south 
of Foster in Walnut township and proceeded to improve the place. He 
resided here engaged in farming and stock raising until his death. He 
was the father of two children, now living: Stephen Cole, subject of 
this review; and Mrs. Anna Smiley, Barton county, Missouri. Mrs. 
Margaret Elizabeth (Cole) Collier was born in Missouri in 1838 and 
died in 1885. She was a daughter of Holbert Cole, a native of Kentuckv, 



624 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

who settled at the site of Old Fort Boone on the Missouri river, and 
assisted in the building of this fort early in the nineteenth century, 
thus becoming- one of the earliest of the Missouri pioneers who had 
to brave the hardships of the frontier and live in continual fear of 
attacks by the savage Indians who roamed over the wild and unsettled 
country which was then the Missouri territory. James S. Collier served 
in the Confederate army, enlisting from Cooper county, Missouri, under 
the famous Confederate commander. Gen. J. O. Shelby, who spent the 
latter years of his life in Bates county. Elsewhere in this volume is 
written a history of the life of General Shelby, together with an account 
of his military operations, which will give a fair account of the cam- 
paign in which James S. Collier participated under Shelby. 

S. C. Collier was educated in the district school and the old Butler 
Academy. He has always lived upon the home place, receiving as his 
share of the estate, one hundred and sixty acres, to which he has added 
an "eighty," making two hundred and forty acres in all. Mr. Collier 
was married on May 12, 1896, to Livona Wilson, born in Bates county, 
in 1874, a daughter of T. J. and Mary Elizabeth (Gilliland) Wilson, 
natives of Missouri. T. J. W^ilson, her father, was born on a pioneer 
farm in Henry county, near the townsite of Leeton, Missouri. He 
was a son of Tennessee parents who were early pioneers in Missouri. 
In early maturity, he settled in Bates county and farmed for a 
number of years until his removal to Seattle, Washington, in 1907. His 
wife, Mary Elizabeth Gilliland, was born in 1848 and died in August, 
1896. She was a daughter of Lewis Gilliland, a native of Tennessee, 
who came to Bates county in the thirties and took up a claim on Wal- 
nut creek, where he remained until 1850, when he, with others, started 
for California but died there. One of the mementoes of his trip was a 
gold necklace wdiich was made from gold which he sent from Cali- 
fornia to his wife, Lucy Gilliland. 

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Collier : 
Mrs. Mary Margaret Moore, Nevada, Missouri ; Alice Irene, at home 
with her parents; and Stephen Dow, aged fifteen years. Mr. Collier 
is aligned with the Democratic party and is a member of the Metho- 
dist church. South. He belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons 
and has been a member of this order for the past twenty-five years. 
For twelve years he has been af-filiated with the Knights of Pythias 
lodge. 

Elmer Elsworth Laughlin was born and named August 22, 1865, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 825 

in Tama county, Iowa. His father and mother came to Bates county, 
Missouri, in 1869. E. E. LaughHn's registered farm No. 35, consists of 
about one thousand five hundred acres, containing- some of the best land 
in W^ahiut township, and is now ahnost all in grass and pasture, carrying 
at present three hundred head of cattle, twenty mules, some horses, 
a flock of registered Shropshire sheep wdiich supplies rams not only 
for Bates county but over in Kansas. Besides his Hereford cows, hog'S, 
jennets, and pure-bred Plymouth Rock fowls are not only known at 
home but abroad. 

In 1887. E. E. Laughlin's father gave him one hundred sixty acres 
of land, the cream of Walnut township. This was not improved until 
1893, when he married Miss Nellie Green, of Blue Mound, Kansas, a. 
daughter of John M. and Elizabeth Mary Green, natives of Saybrook. 
Illinois. Mrs. E. E. Laughlin's father and mother are both buried at 
Blue Mound, Kansas. Miss Nellie Green was a most successful school 
teacher. Commencing at the age of seventeen, she taught school, went 
to school, thus preparing herself for a most successful busy life. Like 
her father before her, she never was out of the harness- in church 
work, wherever she was located, and was always consulted at every 
church meeting. Her mother remembered the preaching of the power- 
ful Peter Cartwright, which made her a stronger Methodist wdiich was 
handed to her daughter Nellie, who likewise never thought of deserting 
the teachings of the home of John M. Green. Mrs. E. E. Laughlin 
always superintends all the fruit sales and the labor connected with 
it. which was no small item in the success of the farm. The same is 
true of the poultry yard. Her home is nine rooms, modern, with accomo- 
dations for the family and her friends which w^as designed for her own 
special wants. 

E. E. Laughlin got a degree of B. S. from the Kansas Normal Col- 
lege, took two years in the Northwestern University. Chicago, Illinois. 
The one hundred sixty acres was a stalk field in 1893, so the planning 
was from the "stump." One of the delights is the absence of nursery 
trees and the setting of the lawn with forest trees, each having a history 
of itself. The entrance to the farm through the cement posts was 
published in agricultural papers, and Mr. Laughlin claims to be the 
father of this particular design of gate posts. Mr. Laughlin w^as the 
first president of the Missouri Corn Growers' Association, lectured on 
agriculture for four years, but "gabbing" took his mind of¥ business 
which paid better than "preaching agriculture." A casual look over 



826 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the farmstead one has the impression of a well-planned, make-as-you-go, 
permanent country home and the historian ventures the guess the only 
way he will leave this farm is by main strength of the last day". Look 
him up in one hundred years. 

E. E. Laughlin and wife have three boys. Paul V. Laughlin, born 
in 1895, is equipped with the best business education he could get both 
at the State Normal and Agricultural College at Columbia, Missouri, 
has held some very important positions of trust, but has now cast his 
lot with his father in the active management of the farm which he 
hopes to net him more than good salaries. But just now his number 
is in the selective draft and he looks for the call to arms. David W. Laugh- 
lin, named after his grandfather, born in 1900, is in the high school 
work, thinks and enjoys farm work, and his father thinks he will make his 
mark worthy of the name he carries. Rutherford J. Laughlin, born in 
1901, he too, of splendid parentage, goes into high school work with a 
relish, strictly modern in all his ideas, and bids fair to more than carry 
a good name. 

Genealogy — from Century Dictionary — "Laugh," Irish for lake; 
"Lin," Irish for spring. "Justine McCarty's History of the Irish Peo- 
ple, 1270 A. D.": Laughlin was an Irish Lord in the north of Ireland, 
warring with the south faction of Ireland. Robert Laughlin of Revolu- 
tionary period was a weaver ; James Laughlin of 1812 with William Henry 
Harrison, a blacksmith; David Laughlin, W. Laughlin, 1861-65, a 
farmer; Elmer E. Laughlin, a farmer. The blood lines of the grand- 
parents of E. E. Laughlin are: Laughlin, Irish; Lee, Scotch; Blangy, 
French ; Scott, Scotch. Genealogy of Mrs. E. E. Laughlin — all English. 

William T. Briscoe, proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred sixty 
acres in Walnut township, was born July 22, 1864. in Cooper county, 
Missouri, a son of Samuel Logan and Alpha Ann (Corum) Briscoe, early 
Missouri pioneers, a sketch of whom appears in this volume in con- 
nection with the biography of Charles B. Briscoe, brother of the sub- 
ject of this review, who accompanied his parents to Bates county in 
1877 at the age of thirteen years. Mr. Briscoe had little opportunity 
to attend school in Bates county. He assisted his father on the home 
place until 1886 and then began farming on his own account. He first 
rented part of the parental homestead and after his marriage in 1887 
he moved to a farm south of Foster, where he resided for three years. 
In 1890 he moved to southern Missouri and purchased a farm near 
Mountain View and for thirteen years w^as engaged in producing fruit 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 827 

and raising livestock. He sold out there in 1904 and rented a farm 
located southwest of Foster near Independence church for two years. 
In 1906, he bought his present home farm and he and his family have 
since made their home thereon. 

Mr. Briscoe was married September 15, 1887, to Alice May Steele, 
born in Cooper county, Missouri, May 1, 1860, a daughter of James H. 
and Alice Maria (Bartlett) Steele, the former of whom was born in 
Cooper county, and the latter in Cooper county, Missouri also. James 
H. was a son of William Steele, a Missouri pioneer. Mrs. Alice Maria 
Steele died in Cooper county and her father removed to Bates county 
in 1881, dying here in August, 1895. Three of the children of William 
T. and Alice May Briscoe died in infancy. The others are : Alonzo 
Otis, born February 29, 1892, a graduate of the Normal School at War- 
rensburg, studied at Columbia University, Columbia, Missouri, and now 
filling the position of superintendent of the Orrick, Ray county, High 
School; Charles Logan, born April 9, 1894, and died September 24, 
1894; Alpha Dale, born November 21, 1896, a teacher in the Foster 
public schools; Lottie Opal, born February 20, 1899, attending school 
at Orrick, Missouri; John Gabriel, born December 23, 1900, also attend- 
ing school at Orrick. 

The Democratic party has always had- the support of William T. 
Briscoe, but he has never at any time in his life, been a seeker after 
political honor. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church 
and belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America lodge. The Briscoe 
homestead is an historic place from the standpoint of early associa- 
tions and being one of the first farmsteads improved in Walnut town- 
ship. The residence was formerly a stopping place on the old stage 
line which ran from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, to Fort Scott, Kansas, 
and the Marvel postoffice was conducted in the house for some time 
in the early days. 

Otis P. Hart, a successful and enterprising, young agriculturist 
and stockman of Mingo township, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hart 
was born December 15, 1879, a son of George AV. and Mary Eliza- 
beth (Sims) Hart, both of whom were born in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. 
George W. Hart are the parents of two sons : Oren Kenton, of Bartles- 
ville, Oklahoma; and Otis P., the subject of this review. A more com- 
prehensive sketch of the Hart family will be found in the biography 
of George W. Hart, which appears elsewhere in this volume. 

In the public schools of Mingo township. Bates county, Missouri, 



828 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Otis P. Hart received his elementary education, which was later sup- 
plemented by a four years' course in Appleton City Academy, Appleton 
City, Missouri. After leaving school, Mr. Hart was engaged in the 
piano business in Illinois for fifteen years. For the past three years, 
he has been engaged in farming and stock raising on the Hart home 
place in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri and is making a suc- 
cess of handling cattle, horses, and hogs. He is a progressive, intelli- 
gent, willing worker and has a high standing among the good citizens 
of his community. 

The marriage of Otis P. Hart and Mrs. Jennie V. Nordin, of Rock- 
ford, Illinois, was solemnized in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Hart are well 
known in Mingo township and they move in the best social circles of 
their township and county. They possess pleasing personalities and 
the happy faculty of retaining close personal friendships and among 
the younger people of the county they are very popular. Mr. Hart 
keeps abreast of the times in everything pertaining to his vocations 
and his up-to-date methods combined with economy, industry, and his 
thorough understanding of the principles underlying all business must 
in time be inevitably attended by a large measure of success. 

Andrew J. Hoover, an honored veteran of the Civil War. a former 
merchant of Adrian, Missouri, now a retired stockman, is a native of 
Indiana. Mr. Hoover was born April 9, 1838, a son of Adam and Rebecca 
(Thomas) Hoover. The paternal grandfather of A. J. Hoover was a 
gifted and beloved Dunkard minister in Maryland, Rev. Adam Hoover. 

In AA'hite county, Indiana, A. J. Hoover attended the public schools 
of the state. In winter he went to school and assisted with the chores 
at home; in summer he attended to the various duties incumbent upon 
a boy on the farm in the early days and did any other work wdiich would 
earn an honest cent. Life was a hard treadmill, but it did not prove 
that "all work and no play" made A. J. "a dull boy." The school which 
he attended was like most of the country schools of his day — barren 
and uncomfortable. There were no bright, pleasant schoolrooms, airy 
in summer and warm in winter, no comfortable seats, fitted to the indi- 
vidual, no convenient desks, no pictures, no blackboards, no books of 
reference. Children in those days had little to make school pleasant or 
interesting. School life, like home life, was stern and full of drudgery. 

AVhen the Civil War broke out, A. J- Hoover enlisted with the 
Union forces. He served for three months under Colonel Milrov and 
then enlisted in the Seventy-second Indiana Regiment, serving three 




ANDREW J. HOOVER. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 829 

years until the battle of Stone River and was then transferred to Wiley's 
brigade of mounted riflemen. Mr. Hoover fought in thirty-two hard- 
fought battles, among them being: Perrysville, Stone River, Peach Tree 
creek, Chickamauga, Rock Springs, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, 
Atlanta, Jonesboro, on Sherman's march to the sea, capture of Savan- 
nah, and he marched through the Carolinas to AVashington and took part 
m the Grand Review. After the war had ended and he received his dis- 
charge in July, 1865, Mr. Hoover returned to his home in Indiana and the 
ensuing year, 1866, came west to Missouri and located at Lonejack in 
Jackson county, where he engaged in farming for one year. In 1867, he 
moved to Bates county and located in Deer Creek township, where he 
at one time owned five hundred acres of land. Mr. Hoover bought cattle 
extensively, fed and wintered them and sold the herd the following 
autumn, when he would again buy more cattle to feed and winter. He 
once herded five hundred twenty cattle on the present townsite of 
Adrian, for at that time there were vast tracts of open prairie in Bates 
county. He recalls how farmers and stockmen would cut native hay 
and make great ricks, around which they would herd their cattle. Mr. 
Hoover erected a large. sul)stantial brick building in Adrian in 1883 and 
entered the mercantile business at this place and for seventeen years 
was thus employed. He has in recent years divided his holdings among 
his children and he and his wife are residing at Adrian in quiet, con- 
tented retirement. Mr. Hoover has still in his possession sufficient 
property insuring a comfortable income, owning among other build- 
ings the one in which the postof^ce at Adrian is located. 

The marriage of A. J. Hoover and Rachel Denton was solemnized 
on March 15, 1866 and to this union have been born four children, who 
are now living: Professor W. T., of Adrian, Missouri, who married 
Miss Lulu Owens and to them have been born two children : Halbert 
and H. A. ; India, of Adrian, Missouri ; Mrs. Mary Black, Adrian, Mis- 
souri, mother of two children, Mrs. Goldie Schantz and Mrs. Lenna 
Ware; and Mrs. Ida Haas, Adrian, Missouri, mother of two children: 
India Mae and Charles Hoover. Mr. Hoover has four great-grandchil- 
dren: Mrs. Goldie Schantz has three children: Frederick, Dorothy, 
and Emery; Mrs. Lenna Ware has one child, Wilnia; Mrs. Rachel 
(Denton) Hoover was born June 12, 1849 in Indiana, Benton county, 
a daughter of Dr. W^illiam and Elizabeth (Bodkin) Denton. 

Since the day of the expulsion of two beings from the Garden of 
Eden, history has again and again demonstrated the truth of the old 



830 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

adage that, "There is no excellence without labor." Mr. Hoover's 
career has but furnished further proof of its truth. His life was early 
consecrated to honest, patient, unremitting toil. He in youth joined 
the army of workers to whom the great state of Missouri is indebted 
for its wonderful prosperity. He has a vivid recollection of Bates county 
as it was when he came here more than fifty years ago. There were 
no bridges and the roads were but beaten trails. He has many times 
hauled wheat to Pleasant Hill before the railroad had reached Harri- 
sonville. He states that deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens were 
to be found in abundance and could be had for the hunting. A. J. 
Hoover has been a busy worker, he has done his work wisely and well, 
and he and his noble wife are now enjoying the just recompense of their 
labors. Mr. Hoover's life story is a notable example of the success 
which surely attends and crowns all worthy efforts based upon honor- 
able, upright, manly principles. Mr. Hoover is a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic and has for years attended the national encamp- 
ments of the Union veterans and he and Mrs. Hoover have traveled 
extensively over the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
coast. He is well-informed, broad-minded, hearty and strong, able 
to take long automobile trips each season. 

John Blangy, one of the old settlers of Bates county, living retired 
upon his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Walnut township, was 
born in 1852 in Starke county, Illinois. He was a son of James W. and 
Sarah (Scott) Blang}% the former of wdiom was a native of New Jersey, 
and the latter, of Ohio. The Blangy family came West in 1869 and set- 
tled on Walnut creek, purchasing a farm now owned by Fred t.aughlin 
and comprising one hundred and forty acres. After Mrs. Blangy died, 
James C. moved to the neighboring state of Kansas and settled on a 
farm eight miles west of Pleasanton, where he resided for some years, 
eventually disposing of his farm to a coal mining- company and retiring 
to a home in Pleasanton, where he died in September, 1902. 

At the age of eighteen years, John Blangy began farming on his 
own account but made his home with his parents until his marriage in 
1876. On January 2, of that year he was united in marriage with Emma 
Schwechheimer, born in 1857, at Canal Dover, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, 
a daughter of George Philip and Annie Marie (Leofifler) Schwech- 
heimer, the former of whom was born in Baden, and the latter in Schlait- 
dorf, Wurtemburg, Germany. At the age of twenty years, George 
Schwechheimer came to America. His wife was eighteen years of age 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 83 1 

when she immigrated to this country. They resided in Ohio until after 
the close of the Civil War, in which George Schwechheimer served as a 
soldier in an Ohio regiment of volunteer infantry. George P. Schwech- 
heimer served as a private, then was promoted as orderly sergeant in 
Company K, Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served four years 
and was honorably discharged from the service on the 11th of January, 
1864, at Huntsville, Alabama. In 1871 they came to Missouri and 
settled on what is now the Swarens place in New Home township, 
where Mr. Schwechheimer died in 1883. To George and Annie Marie 
Schwechheimer were born seven children: Mrs. Enmia Barbara Blangy; 
Willie George, deceased; Philip, a railroad man at Sedalia, Missouri; 
Mary, deceased; Mrs. Lydia McGehee, Vernon county, Missouri; Mary 
Magdalene, deceased. The mother of these children died in 1870. By 
a second marriage with Julia Engel he was the father of seven children: 
Charley, deceased; Mrs. Matilda Haley, Lost Spring, Wyoming; Mrs. 
Flora Hicklin, Hume, Missouri; Albert, living near Sprague, Missouri; 
Edward, a resident of Fort Scott, Kansas ; Walter, resident of Kansas 
City, Missouri ; John, living in Wyoming. 

Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Blangy settled on their 
home place on Walnut creek and have lived there continuously with the 
exception of two years spent in Colorado. Mr. Blangy is a Republican, 
and both Mr. and Mrs. Blangy belong to the Methodist Episcopal 
church. Their children are as follow: Mary Alta, born in 1877, wife 
of Clarence Click, living near Worland, Missouri ; Sarah Pearl, born 
1878, wife of Denny Bright, resides in Bates county; Ira John, born 
in 1880, resides on a farm near Hume in this county; Effie Mabel, 
born in 1884, wife of Frank Smith, W^alnut township; Ada Theresa, 
born in 1885, wife of William Lee, residing on a farm northwest of 
Foster. 

Fred E, Popp, who is farming the Popp estate of three hundred acres 
in the southwestern part of New Home township, was born in Madison 
county, Illinois, in 1866. He is a son of the late Michael and Barbara 
Popp, natives of Prussia, Germany. Michael Popp was born in 1829 
and died in Bates county in 1897. He immigrated to America in 1845 
and first settled at St. Louis, where he was employed as laborer for 
two years. He went from St. Louis to Madison county, Illinois, and 
after a period of employment as farm laborer he invested his savings 
in sixty acres of farm land which he cultivated until 1871. In that year 
he sold his Illinois farm and came to Bates county and made a first 



832 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

settlement at Prairie City, eight miles east of Rich Hill, where he lived 
for eleven years. He then bought the farm of three hundred acres 
wliich his son, Fred E., is now managing. He built a handsome farm 
residence and a large barn and prospered as the years went on, living 
on the place until his death. A six-foot vein of excellent coal under- 
lies the Popp land. Mrs. Popp departed this life on the old home place, 
June 5, 1917. The other children of the faniily are as follow: Mrs. 
Mary Schmidt, deceased; Mrs. Pardcha Cattelson, Creighton, Missouri; 
Mrs. Barbara Yeager, deceased; George, living in Oklahoma; Conrad, 
a farmer in Bates county. Mr. Popp is an independent Republican 
voter and is a member of the Lutheran church. 

William T. J, Henley. — The late William T. J. Henley, a widely 
and favorably known farmer of Howard township, was one of the real 
"old settlers" of Bates county. He was born on June 14, 1846, in Clark 
county, Indiana, the son of Noah and Louisiana (Monday) Henley, the 
former of whom was a native of England and the latter of wdiom was 
born in Kentucky. Noah Henley was reared in Randolph county. North 
Carolina, and made a settlement in Kentucky, where he was married, and 
afterward removed to Clark county, Indiana, where he reared a family 
and spent the remainder of his days engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
W. T. J. Henley was reared and educated in his native state and was 
married in Clark county on June 21, 1866, to Miss Margaret E. Bower, 
who bore him children as follow; Noah Edgar, born November 25, 
1867, resides near Ft. Scott, Kansas; John William, born March 2, 1869, 
died in infancy; Jacob T., born March 3, 1870, lives on a farm near 
Hume, Missouri; Dennie B., born May 15, 1871, resides in Washington; 
Jefferson M., born April 10, 1873, died at the age of three years; the 
next child died in infancy, unnamed; James C, born June 14, 1875; 
Robert T., born December 16, 1876, is living on the home place ; Katie 
A., born August 31, 1878, married Leonard Daniels and resides on a farm 
in Osage township; Rolla I., born June 18, 1880, lives in Butler, Mis- 
souri; Okra P., born May 17, 1882, lives at Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. 
Minnie M. Cook, born July 7, 1883. married James Cook, died January 
29, 1908; Cleveland B., born December 22, 1884, resides on a farm near 
Butler, Missouri; Maggie E., born Octo1:)er 3, 1887, married Burk Ander- 
son, resides in Rich Hill; Albert, born February 8, 1893. died in infancy. 
The Henley family is one of the largest in Bates county. The mother 
of this large family of children was born May 14. 1847, in Clark county, 
Indiana, the daughter of John and Angelina (Robbinett) Bower, natives 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 833 

of North Carolina. Mrs. Henley is well preserved for her age, despite 
the fact that she endured the hardships of pioneer life and has brought 
up so many children who are all living useful and industrious lives. 

Mr. and Mrs. Henley came to Carroll county, Missouri, in 1868 
and resided in that county until their removal to Bates county in the 
autumn of 1875. John Bower, father of Mrs. Henley, had purchased 
a tract of forty acres in Howard township, which he gave to his son- 
in-law. This land was raw prairie land, unbroken and unimproved. 
During their first season the Henleys lived in a little shack on their 
nearby farm while their own residence was being built. They erected 
what in those days was considered a mansion and which is still the Hen- 
ley home place, an attractive farmstead surrounded by great trees and 
shrubbery which were planted by Mr. and Mrs. Henley when they first 
settled here. The Henley home place consists of one hundred and sixty 
acres located just northwest of Sprague on the highway between Rich 
Hill and Hume. Mr. Henley died May 12, 1904. 

Mrs. Henley has the following living grandchildren: Robert E. Hen- 
ley married Muzy Gates and has five children, as follow: Emma, Frances, 
Thelmo, Roy, and Virgie. Noah Edgar Henley married Annie New- 
som and has four children: Ora, Lela, Alice, and Claude. Jacob T 
Henley married Lizzie McNamer, and has one child, Charles. Dennie 
Henley married May Jones, and is father of two children. Pansy and 
Bryan. Mrs. Katie Daniels has four children, Parker, Elarry, Pansy, 
and Dorothy. Rolla I. Henley married Belle Potter, has the following chil- 
dren; Ernest and Stella, twins, and Pauline. Okra O. Henley mar- 
ried Nellie Martin, and is father of six children, Lorene, Ethel, Elsie, 
William, and Mary and Mabel, twins. Cleveland B. Henley married 
Lizzie Bottoms, and has two children, Harold and Herman. Mrs. Mag- 
gie Anderson is mother of six children, Marium, Everett, Ernest, Nell, 
Ruth, and Clyde. 

Mr. Henley was a lifelong Democrat and was a member of the 
Christian church, of which religious denomination Mrs. Henley is a 
devout member. The late Mr. Henley's life was so lived that he left an 
example of industry and right conduct which will for all time serve 
as a rule of conduct for his children and descendants. He was a kind 
parent and a good provider for his family and no task was too great 
for him to attempt in order to insure comforts and proper maintenance 
for his own family. He was well liked in his community and will long be 
remembered as a sterling pioneer citizen of Bates county in whom all 

(53) 



834 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

had confidence and for whom every one who knew him had high 
esteem. 

William Moore Mills, successful merchant at Foster, Missouri, 
where he has been engaged as a merchant since 1884, is a pioneer citi- 
zen of Bates county and a native Missourian. Mr. Mills was born in 
Clinton county, Missouri, March 31, 1856, a son of Evan P. Mills, who 
was born in Kentucky in 1818, and was a son of Evan P. Mills, a Vir- 
ginian, who was a pioneer settler of Kentucky. Evan P. Mills, father 
of William Moore Mills, of this review, migrated to Clay county, Mis- 
souri, as early as 1839, and ten years later, in 1849, married Mary S. 
Morris, and then located in Lexington, Missouri, for a short time prior 
to settling in Clinton county. From the early fifties until 1863 Evan 
P. Mills lived in Clinton county and he then moved to Clay county, 
and resided in that county and Liberty, the county seat, until 1876, 
when he located in Butler. For awhile he was engaged in teaming but 
advancing age compelled his retirement from active labor and he resided 
in Butler until his death in 1904, one of the honored and aged residents 
of the count}^ seat. To Evan P. and Mary S. (Morris) Mills were born 
the following children: Thomas died in infancy; Bettie L., deceased; 
William Moore, subject of this sketch; Jasper S., deceased; Mrs. Maggie 
McFarland, Butler, Missouri; Lida died in 1866. 

The mother of the foregoing children died in 1900 at the age of 
seventy-five years. She was a daughter of Jasper Shotwell Morris, who 
was the first white child born in Mason county, Kentucky, or Maysville, 
which in those early pioneer days was the meeting and stopping place 
of all the settlers from Virginia who were coming westward down the 
Ohio river to people the wilderness of Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, 
and Illinois. Jasper S. Morris later served as a scout and lieutenant 
in the War of 1812, in the Indian campaign of that period, and became 
widely known along the frontier. He was personally acquainted with 
many of the famous border and wilderness characters of that day anc'i 
was a friend of such famous scouts and Indian fighters as Daniel Boone, 
Louis AVetzel, Simon Kenton and others. The three historic charac- 
ters previously mentioned often made the Morris home their head- 
quarters, and one can imagine the tal-es that were told around the Morris 
fireside of their exploits, in the dense forests of the ''Dark and Bloody 
Ground" and the land of the Ohio. 

William Moore Mills received such education as was afi^orded b}^ 
the primitive school of his boyhood days and accompanied his parents 
to Bates county in 1876. During his first vear's residence in Butler 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 835 

he worked in the McClintock woolen mills, having previonsly learned 
the trade of weaver and wool worker in Clay county, Missouri. He 
was then employed in various stores for about six years. For a period 
of three years he served as clerk in the Morris drug store, and for two 
years following, 1880-1882, he was employed as a traveling salesman. 
Six months of 1882 were spent as clerk in the drug store owned by 
Doctor Pyle. He was then employed in the F. M. Crumly drug store 
until his removal to Foster. He first came to Foster in 1884, and on 
January 1, 1885, opened a drug store, which he conducted for sixteen 
years. He then established his present business and carries a general 
stock of merchandise in a good-sized room located on the main street 
of Foster. Mr. Mills has been continuously engaged in business in Fos- 
ter longer than any other merchant in the town. 

On January 1, 1889, the marriage of William Moore Mills and 
Miss Mollie N. Trimble was consummated. This marriage has been 
blessed with children as follow: William N., superintendent of the 
shoe department of the Besse-Avery Company, Kansas City, Missouri ; 
Ella Nora, at home with her parents; Ralph, auditor and bookkeeper 
for S. A. Gerrard & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a commission firm 
doing business in southern California and handling fruits, vegetables, 
etc. Mrs. Mollie N. (Trimble) Mills was born in Bates county in 
1870, and is a daughter of F. M. Trimble, a former treasurer of Bates 
county, a native of Kentucky who made an early settlement in Bates 
county and died here. 

Mr. Mills has been a life-long Democrat and has taken a keen inter- 
est in the affairs of his party during his forty-two years of residence 
in Bates county. He is fraternally affiliated with the Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks of Butler, and has many warm and steadfast 
friends in the county. His standing as a merchant and citizen is high 
and he is one of the leading citizens of his home city and county. 

Charles W. Doane, a prominent farmer and stockman of Lone 
Oak township, is of a pioneer family of Bates county. Mr. Doane 
was born on the farm in Lone Oak township, where he now 
resides, on January 1, 1872, one of three living children born to 
his parents, William C, Sr., and Mary E. (Hancock) Doane, who are 
as follow: William C, Jr., farmer and merchant at "Ada," a sketch 
of whom appears in this volume; Charles AV., the sul)ject of this review; 
and Hattie Lee, the wife of William Lacorse, Lewiston, Idaho. The 
parents are now deceased and their remains are interred in the 
cemetery at Butler. A more comprehensive sketch of Mr. and 



STf6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mrs. Doane is given in connection with the biography of WiUiam C. 
Doane, Jr. 

In the pubHc schools of Lone Oak township and of Butler, Charles 
W. Doane obtained his education. He returned to Lone Oak town- 
ship, after leaving school, to the farm where he was born, and has lived 
there since. The Doane farm is nine miles southeast of Butler and is 
a tract of valley land in Pleasant Valley school district, a district 
organized prior to the time of the Civil War by Doctor Recjua when 
the Indian school at Harmony Mission was being conducted. It is 
a nicely improved and well watered country place. Mr. Doane raises 
good draft horses and mules and, at the time of this writing in 1918, 
has from fifteen to tw^enty-five head of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle. 
The improvements on the place include a new% six-room cottage, built 
in 1917 and a barn, 36 x 48 feet in dimensions and sixteen feet to 
square, built in 1917. Mr. Doane is an industrious farmer and stock- 
man and his efforts have been attended with success. 

The marriage of Charles W. Doane and Lizzie E. Hancock was 
solemnized March 5, 1895. Lizzie E. (Hancock) Doane is a native of 
Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of David 
and Sarah (Willy) Hancock. Mr. Hancock died in 1900 and burial 
w^as made in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri. The widowed mother 
now makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Doane. To Charles AV. and 
Lizzie E. (Hancock) Doane have been born three children: Elmer 
Lee, of Butler, Missouri ; Mary Catherine, the wife of Roy Walker, of 
Lone Oak township. Bates county; and Buford Lloyd, who is at home 
with his parents. 

As a farmer and stockman, Charles W. Doane has won a conspicuous 
place among the leading men of the township. Personally, he is highly 
respected by his neighbors and friends and Lone Oak township is proud 
to designate him as one of her native sons w-ho have "made good." 

W. S, Mahan, an honored veteran of the Civil War, ex-mayor of 
Adrian, the highly respected justice of the peace of Deer Creek township. 
Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Iowa. Squire Mahan was born in 
Taylor county, Iowa, in 1846, a son of Thomas and Mary (Mavity) 
Mahan, who later returned to Orange county, Indiana, the place of their 
nativity. Thomas Mahan was a son of Peter Mahan, a native of Virginia 
and a son of an Irish immigrant. Mary (Mavity) Mahan was a daugh- 
ter of Michael Mavity, a native of Kentucky and of Norman French 
descent. 




W. S. MAHAN AND FAMILY. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 837 

In Indiana, W. S. Mahan was reared to manhood and in that state 
revived his elementary education and later entered college. After 
leaving college, Mr. Mahan was employed in teaching school in Indiana 
for thirteen years. During the Civil War, he abandoned his profession 
and enlisted with the Union forces, serving with the Twenty-fourth Indi- 
ana Infantry throughout the conflict. He took an active and important 
part in many decisive engagements, fighting bravely at Shiloh on April 
6, 1862, when the list of casualties for the Union side alone was thirteen 
thousand men, the Confederates losing ten thousand seven hundred 
valiant fighters, and later taking part in the siege of Vicksburg, one 
strong position left the Confederates after Memphis and New Orleans 
had fallen, which resulted in Pemberton signing the articles of sur- 
render on July 4, 1863, after King Hunger had allied himself with Grant 
and had done his worst for several weeks, and lastly being present at 
the capture of Mobile in the spring of 1865. 

After the Civil War had ended, W. S. Mahan returned to his home 
in Indiana and there resided until 1880, when he came to Bates county, 
Missouri, and purchased two hundred acres of land near Adrian. At 
that time, Mr. Mahan bought a team of mules and assisted in the build- 
ing of the Missouri Pacific railway in this county. Afterward, he entered 
the teaching profession and for three years was thus engaged, when 
he again abandoned it and this time entered the mercantile business at 
Adrian. Until 1893, Mr. Mahan conducted a grocery store in this city 
and he was one of the successful merchants of Adrian when he was com- 
missioned notary public of Bates county and appointed an insurance 
agent. Prior to coming to Missouri, Mr. Mahan had served as justice 
of the peace in Indiana and in 1910 he was elected to the same office in 
Bates county and for the past eight years has ably filled the position 
of justice of the peace in Deer Creek township. He disposed of his 
insurance work, in 1911, selling to C. W. Mahan, who is now conducting 
the business at Adrian. 

The marriage of W. S. Mahan and Sarah J. GifTord, a daughter of 
Josephus and Elizabeth Gifford, was solemnised October 22, 1871, in 
Orange county, Indiana. To this union have been born two children: 
Mrs. Lula D. Haven. Kansas City, Missouri ; and Clyde G., of Kansas 
City, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Mahan are valued w^orkers in the Chris- 
tian church and Mr. Mahan is one of the worthy elders of the church 
and a teacher in the Christian Bible School. They reside in Adrian, 
where they own a beautiful home, a comfortable residence of seven 



838 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

rooms. Mr. Mahan sold his farm in 1889 and invested the proceeds in 
stock of the Adrian Banking Company. 

Squire Mahan was one of the very first residents of Adrian, Mis- 
souri, and no one in Bates county is better authority on the early history 
of this flourishing little city than is he. Mr. Mahan states that Adrian 
was planned and founded by the Adrian Town Company in June, 1880. 
An agreement had been made with the Missouri Pacific Railway Com- 
pany whereby the Bates County Town Company was to have the privi- 
lege of locating towns and stations in return for the grant of right-of- 
way through Bates county. The particular depot of Butler was to be 
located not less than one mile from the court house and the Adrian 
Town Company purchased land in this vicinity and platted it and the 
Missouri Pacific railroad and the town of /\drian, ten miles away, were 
being built simultaneously in Bates county. Squire Mahan recalls that 
the first train came into Adrian on August 1, 1880. Adrian was organ- 
ized as a village with M. V. Meisner as justice of the peace. S. P. Cox 
opened the first mercantile establishment in Adrian, a small grocery store 
in a box house, and he was obliged to borrow Mr. Mahan's team of 
mules in order to secure his first load of groceries from Kansas City, 
Missouri. Mr. Cox erected the first brick building in the town, in 1883, 
which building is now occupied by Howard Smith, the clothier, who is 
conducting a business establishment. Garfield Moudy bears the dis- 
tinction of having been the first child born in Adrian and the Methodist 
Episcopal church as the oldest church of the five now in existence, 
namely: Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, United Brethren, Christian, and 
The Brethren. After Adrian was incorporated as a city, J. N. Bricker 
was elected the first mayor of the city. Squire Mahan has been and still 
is one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Adrian and 
during the past thirty-eight years he has held many ofiices of public 
honor and trust in the village and in the city. He has served as alder- 
man, as mayor of the city, as city collector, and as a member of the 
township board, holding the last-named position for six years. Politi- 
cally, Squire Mahan is aifiliated with the Republican party and is a most 
active party worker. Squire Mahan was appointed agent of the Adrian 
Town Company to sell the lots from the original plat of eighty acres. 

Squire Mahan has already passed the allotted three score years and 
ten and is still alert and active, bidding fair to consume many years 
in going down the shady side of life's mountain to the "twilight and 
evening bell and after that — the dark" and he has erected for himself 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 839 

a monument in the respect and affection of his associates and friends 
that will prove more lasting than an epitaph carved in marble or chiseled 
in granite. Mr. and Mrs. Mahan are not only zealous workers in the 
church but in their daily lives demean themselves as true, sincere fol- 
lowers of the holy Nazarene. 

Judge David McGaughey, a late prominent citizen and leading 
public official of Bates county, Missouri, was one of the best known 
and most highly respected men in this section of the state. Judge 
McGaughey was a native of Indiana. He was born August 26, 1826, 
at Mount Carmel in Franklin county, Indiana, a son of Robert and 
Mary (Clark) McGaughey. Robert McGaughey was born at Pitts- 
burg, Pennsylvania, of Scotch and Irish descent, a descendant of David 
McGaughey, a native of Ireland, who emigrated from his home land 
because of the political troubles there and came to America in 1772. 
David McGaughey was one of the first to volunteer in the Revolutionary 
War and he served as General Washington's aid until the end of the 
struggle. He first saw his future wife when he was on the battlefield 
of Monmouth, the battle taking place on her father's farm. She was 
Mary Lytle. David McGaughey and Mary Lytle were united in mar- 
riage soon after the war had ended and they located at Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania. Mary (Clark) McGaughey, the mother of Judge David 
McGaughey, w^as born at Indian Hill in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 
1810. 

In his youth, David McGaughey attended the public schools of 
Indiana and in 1845 matriculated at Miami University in Ohio, at which 
institution he was a student for three years. On leaving college, Mr. 
McGaughey engaged in teaching school in different localities in the 
W^est and South. In June, 1854, he entered the law office of Gen. Lew 
Wallace and with him read law for one year. In the suinmer of 1855, 
Mr. McGaughey went to De Moines, Iowa, from Indianapolis, Indiana, 
and in Iowa was employed in locating land warrants for eastern parties 
and in surveying. He was elected a member of the first city council 
of Des Moines. Iowa. In 1858, Mr. McGaughey left this city and located 
at Hackbury Ridge in Andrew county, Missouri, where he was engaged 
in teaching school for one year. The following year, Mr. McGaughey 
began practicing law at Albany in Gentry county and in 1860 was elec- 
ted county superintendent of schools in Gentry county. During the 
Civil War, he was for a time a resident of Falls City, Nebraska and 
wdiile there was elected prosecuting attorney of Falls City and appointed 



840 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

superintendent of schools by the county court. Mr. McGaughey came 
to Bates county, Missouri, in August, 1865, and was for several years 
county superintendent of schools and director of Butler Academy. He 
was appointed by the Bates county court in 18G6 county seat 
commissioner. While serving in that capacity, the old Bates county 
court house and jail were built. He cleared up the sale of the old 
county court house at Papinsville, the former county seat, and sold 
the building to Philip Zeal. When the twenty-second judicial district 
was organized in 1869, David McGaughey was elected the first circuit 
judge. When serving as judge, the four-hundred-thousand-dollar bond 
swindle, involving the Kansas City & Memphis railway, came up in the 
form of an injunction, as did also the two-hundred-thousand-dollar 
swindle, involving the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, 
and both were defeated by Judge McGaughey's decision in favor of the 
people of Bates county. Due to that decision, the tax-payers of this 
county are not burdened with a heavy bonded debt. For six years, Judge 
McGaughey was presiding judge of his district. He was appointed by 
the governor of Missouri to complete an unexpired term and was after- 
ward elected to fill a term of four years. He was one of the three organ- 
izers of the Butler Presbyterian church, founded in this city in 1867, 
the first church in Butler. The church building was erected in 1868 
and Judge McGaughey was made ruling elder. Politically, Judge 
McGaughey was a stanch Republican. He was an officer in the first 
Republican club organized west of the Mississippi in Iowa. 

October 26, 1875, Judge David McGaughey and Dorcas Tuttle 
were united in marriage. Mrs. McGaughey is a native of Clark county, 
Ohio, a daughter of David and Rebecca (Buckles) Tuttle. To Judge 
David and Dorcas McGaughey were born four children : John Edwin, 
who is in the employ of the Wabash Railway Company and the Wells 
Fargo Express Company, located at St. Louis, Missouri ; Mary Rebecca, 
who is employed by the Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company at 
Butler, Missouri ; Katherine L., who is employed as bookkeeper for the 
Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company at Butler, Missouri and David 
Earl, a successful druggist at Kansas City, Missouri. Mrs. McGaughey 
has five grandchildren, Helen, Frank S., Josephine, Laura Katherine 
Martha Jane. Judge McGaughey died January 12, 1892, and Mrs. 
McGaughey has reared their children and reared them well. Her home 
is in Butler at 308 Harrison street. 

Judge David McGaughey was a careful, conscientious official. He 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 84 1 

transacted all business coming within his sphere of duties with prompt- 
ness and cautious discernment and the wisdom of his decisions met 
with the unqualified approval of all. His career was distinctively marked 
by progress onward and upward and at last he stood the peer of his 
fellowmen in all that constitutes true citizenship. He was decidedly a 
man of action, an intelligent, energetic, resourceful Western man. 
in the highest esteem by the public and an influential factor for good 
in his community, at the very zenith of a vigorous manhood and men- 
tality, there still remained much to be accomplished, the children he 
loved so well to be reared and educated, when he was called to lay 
down the burdens of life. Judge McGaughey lived not in vain. He 
has bequeathed to his descendants a name they may well be proud 
to bear and to all the inspiration of a life of tireless endeavor, a record 
upon which not a single blot can be found. Judge McGaughey was a 
member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. 

J. B. Armstrong, secretary of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile 
Company of Butler, Missouri, is one of Butler's most widely and favor- 
ably-known citizens. Mr. Armstrong is a worthy representative of a 
splendid, old, pioneer family of Missouri. He was born in 1861, at 
Pleasant Hill, Missouri, a son of Samuel and Sallie Emily (Hon) Arm- 
strong, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Kentucky. 
Samuel Armstrong was a son of John M. and Elizabeth (Gibbons) 
Armstrong. John M. Armstrong was also a native of Virginia. He 
came to Missouri with his family in the earliest days and was a pioneer 
merchant at Pleasant Hill prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Eliza- 
beth (Gibbons) Armstrong was an aunt of the Gibbons, twin brothers, 
John and Hank, who at the time of the death of John Gibbons were 
the oldest twins in Missouri. The land which is now the site of the 
Missouri Pacific railway station was formerly owned by John M. Arm- 
strong and he often related how he was want to kill deer, when he first 
came to Missouri, on the land which is the present townsite of Pleas- 
ant Hill. Both he and his wife died at Pleasant Hill and their remains 
are interred in the cemetery at that place. Samuel Armstrong was a 
lover of fine horses and was recognized as an exceptional judge of high- 
class horses. He won a silver loving cup at a Bates county fair in the 
days before the Civil War for the best saddle horse entered. This cup 
is stih treasured by his son, J. B. Armstrong. At the outbreak of the 
Civil War, Samuel Armstrong enlisted with the Confederate army at 
Pleasant Hill. He died while in service one year after he had enlisted, 



842 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

his death occurring in Indian Territory. The widowed mother died at 
Butler, Missouri, in 1890, where her home was at that time, and she 
was laid to rest in the cemetery at Pleasant Hill. To Samuel and Sallie 
Emily Armstrong were born two children, who are now living : Fannie 
Bertha, Tulsa, Oklahoma; and J. B., the subject of this review. 

J. B. Armstrong attended the city schools of Pleasant Hill. He 
has made his own way in life since his early boyhood days. He began 
his first mercantile work in the business establishment of E. D. Harper, 
his stepfather, w^orking nights and Saturdays. At a later time, Mr. 
Armstrong was employed by Russell & Gustin, of Pleasant Hill, for 
nearly one year. Prior to that, he was in the employ of Myers & 
Cooley. Mr. Armstrong came to Butler on Feliruary 4, 1882, and accepted 
a position with C. S. Wheeler & Company. In the autumn of the 
same year, the firm changed to Bennett & Wheeler, E. A. Bennett 
becoming a member. Mr. Armstrong purchased an interest in the busi- 
ness establishment in January. 1884, and the name was changed to 
Bennett, Wheeler & Company. The firm was incorporated as the Ben- 
nett-Wheeler Mercantile Company in 1890. At the present time, Mr. 
Armstrong's two sons, Edward H. and Samuel M., have interests in 
the company. When he began working in the employ of the C. S. 
\Mieeler & Company, J. B. Armstrong was bookkeeper and he held 
this position for many years. He now calls himself "the general roust- 
about," as he knows every department thoroughly. The present capi- 
tal stock is thirty-five thousand dollars and the officers of the company 
are, as follow: O. A. Heinlein, president and business manager; S. E. 
Heinlein, vice-president; J. B. Armstrong, secretary; and Edward H. 
Armstrong, treasurer. 

October 9, 1884, J. B. Armstrong and Mary Maud Harriman were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Armstrong was a daughter of J. R. and Helen 
(Morrell) Harriman, of Butler. Both Mr. and Mrs. Harriman are now 
deceased. To J. B. and ]Mary Maud Armstrong have been born five 
children; Helen, who is now Mrs. Day, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 
Edward H., treasurer of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company, 
Butler, Missouri; Samuel M., who has been engaged in the banking 
business for the past seven years at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is 
soon to be called into service in France ; John, who died in childhood 
at the age of four years; and Dorothy, a graduate of the Butler High 
School, who is now at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong 
purchased their present residence in 1904, which home was formerly the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 843 

Doctor Everingham property, comprising nearly three acres of land in 
the grounds surrounding the house, located within the city limits at 
500 North Main street. The Armstrong home is one of the beautiful, 
modern residences of Butler. 

Mr. Armstrong started in life empty-handed, but he surmounted all 
obstacles and has pushed aside all barriers that would have obstructed 
the pathway to success of the ordinary man. He was endowed with both 
ambition and ability, and with an indomitable will and courage he has 
pushed steadfastly forward overcoming difficulties and accumulating 
a handsome competence. Honest and honorable, upright in all rela- 
tions of life, true to family and friends and to the best interests of his 
city and county, J. B. Armstrong is justly enrolled among the most 
respected and valued citizens of Butler. 

Alonzo Dixon, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mount Pleas- 
ant township, is one of the most highly respected citizens of Bates county. 
Mr. Dixon came to Bates county in 1857 with his parents, Lewis and 
Elizabeth (Silvey) Dixon, both of whom were natives of Virginia. 
Lewis Dixon first came to Bates county in 1856, at which time he made 
arrangements with Ex-Sheriff Clem, afterward Judge Clem, to enter 
one hundred sixtv acres of land, the Dixon homestead. Mr. Dixon 
returned with his family the following year, in 1857, and located at 
Butler. He and Judge Clem, in partnership, operated a saw-mill located 
south of Butler on the James Brown farm. They made posts, rails, 
and fencing materials and Lewis Dixon fenced his farm of one hundred 
sixty acres with lumber sawed at his mill. During the Civil War, 
because of Order No. 11, Mr. Dixon was taken prisoner, placed in the 
guardhouse at Butler, taken to the guardhouse at St. Louis, Missouri, 
and thence to Alton, Illinois, and JefTerson City, Missouri. He remained 
in prison until the close of the war. When Lewis Dixon again took up 
the fight of making an honest and honorable living, after he was released 
in 1865, he was penniless. He resumed farming and stock raising, pur- 
suits which he followed the remainder of his life. Mr. Dixon died Janu- 
ary 5, 1886. and five years afterward he was joined in death by his 
wife. Mrs. Dixon departed this life in June, 1891. Both father and 
mother were laid to rest in the family burial ground on the home place, 
the farm Mr. Dixon had entered from the government in 1856. The 
Dixon homestead is located one mile south of Butler. 

Alonzo Dixon attended the district schools of Bates county. He has 
spent his entire life, up to the time of this writing in 1918, in Bates 



844 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

county. About twenty-seven years ago, he moved to his present farm, 
formerly known as the old Porter place, located three and a half miles 
southwest of Butler. All the splendid improvements on the place, Mr. 
Dixon has himself added. He is successfully engaged in farming and 
stock raising. The Dixon farm comprises one hundred sixty acres of 
land. 

In 1910, the marriage of Alonzo Dixon and Ora Jones was solemnized. 
Ora (Jones) Dixon is a daughter of Andrew^ and Sarah E. Jones, of 
Mount Pleasant township. Mrs. Dixon is a native of Bates county. 
Andrew Jones died in 1902 and his widow' makes her home with Mr. 
and Mrs. Alonzo Dixon. To Alonzo and Ora Dixon has been born one 
child, a son, Alonzo Lee. ]\Ir. Dixon has one son by a former wife, 
Lewis Dixon, now bookkeeper with the American Express Company at 
Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon are excellent citizens, good, 
quiet, and unobtrusive people, and they are held in the highest esteem 
in their community. 

Reinhold A. Julien, of West Point township, during his thirteen 
years of residence in Bates county, has made a remarkable success as 
an agriculturist. However, he comes of a race of people who are noted 
for their aptitude in tilling the most stubborn of soils and it is a fact 
that wherever you find a settlement of American farmers of Swedish 
birth or descent, there you find prosperity and success attending their 
efforts. \Mien Mv. Julien came to Bates county from Nebraska he was 
told that "he would starve to death in Missouri." He was in search of 
cheaper land than could be purchased in Nebraska. His first quarter 
section purchased in 1904 has since been increased to a total of two hun- 
dred eighty acres. Mr. and Mrs. Julien have a splendid farm resi- 
dence which is furnished and equipped in keeping with refined tastes. 
His large barn, which has l^een erected recently, is forty-eight by fifty- 
four feet in dimensions and he has also built a silo having a capacity of 
one hundred tons of silage. Mr. Julien has a herd of fifty-three head of 
cattle of the Sliorthorn breed, including eight milch cows. Each vear 
he raises from one to two carloads of hogs for the market. 

Mr. Julien was born in Sweden in 1868 and is a son of Anderson 
and Louisa (Engborn) Julien, who lived all their days in their native 
land. In 1888, Mr. Julien immigrated to America, a poor lad, in search 
of employment and joined his brother, John Julien, who was located in 
Iowa. He was so poor on his arrival that he had to repay his borrowed 
passage money across the ocean by the fruits of his first month's labor 




RESIDEN'CE OF REINIIOLD A. JULIEN. 




BARN OF REINHOLD A. JULIEN. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 845 

in America. In 1890, he went to Nebraska and worked for some time 
among fellow countrymen in Saunders county, Nebraska. For a period 
of eleven years he tilled rented land in Saunders county, Nebraska with 
a view to the ultimate purchase of a farm. Meanwhile land had been 
constantly advancing in price in Nebraska and he believed that the price 
was entirely too high. He cast about for a suitable location where land 
was not too high in price and within his power of purchase. Deciding 
upon Bates county against the advice of friends and advisers he came 
here in February, 1904, and made his first purchase of one hundred 
sixty acres of land in West Point township at a cost of forty-five dol- 
lars an acre. In 1906 he bought forty acres at a cost of thirty-five 
dollars an acre and later bought an "eighty" at a cost of forty dollars an 
acre. His record since coming to Bates county shows what industry, 
perseverance, and careful methods of farming can accomplish on Bates 
county soil. 

Mr.- Julien was married in February, 1898, in Saunders county, 
Nebraska, to Miss Amanda Frostrom, who was born at Weston, 
Nebraska, February 13, 1877, a daughter of C. J. and Christina Fros- 
trom, natives of Sweden, who immigrated to America and settled in 
Nebraska and became prosperous and well-to-do in the land of their 
adoption. C. J. Frostrom came to this country in 1869 and his wife, 
Christina, migrated to America in 1873. They were married in Sweden, 
have reared a fine family of children and are now living in comfortable 
circumstances at Weston, Saunders county, Nebraska. To Reinhold and 
Amanda Julien have been born two children as follow: Ethel, born 
May 15, 1899; Ernest, born February 24, 1902. Mr. Julien attrilnites 
much of his success to the assistance of his intelligent and capable help- 
meet. 

Mr. Julien is a Democrat in politics but is content to leave the 
management of political matters to others who have more time and the 
inclination to devote to such matters. He and his family are members 
of the Baptist church. WMiile he is not a member of any secret society 
he carries fraternal insurance as a safeguard against disaster, thus pro- 
viding for the future of his family. Mr. and Mrs. Julien have made 
many friends during their residence in Bates count}=' and have the respect 
and esteem of their many accjuaintances. The record which they have 
made in Bates county place them in the front rank of Bates county 
citizens of the better and more successful class. 

George H. Frank, one of the best-known citizens of Bates county. 



846 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Missouri, a former hotel man of Butler, is a prosperous and influential 
farmer and stockman of Alount Pleasant township. Mr. Frank is a 
native of Carlinville, Illinois. He was born in 1852, a son of A. J. and 
Mary Eliza Frank, the former, a native of South Carolina and the latter, 
of Kentucky. A. J. Frank was a blacksmith by trade and he followed 
his vocation at Carlinville for many years. Later in life, Mr. Frank 
became interested in horse racing and track meets and attended all the 
races held in his state of Illinois with his own horses. He always kept 
from ten to fifteen racing horses in his stables and many of them made 
records known throughout the country. 

George H. Frank, when a small boy, was drummerboy at the 
barracks at Carlinville, his principal duties being to call the soldiers in 
the mornings and sound "taps" in the evenings. Mr. Frank was edu- 
cated at Blackburn Seminary in Illinois. He was a mere child, thirteen 
years of age, when he was first employed by his father as jockey. Since 
he was seventeen years of age, Mr. Frank has been self-supporting. He 
rode "Prairie Boy" at Springfield, Illinois, at the time he won the 
world record in 1 :44. Although Mr. Frank was an experienced jockey 
and is an exceptional judge and lover of fine horses, he never bets on a 
race. 

In 1880, Mr. Frank came to Bates county, Missouri, and located at 
Butler, where he followed painting for two years and then operated a 
bus line for twelve years. Following this, George H. Frank conducted 
the Ross Hotel in Butler, which house was situated in the building now 
occupied by the American Clothing House. He enjoyed the hotel busi- 
ness, worked hard, and made a success of it. When 'Sir. Frank was a 
genial host, it was in the days before the quitting of the saloon. Butler 
was "booming" at the time he came here. Traveling men, who were on 
the road fifteen and twenty-five years ago, recall with pleasure the Ross 
Hotel of Butler and the kindly keeper, George H. Frank, who made 
their stay as pleasant and home-like as possible. AA'hen the house was 
sold, Air. Frank purchased his present country home, a farm comprising 
sixty acres of valuable land located four miles southwest of Butler, which 
place was formerly owned by "Bob" Hurt. Mr. Frank is enjoying his 
rural home and is "making good" on his little farm, finding as much 
pleasure in agricultural pursuits perhaps as he did in the hotel business 
in Butler. 

October 27, 1875, George H. Frank and Miss Belle Conipton, of 
Brighton, Illinois, were united in marriage. Mrs. Frank is a daughter 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 847 

of Richard and Emily Compton, both of whom are now deceased. To 
George H. and Belle Frank have been born three children: Emma, the 
wife of John W. McKinick, Kansas City, Missouri; Charles, a prosperous 
farmer of Mount Pleasant township; and Richard, a well-to-do clothing 
merchant of Chicago, Illinois. 

Since becoming a resident of Bates county, Mr. Frank has willingly 
and cheerfully borne his part in all public improvements and enterprises 
and his high standing as one of Mount Pleasant township's intelligent, 
progressive and representative citizens is unanimously conceded. He 
has an extensive acquaintance throughout the country and the number 
of his warm personal friends is legion. 

W. S. Fuller, a successful and industrious agriculturist of Mount 
Pleasant township, is a native of Jasper county, Missouri. Mr. Fuller 
was born in 1880 at the Fuller homestead in Jasper county, thirty-four 
years after the birth of his father at the homestead. He is a son of 
S. W. and Laura J. (Allen) Fuller. S. W. Fuller was born in 1846, 
a son of John L. Fuller, a native of Webster county, Missouri. John 
L. Fuller was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, as was also his son, 
S. W., and he was killed in a battle in Arkansas. S. W. Fuller served 
in the Confederate army two years. Louisa J. (Allen) Fuller was born 
in South Carolina. She came to Bates county with Mr. Fuller in 1903 
and they purchased the farm now owned by Mr. Hartrick. Mr. Fuller 
died at Eldorado Springs in 1906 and interment was made at Carthage, 
Jasper county, Missouri. His widow now resides at Carthage, Missouri. 
S. AV. and Laura J. Fuller were the parents of ten children, six of whom 
are now living: AV. S.. the subject of this review; Sinia, the wife of 
H. G. Mallet, Lamar, Missouri; Blanche E., Carthage, Missouri; Tvlrs. 
Mabel Lowry, Lamar, Missouri; Mrs. Ethel Cox, Butler, Missouri; and 
Mrs. Sammie Shay, Fort Bliss, Texas. 

W. S. Fuller attended school in Jasper county, Missouri, at Carth- 
age. He has made his own way in life since he was eighteen years of 
age, engaging first in mining in Jasper county and later in agricultural 
pursuits. Mr. Fuller came to Bates county with his father and labored 
on the farm with him. In 1910, he purchased his present country home, 
a farm located two miles southwest of Butler on the Jefferson Highway 
and comprising one hundred forty acres of land, well watered, drained, 
and fertile. The residence is a neat, well-built structure of seven rooms 
and there are two large l:>arns on the place, which afford ample room 
for stock, hay. and grain. 



848 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

The marriage of A\\ S. Fuller and Mrs. Edith (Dickhout) Flynn 
was solemnized in October, 1909, at Bntler, Missouri. Mrs. Fuller is a 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. P. S. Dickhout, of Jackson county, Missouri. 
To W. S. and Edith Fuller have been born two children, Samuel and 
Garland. 

Fraternally, Mr. Fuller is affiliated with the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He has pursued 
an undeviating course of industry thus far in life and has sternly adhered 
to the upright principles which governed the life of his father before 
him. A\\ S. and Mrs. Fuller are highly respected and esteemed as 
neighbors and citizens in their community. Constant and faithful in 
all his relations with his fellowmen, Mr. Fuller is destined to continue 
in the future, as he has been in the past, one of the substantial, enter- 
prising men of the township in which he lives. 

John F. McKissick, a well-known and respected farmer and stock- 
man of Mount Pleasant township, is a worthy representative of a promi- 
nent and sterling pioneer family of Missouri. Mr. ^McKissick was born 
at the McKissick homestead, five miles southwest of Butler, Missouri, 
a son of George M. and Mary E. (Benson) McKissick. George M. 
McKissick was born in 1838 in Clay county, Missouri, a son of John 
McKissick, who moved to Bates county from Clay county before the 
Civil War. John McKissick purchased the farm upon which his son, 
George M., settled after the war had ended. The latter built a small 
brick house, 14 x 16 feet in dimensions, which was the McKissick home 
for many years and is still standing on the place. To George M. and 
Mary E. McKissick were born seven children : Mrs. Elizabeth J. Blount, 
Butler, Missouri; Jonathan L., and Charles A., who died in infancy; 
one child died at birth; Mrs. Martha Pickett, Platteville, Colo- 
rado; George, Bowler, Montana; and John F., the subject of this review. 
Jonathan McKissick, brother of George M., came from Clay county to 
Butler, Missouri, in 1887 and was engaged in the mercantile business in 
this city for several years. There are hundreds of men and women who 
will recall Jonathan McKissick, who knew him personally and well, who 
patronized him at his general store, where he sold groceries, hardware, 
and feed. He was a valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons of Butler. Mrs. Jonathan McKissick was an active worker and 
devout member of the Christian church. Interment was made for Mr. 
McKissick, merchant and enterprising citizen, in the cemetery at But- 
ler. George M. McKissick was also affiliated with the Ancient Free 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 849 

and Accepted Masons of Butler, Missouri. He was for several years 
the Grand Master of the Butler lodge. Mr. McKissick was a member 
of the Presbyterian church and Mrs. McKissick was a member of the 
Baptist church. She was a native of Tennessee. George M. McKis- 
sick was a man of excellent repute and much influence in his community, 
taking a deep interest in public and political affairs. He served several 
years as justice of the peace in his township. He died in 1913 and two 
years later, in March, 1915, he was joined in death by his wife. Both 
father and mother were laid to rest in Morris cemetery. 

John F. McKissick received his education in the city schools of 
Butler, Missouri. At the age of twenty-one years, he began farming 
and stock raising on the home place and these pursuits he has since con- 
stantly followed. Mr. McKissick is the present owner of one hundred 
twenty acres of land in section 32, Mount Pleasant township, which is 
considered one of the best "bottom farms" in Bates county. The McKis- 
sick residence is a pleasant cottage of five rooms. A commodious barn, 
44 X 38 feet in dimensions, affords ample provision for the care of both 
stock and grain. The buildings are all situated on upland. 

The marriage of John F. McKissick and Lutie May Leonard, daugh- 
ter of John E. and Mary (Tucker) Leonard, formerly of Charlotte 
township but now residents of Mt. Pleasant, was solemnized in August, 
1910. To this union have been born four children: John Howard, Mary 
Katherine, Robert L., and Edward L. Mr. and Mrs. McKissick are 
sincere and highly respected members of the New Hope Baptist church. 

Incomplete would be a biographical compendium of Bates county, 
Missouri, were no mention made of the McKissicks, whose lives for so 
many years have been interwoven with' the local history of Butler and 
vicinity. For many long years, George M. McKissick was an important 
and forceful factor in the development of Mount Pleasant township 
and he always took a leading part in the affairs of his community. 
Jonathan McKissick, a business man of strong and vigorous personality, 
devoted his time and energies to the upbuilding of the commercial 
interests of Butler. Although John F. McKissick is still a young man. 
he is ably maintaining the reputation of the family and his career has 
so far been marked by well-directed energy, strong determination to suc- 
ceed, and honest, honorable endeavor. A public-spirited citizen, an 
intelligent, capable agriculturist, a kind neighbor and friend, Mr. 
McKissick is undoubtedly a true son of a noble pioneer. 

Charles Henry, proprietor of the Butler Dairy, is a representative 

(54) 



850 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of one of the oldest and best pioneer families of Bates county, Missouri. 
Mr. Henry is a Bates county boy. He was born in this section of Mis- 
souri in 1878, a son of E. P. and Gertrude (Garrison) Henry, the former, 
a native of Ohio and the latter, of Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. E. P. 
Henry were the parents of the following children: Alice, the wife of 
Dr. J. T. Hull, Butler, Missouri; Bertha, the widow of Judge J. S. 
Francesco, Butler, Missouri; Charles, the subject of this review; Walter, 
who is engaged in the garage business at Butler, a sketch of whom 
appears elsewhere in this volume ; and Emma Dell, who died at the age 
of five years. The Henrys came to Bates county, Missouri, about 1868 
or 1869 and settled on the farm now owned by the son, Charles. E. P. 
Henry died in 1889 and Mrs. Henry joined him in death in 1914. Both 
parents are interred in Oak Hill cemetery near Butler. A more detailed 
account of E. P. Henry, familiarly known as Captain Henry, one of 
the late leading citizens of Bates county, appears in connection with 
the biographical review of Walter, a brother of Charles Henry. 

Mr. Henry, whose name introduces this sketch, attended the city 
schools of Butler and. later, Detroit Business University. A few years 
after he had completed his commercial education, the Spanish Ameri- 
can War broke out and Mr. Henry enlisted at Butler in the service of 
the U^nited States. He served one year and was mustered out and 
honorably discharged. Pie returned home and began farming, in which 
pursuit he was engaged until he enlered the dairy business in 1914. 

The Butler Dairy was established by James Wells. He sold to C. S. 
Douglass, from whom Charles Henry obtained the dairy in 1917. Mr. 
Henry had, however, been engaged in the dairy business for three 
years previous to purchasing this business establishment, at his present 
location adjoining the townsite of Butler. Two hundred thirteen acres 
of land comprise the Henry dairy farm, the old E. P. Henry homestead. 
Mr. Henry raises all the feed he needs for his herd of forty-five dairy 
cows and besides leaves eighty acres of the farm in pasture. He has 
two silos, each having a capacity of two hundred fifty tons. The Butler 
Dairy is one of the best, most sanitary, and splendidly equipped in the 
country. In addition to a washer, sterilizer, and milk cooler, all operated 
by steam, Mr. Henry is installing a bottling machine, which fills four 
bottles at a time and having a capacity of five hundred liottles an hour. 
Thus practically all the work of the dairy is done speedily, efficiently, 
and in the most approved and sanitary manner. The water used in 
connection with the dairy comes from a well of great depth and is pure. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 85 1 

Mr. Henry caters to the family and hotel trade and he is doing an excel- 
lent and profitable business. The dairy barn on the farm was rebuilt and 
improved in 1917 and now contains forty-seven stanchions and concrete 
floors and is kept scrupulously clean. 

The marriage of Charles Henry and Gertrude Guyant, of Butler, 
Missouri, was solemnized in 1910. Mrs. Henry is a daughter gf J. M. and 
Mary (Young) Guyant. Mrs. Guyant is now deceased and Mr. Guyant 
resides at Butler. To Charles and Gertrude Henry have been born two 
sons: Charles E., Jr., and Fred. Mr. Guyant resides with Mr. and 
Mrs. Henry. 

Aside from his business interests, Charles Henry takes a deep inter- 
est in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the community. He is 
one of the energetic, progressive men, who are doing so much to keep 
Bates county in the front rank with the most prosperous counties of 
Missouri. AVillingly and cheerfully. Mr. Henry lends his support to 
every worthy enterprise wdiich has for its object the promotion of the 
interests of Butler and Bates county and the elevation of the standards 
of citizenship. He is a w^orthy son of a good father, an excellent repre- 
sentative of a long line of eminently honorable ancestors. 

Grover C. Ireland, a progressive and energetic young farmer and 
stockman, is one of Bates county's worthy citizens. Mr. Ireland was 
born at the Ireland homestead in Spruce township. Bates county, Sep- 
tember 9, 1887, a son of Benjamin and Callie (Harmon) Ireland, pio- 
neers of Spruce township, a sketch of wdiom appears in this volume. 

In the district schools of Spruce township, Bates county, Grover 
C. Ireland ob.tained a good common-school education. At the age of 
twenty-one years, Mr. Ireland with a mule-team began farming on land 
five miles northeast of Butler. He purchased eighty acres in January, 
1918, and forty acres additional in March. 1918, now owning one 
hundred twenty acres of valuable land. He has leased two hundred 
forty acres of the Scully land, one mile east of Ballard, Missouri. At 
the time of this writing in 1918, Mr. Ireland has on his farm twenty 
head of Shropshire sheep ; thirty-two head of high-grade white-face 
cattle, all cows, with the exception of a registered male at the head 
of the herd; thirty head of Duroc Jersey hogs, two being registered 
sows, one costing ninety-one dollars, the other eighty-six dollars; 
twelve head of horses, one a registered stallion, "Tam O'Shanter," two 
years old, from Jacob Baum's herd, and six brood mares ; and three 
head of mules. Mr. Ireland has some verv excellent views on stock 



852 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

raising and it is his opinion that "keeping poor-grade stock on any 
farm doesn't pay and he is giving a practical demonstration of the 
truth of the converse. 

In February, 1909, Grover C. Ireland and Lillian Nina Speers, of 
Spruce tow^nship, a daughter of William and Dolly Speers and a' grand- 
daughter of "Uncle James" Speers, a widely-known resident of Johns- 
town, Missouri, who came to Bates county in 1859 and located at Johns- 
town and is still living there, were united in marriage. To this union 
have been born three children: Harland, Letha, and Donald. Mr. and 
Mrs. Ireland reside one and a half miles northeast of Ballard, Missouri, 
and they receive their mail on Rural Route 26 from Urich, Missouri. 
They are highly respected and esteemed in Spruce township and in 
Bates county, and the number of their friends is myriad. Mr. Ireland 
is carving a name for himself and has now established a reputation 
which might well be emulated by many citizens much older than he. 
He is one of the successful Bates county boys of whom all are justly 
proud. 

August Fischer. — The "Fischer Farm," located two and a half miles 
south of the village of Pleasant Gap in the township of the same name, 
is one of the best and most productive in Bates county. The house and 
buildings are well located upon a sloping hillside from which every 
acre of the farm can be overlooked — an ideal setting for a farm home. 
This fine farm comprises two hundred forty acres of valuable land, the 
cultivation of which yields its owner a good income. All the buildings are 
the handiwork of the proprietor, August Fischer, who has profitably 
combined the trade of carpenter and builder with the vocation of farm- 
ing. Unlike the shoemaker and the painter, whose children are unshod 
and whose house is left unpainted, Mr. Fischer used his skill and genius 
in erecting as his own domicile one of the best farm residences in Bates 
county and the other buildings grouped around about are also kept in 
a good state of repair. His big barn, built in 1900, measures 32 x 60 
feet with a height of sixteen feet to the square. He has a substantial corn 
crib, hog house, granary and a machine shed, chicken house and hog 
houses — the buildings on the place forming a little village all in them- 
selves. Probably the most valuable adjunct to the farming operations 
is a never failing well which was drilled to a depth of two hundred 
forty-six feet, the water being raised by wind-mill power, and the under- 
ground stream having a steady flow of over one gallon each minute. 
Mr. Fischer carries on general farming and stock raising. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 853 

August Fischer was born May 17, 1863, in Germany, the son of 
Louis and Johanna (Niedenmeier) Fischer, natives of Germany, who 
came to America in 1880 and made a settlement in Pleasant Gap town- 
ship, where Louis Fischer died on January 29, 1893. Louis and Johanna 
Fischer were parents of nine children: Louis, Fred, and Augusta Steiner, 
deceased; Charles, August, Mrs. Caroline Wittee, Henry, William, Mrs. 
Geyeta Halwig. August Fischer came to America in 1879. August 
Fischer came to Bates county in the spring of 1879 and ten years later 
he made his first purchase of land, investing his savings in eighty acres 
of land, known as the "Louis Fischer Farm," Prosperity has smiled upon 
him, and by means of hard work, good management and thrift he has 
added another quarter section to the original home place. Mr. Fischer 
learned the trade of carpenter and builder when a young man and he 
plied his trade in many parts of Bates county, his mechanical ability 
enabling him to turn many hundreds of dollars into his purse, and was 
of great help to him in making a good start in Bates county. In addi- 
tion to his home farm of two hundred forty acres, Mr. Fischer is 
owner of a tract of sixty-two and a half acres in Rockville township. 

On September 25, 1887, August Fischer and Miss Mary Kern, of 
Rockville, born Octol)er 2, 1863, near Humboldt, Kansas, were united 
in marriage. She is a daughter of Martin Kern, who died in 1899 and 
is buried in Prairie City cemetery. Her mother resides at Rockville. 
The Kerns located in Bates county in 1869. Mr. and Mrs. August Fischer 
have children as follow: Herman, a farmer in Mt. Pleasant township; 
Caroline, wife of R. F. Davis, Hudson township ; Willie died at the age of 
eleven years; Yetta, wife of Joseph Bowers, Rockville township; 
Augusta, at home with her parents; Sophia, at home. 

Since coming to Bates county thirty-eight years ago, Mr. Fischer 
has risen to become one of the leading and most substantial citizens of 
this county. His first purchase of eighty acres was made on time — his 
beginning as a farmer having been practically made without capital. 
Diligence, careful management, good judgment, and unfailing optimism 
in hard times have enabled him to forge ahead and become well to do. 
He is one of the leaders in his township and is president of the Pleasant 
Gap Boosters Club, an organization formed among the best people of his 
neighborhood by Mr. Fischer and others for the purpose of advancing 
the social and business welfare of the neighborhood in general. This 
club is a very popular and busy concern and is behind the project for 
the erection of the Community Hall at Pleasant Gap. 



854 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Benjamin F. Bamett, ex-collector of taxes in Summit township, one 
of Bates county's progressive and successful, young agriculturists and 
stockmen, was born in Carroll county, Kentucky, May 13, 1886. Mr. 
Barnett is a son of J. W. and Frances (Todd) Barnett, natives of 
Kentucky. They were the parents of four children, who are now living: 
Gordon, Butler, Missouri ; Nannie, the wife of Roy Argenbright, of 
Summit township; May and Lillie, at home with their father. Mrs. 
Barnett, the mother, died at the Barnett home place in Summit town- 
ship in 1916. Mr. Barnett is engaged in farming and stock raising in 
this township. 

Mr. Barnett, whose name introduces this sketch, received his ele- 
mentary education in the public schools of Carroll county, Kentucky. 
He was a student at Clay City High School, Clay City, Kentucky, for 
two years. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1903 and located on 
a farm one mile south of Butler, where he remained two years, and 
then he moved to a country place in Summit township located seven 
miles east of Butler. Mr. Barnett bought a tract of land, embracing 
one hundred ten acres, in 1909 from Doctor Foster. The land was 
practically unimproved, having only a small house and barn. Benjamin 
F. Barnett has rebuilt the residence and the barn and erected a silo, 
14 X 35 feet in dimensions, and a dairy barn, equipped with twenty-four 
stanchions, and a chicken house, 12 x 38 feet in dimensions. He has 
increased his holdings and his farm now comprises two hundred ten 
acres of excellent prairie land, well watered and nicely improved, which 
he is constantly building up and making better. Mr. Barnett has at 
present a herd of twenty-four dairy cows and sixteen heifer calves 
of both Holstein and Jersey breeds. He is the owner of one cow which 
gives forty pounds of milk daily and the milk tests four per cent, butter 
fat. Mr. Barnett is enthusiastic in his defence of the dairy cow as a 
money-making investment. It has frequently been said by other stock- 
men of Bates county, whose words are quoted in this volume, that beef 
cattle are a better paying proposition in this part of the state than 
dairy cattle, but Mr. Barnett states that the dairy cow beats everything 
else on the farm, being a source of income constantly while at the same 
time increasing the fertility of the soil and he is planning to handle a 
larger herd of registered dairy cattle in the future. He has a mechanical 
milker, which milks twenty-five cows in an hour, the one of two such 
milkers in Bates county, the other one being owned by Sunderwirth 
Brothers of Prairie City. Mrs. Barnett is raising Brown Leghorn 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 855 

chickens .and has at present a flock of three liundred fowls, which are 
proving to be a very profitable feature of the farm. 

In 1910. the marriage of Benjamin F. Barnett and Jessie Cantrell, 
a daughter of Starlin and Hattie (Gloyd) Cantrell, was solemnized and 
to this union has been born one child, a daughter, Elizabeth. Mr. and 
Mrs. Barnett are widely known and universally respected in Butler and 
Bates county. Mr. Barnett has an extensive acquaintance throughout 
his township, having served four years as collector of taxes in Summit 
township. He is a young man of exceptional business ability and 
judgment and his standing, financially, commercially, and socially is 
second to none in the county. 

Palmer E. Nelson, the well-known manager of the "Allen View 
Stock Farm," is one of Bates county's progressive and energetic young 
agriculturists and stockmen. Mr. Nelson is a native of Bureau county, 
Illinois. He was born in 1885, a son of N. Y. and Mary Nelson, natives 
of Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, with their son, Palmer E., came to 
Missouri in 1905 and they are now residents of Cedar county, Mis- 
souri. 

Mr. Nelson, whose name introduces this review, attended school 
at Princeton, Illinois. Seven years ago, dating from this writing in 
1918, he was employed on the Green Walton place for one year and 
then on the farm, of which he is now manager, for one year, when he 
left Bates county and accepted a position with the Steam Shovel & 
Elevator Company of Kansas City. Mr. Nelson was employed with 
this company for eighteen months and then resigned his position and 
returned to his father's home in Cedar county, Missouri. Three years 
ago, in August, 1914, he assumed charge of the "Allen View Stock 
Farm" in Deepwater township. 

The marriage of Palmer E. Nelson and Nellie Miller was solemnized 
in 1907 and to this union have been born two children: Miller and 
Mary Jeannette. ]\Irs. Nelson is a daughter of Warren and Awra Miller 
and a native of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have made scores of 
friends since their coming to Bates county and they are held in the 
highest esteem and respect by all with whom they have come in con- 
tact. 

"Allen View Stock Farm" is one of the excellent stock farms of Deep- 
water township, lying eight miles east of Butler, comprising four hun- 
dred ten acres of land partly in Deepwater and in Summit townships, 
owned by Frank Allen, of Butler, Missouri. The land is rolling and is 



856 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

a part of the old \A'hite place. "Allen View Stock Farm" is '"T-he Home 
of Shorthorn Cattle and Duroc Jersey Hogs" in Bates county and is 
widely known in the stock markets of Missouri. Mr. Nelson shipped 
a carload of Duroc Jersey ' hogs, a herd of seventy-eight, farrowed in 
April and May of 1917, and they averaged two hundred forty-two 
pounds each December 1st, and "topping the market" at seventeen dol- 
lars and seventy-five cents each per hundred pounds in Kansas City, 
Missouri. Mr. Nelson keeps on the farm usually from eighteen to 
twenty brood sows and a herd of fifty to seventy-five Shorthorn cattle, 
mostly cows. "Hallen," one of the best males in the entire country, from 
the E. M. Hall herd, of Carthage, Missouri, twenty-nine months of 
age and weighing sixteen hundred pounds, heads the Allen herd. He 
was purchased in February, 1916, and could easily and cjuickly be made 
to weigh a ton, if it w^ere so desired. ''Allen View Stock Farm" is 
nicely improved and well equipped with all modern facilities for the 
efficient handling of stock. The improvements include a comfortable 
residence, hog barn, horse barn, hog houses, breeding pens, feeding 
rooms, implement shed, hog-tight fencing, and a splendid well. The 
well is 10 X 40 feet in dimensions and the w'ater stands within twelve 
feet of the top and it would be impossible to pump it dry. The feeding- 
rooms are supplied with a feed grinder, which grinds and mixes the 
feed, and Mr. Nelson employs all the methods of scientific feeding 
which have been proven profitable and practical by agricultural insti- 
tutions. He reads and studies agricultural journals and bulletins and 
puts into practical use the knowledge he gains thereby, realizing that 
the main object in raising stock on the farm is to make money and that 
the farmer and stockman should find out just how much and what is 
profitable to feed and how to conserve the energy of the animal after it 
is profitably fed. Palmer E. Nelson is one of the most enterprising, 
up-to-date, intelligent stockmen of Bates county. 

William A. Eads, a highly respected and progressive farmer and 
stockman of Deepwater township, is a worthy representative of a 
prominent pioneer family of Missouri. Mr. Eads is a native of Iowa, 
a son of Strowther and Martha A. (Dodds) Eads, the former, a native 
of Gasconade county, Missouri, and the latter, of Illinois, and he was 
born in 1855. Strowther Eads was born March 3, 1825, at the Eads 
homestead in Gasconade county, Missouri, a son of William and Rebecca 
(Robison) Eads. AVilliam Eads was a native of Kentucky, born in 
1780, a member of a leading colonial family of the South. He was 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 857 

united in marriage with Rebecca Robison, a native of South Caro- 
hna, who was ten years his junior, in 1820 and to this union were 
born live children : Polly, Cyrena, and Strowther, all of whom were born 
in Gasconade county, Missouri; and Alcy and Louisa, who were born 
in Sangamon county, Illinois. William Eads and his family resided in 
Gasconade county, Missouri, during the first years of the statehood and 
settlement of Missouri, from 1820 until 1835, moving thence to Sanga- 
mon county, Illinois, and then to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1846. At Des 
Moines, Iowa, William Eads died. Strowther Eads, father of William 
A. Eads, the subject of this review, was reared in Sangamon county, 
Illinois, and was there united in marriage with Martha A. Dodds, a 
daughter of Joseph and Martha Dodds and a native of Illinois, born 
in 1827. Joseph Dodds was born May 18, 1785, and his wife was born 
May 18, 1793. To Strowther and Martha A. (Dodds) Eads were born 
the following children: Nancy E., who was born February 28, 1847, 
married William White and now resides at Appleton City, Missouri ; 
Mary E., who was born December 9. 1848, married William Purcell and 
now resides at Kansas City, Missouri ; Rebecca J., who was born March 
6, 1851, married Frank Peacock and now resides at Schell City, Mis- 
souri; William A., the subject of this review; Finis E., who was born 
April 15, 1858, a well-to-do farmer residing one and a half miles north 
of Spruce, Missouri; and Martha A., the wife of Samuel Coleman, of 
Butler, Missouri. After their marriage on April 16, 1846, Mr. and Mrs. 
Strowther Eads resided for some time in Sangamon county, Illinois, 
whence they moved to Iowa, in which state their son, William A., was 
born. In 1866, they came to Missouri and located near Carrollton, but 
were dissatisfied and in one year returned to their old home in Sangamon 
county, Illinois. However, the Eads family could not resist the call 
of the West and in 1870 returned to Missouri to purchase a tract of 
land in Bates county in Deepwater township, which was their home until 
1881, at which time Strowther Eads moved to Vernon county, pur- 
chasing a farm of one hundred sixty acres in .sections 3 and 4, located 
south of Schell City, Missouri. The father died in Vernon county in 
1903 and interment was made in the cemetery at Johnstown. The 
widowed mother survived Mr. Eads ten years, when in 1913 they were 
united in death and she was laid to rest beside him in the burial ground 
at Johnstown. For almost a full century, the name of Eads has been 
a familiar and honored name in Missouri and the family has long been 
ranked with the sterling first families of the State. 



858 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

^^"illiam A. Eads attended school in Bates county, Missouri, and in 
the district school of Deepwater township obtained an excellent com- 
mon-school education. Educational advantages in this part of the 
country were necessarily very limited in the pioneer and war times, 
but with limited opportunities Mr. Eads made the best progress pos- 
sible and became thoroughly familiar with the elementary branches and 
in later life, by eagerly reading and closely observing, has become a 
remarkably well-informed gentleman. He remained at home with his 
father as long as the latter lived, the two being associated in partner- 
ship in farming and stock raising. Mr. Eads, Jr., was the proprietor of 
a good farm in Vernon county, Missouri, prior to 1902, when he dis- 
posed of it and purchased a country place in Bates count}', the Hall 
farm one-fourth mile east of Spruce, Missouri, a tract of land compris- 
ing one hundred four acres, a part of which place was entered from 
the government by Barbary Price in the early thirties and improved 
by ]\Ir. Price's son, Mr. \\'illiam Price. The Eads farm lies twelve miles 
east of Butler, Missouri. 

The marriage of A\'illiam A. Eads and Dora Cooper was solemnized 
February 26, 1880, in Lone Oak township. Mrs. Eads is a daughter of 
J. M. and Kate (Gentry) Cooper. The Gentry family came from Ken- 
tucky to Missouri in the early days and Mrs. Eads was born at Harri- 
sonville, to which city her father had moved from Lees Summit, where 
he had originally located. He and his brother conducted a mercantile 
estal)lishment, owning a carriage and wagon factory, at Harrisonville 
in the fifties. The old building in which the factory was located is 
still standing. The Coopers moved to Harrisonville when Order No. 
11 was issued by General Ewing- during the Civil War. The resi- 
dences of J. M. and Jackson Cooper, the two brothers, were the only 
two houses in the vicinity which were not searched. IMrs. Eads knew 
the Youngers personally, for when her parents resided at Lees Sum- 
mit her brothers, sisters, and she attended the same school as they. To 
William A. and Dora (Cooper) Eads have been born three children: 
Maude Ethel, the wife of Carl Ludwick, of Los Angeles, California: 
Ira, who married Mrs. Epsie Murphy, who is engaged in the mercantile 
business at Spruce, Missouri ; and Charles, who married Bessie Barrick- 
man, and they reside on a farm one-half mile east of Spruce. Mr. and 
Mrs. Eads are very proud of their five grandchildren: George William 
and Martha Ruth Ludwick, children of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Ludwick; 
Mildred and Richard Eads, children of Mr. and Mrs. L-a Eads ; and 
Charles Kenneth Eads, the onlv son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Eads. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 859 

William A. Eads is a Republican of prominence in his township. 
He made the race for judge of the county court from his district in 
1910 and for county treasurer in 1912. Mr. Eads has always taken an 
active and interested part in politics and during his residence in Vernon 
county served for several years on the township board in Clear Creek 
township and as assessor. Deepwater township is proud to numljer 
him among its best, most enterprising, public-spirited citizens. Bates 
county owes its present supremacy to the class of clear-headed, strong- 
armed, energetic yeomen of which William A. Eads is a creditable rep- 
resentative. 

E. E. Morilla, one of the younger generation of farmers who have 
been born and reared in Bates county, has achieved one of the most 
striking successes in his vocation ever accomplished in this section of 
Missouri. Mr. Morilla was born on a farm in Lone Oak township, 
January 7, 1878, and is the son of Charles and Emma (Thomas) Morilla, 
both of whom are living. Emma (Thomas) Morilla is a daughter of 
William R. Thomas, of Lone Oak township. Charles and Emma 
Morilla are parents of the following children: E. E., subject of this 
review; Mrs. Alice Ellington, Butler, Missouri; C. W. Morilla, Abilene, 
Kansas; Mrs. Christina Moore, Huntington Beach, California; Ernest, 
a soldier in the National Army, Three Hundred Forty-first Field Artil- 
lery, Camp Funston, Kansas. 

The education of E. E. Morilla was obtained in the public schools 
of Butler and the Butler Academy. He was a student of the academy 
when Professor Richardson was the principal in charge. He began 
his farming career in Mt. Pleasant township, and bought his first farm 
in 1898, in Pleasant Gap township. He later traded this farm for a 
tract of land in Greenwood county, Kansas, where he resided for six 
years. He then returned to Bates county and lived upon the Joe G. 
Ellington farm in Pleasant Gap township for five years. He purchased 
his present home farm of two hundred fifty-five acres in 1906. He 
bought eighty acres March 15, 1918, making a total of three hundred 
thirty-five acres. The farm was formerly owned by the Hufi'mans. 
Mr. Morilla has placed practically all of the improvements upon his 
place, the residence being erected in 1908. and is a modern structure, 
one and a half stories, of seven rooms. He built his fine barn in 1910. 
This barn is 64 x 80 feet in dimensions. Mr. Morilla is a believer in 
the use of the silo to store green food away for cattle feeding in the 



860 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

winter season and he has three of these modern adjuncts to farming 
on the place, the sizes of his silos are 16 x 30 feet. 14 x 32 feet, and 
14 X 34 feet. Air. Morilla is an extensive feeder of cattle and hogs 
and has about one hundred and thirty-five head of cattle on the place 
which he will have fed out for the markets by spring. He has fifty 
head of hogs and is feeding over two hundred head of Shropshire sheep. 
■ Mr. ]\Iorilla has been twice married, his first marriage occurring 
on April 14. 1897, with ]\liss Fannie Ellington, who died Julv 4, 1907, 
leaving two children: Leo, and Joseph. His second marriage was 
with Miss Fannie A\'ix, on November 17, 1909. Two children have 
blessed this union: Clarence, and Vivian Bernice. Mrs. Fannie ]\lor- 
illa is a daughter of Joseph F. W'ix, of Pleasant Gap township, a sketch 
of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. The ]Morilla family is 
one of the most prominent in their neighborhood and Mr. and Airs. 
jMorilla are universally esteemed and respected by the people of their 
section of Bates county. For a number of years, Mr. Morilla has 
been prominent in the aft'airs of his township and has served two terms 
as trustee of Pleasant Gap. He is looked upon as a "live wire" and 
a progressive and enterprising citizen who has made good in the county 
of his birth. 

Benjamin Franklin Sharpless. M. D., retired physician, ex-justice 
of the peace of Rockville, Missouri, formerly a leading agriculturist and 
stockman of Bates county, a successful business man, is one of the promi- 
nent pioneers of Rockville. Doctor Sharpless came to Bates county, Mis- 
souri, in 1869 from his native state, Pennsylvania, to evade the persistent 
calls upon him in the practice of medicine and to recuperate from a 
breakdown due to overwork. He was born December 4, 1837, near 
Philadelphia in Chester county, Pennsylvania, a son of W^illiam and Abi- 
gail (Garrett) Sharpless. Doctor Sharpless was reared and educated 
in his native state. He is a graduate of the American Eclectic College 
of Philadelphia. 

Doctor Sharpless came to Rockville, ^Missouri, from Sedalia, driv- 
ing three yoke of oxen, and he purchased a tract of land comprising 
four hundred acres located in Rockville township, section four, for 
ten dollars an acre. He resided on this farm and improved the land, 
building a nice, comfortable residence, two barns, sheds, cribs, and other 
necessary farm conveniences and engaged in general farm and stock 
raising. When Doctor Sharpless located in Bates county in 1869, the 
Tohannas. the Belchers, the Hooks, the Houslevs, the Bowdens, the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 86l 

Stodclards, and the Murphys resided in the vicinity of Rockville. The 
raih-oad has been built since that time and the httle village has grown 
to be a small but flourishing city, having a population of seven hundred 
inhabitants. The doctor broke the prairie sod of his farm with the 
assistance of oxen and built a rude cabin home, 18 x 20 feet in dimen- 
sions, of unfinished lumber shipped up the Osage to Papinsville and hauled 
from there to the farm. Doctor Sharpless recalls that there were a 
large number of emigrants passing through this particular corner of 
Bates county during the years of 1869 and 1870 and frecjuently the doc- 
tor and his friends would recommend, to undesirables, Kansas as a 
Paradise on earth and urge them to go on. The doctor was instru- 
mental in establishing School District No. 2 in 1871 and while on the 
farm was a member of the school board. Doctor Sharpless has the dis- 
tinction of being the first teacher employed in District No. 2, Rockville 
township. 

December 14, 1864, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Sharpless was united 
in marriage with Harriet Wollerton. a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth 
Wollerton, of Westchester, Chester county, Pennsylvania. The A\'oller- 
tons were highly respected and valued members of the Friends church 
and both Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Harvey Wollerton spent their lives 
in Pennsylvania, where their remains now lie interred. To Doctor and 
Mrs. Sharpless have been born five children, all of whom are now liv- 
ing: Elberta, the wife of Oscar Housley. of Kansas City, Missouri; 
Carrie E., the wife of Dr. E. J. Viedt, of St. Louis, Missouri; William 
W., who married Kate Rees and they reside at Stonewall, Oklahoma; 
Harry C, who married Bessie Greeson and they reside at Amarillo, 
Texas; and Samuel Lewis, who married Miss Amy Bluett, of St. Louis, 
Missouri, and they reside at Los Angeles, California. Dr. and Mrs. 
Benjamin Franklin Sharpless celebrated their Fiftieth Wedding Anni- 
versary on December 14, 1914. They are justly proud of their ten 
grandchildren, one of whom, a grandson, Gilbert O. Housley, son of 
Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Housley, of Kansas City, Missouri, is a corporal 
at Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, at the time of this writing, 
in 1918. 

Among several priceless possessions owned by Doctor and ]\Irs. 
Sharpless is a grandfather's clock which is more than a full century old 
and is still a correct timekeeper. On the inside of the clock is the fol- 
lowing inscription: "Cleaned October 13, 1812. W. Putman. Again 
October 17, 1823." This remarkable heirloom is eight feet high and 



862 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

has two weights, requiring winding once every eight days. The hands 
designate the day of the month, the hour, minute, second, and the changes 
of the moon. Doctor Sharpless inherited the clock from his uncle, John 
Sharpless, and the name "Goshen" is on its face. The doctor also owns 
an old-fashioned secretary, which is nearly one hundred years of age, and 
a table constructed without the use of nails, being held together with 
wooden pins. Dr. Sharpless has a valuable record of the Sharpless 
family, a book of one thousand three hundred thirty-three pages con- 
taining the genealogy of the family from 1682 to 1882. P. M. Sharp- 
less, manufacturer of the Sharpless separator, is a cousin of William 
Sharpless, father of Dr. Benjamin Franklin Sharpless. 

In 1903, Doctor and Mrs. Sharpless moved from their farm to Rock- 
ville, where they purchased their present residence from Philip Bartz. 
The life of Doctor Sharpless has been in the main quiet and always unas- 
suming and although he is now the possessor of an ample competence 
he and his noble wife continue to live in the simple manner which was 
their custom in the earlier days. Both the doctor and Mrs. Sharpless 
are still active and are enjoying life and they are highly esteemed in 
Bates county for their genuine worth. 

George S. Porter, well and favorably known farmer and stockman 
of Deepwater township, was born on the farm which he is now man- 
aging. May 14, 1877. He is the son of Jefferson L. and Catherine 
(Schere) Porter, natives of Virginia. Jefferson L. Porter was born in 
Virginia in 1826 and departed this life on his farm in Bates county in 
1912. He was a scion of an old American family of prominence. He 
came to Missouri from Virginia in 1858 and made an early settle- 
ment in Deepwater tow^nship, wdiere he became one of the most 
influential citizens of the count}/. Mr. Porter first purchased a homestead 
of two hundred and forty acres from Jerrard Witt who had entered 
the land. He was industrious, a good farmer, and financier and became 
owner of nine hundred and twenty-six acres of land in this county 
previous to his death. When Order No. 11 was issued by General Ewing 
calling for the residents of Bates county who were in sympathy with 
the South to evacuate their homes, Mr. Porter was the only man in his 
neighborhood to remain. During the troublesome times in the border 
country when marauding bands would sweep over western Missouri, 
burning homes and killing livestock and settlers, J. L. Porter 
was living on the old home place. When ordered away, he left it 
for one night only, he and his family returning next day. A party 
of marauders attempted to assassinate him, and his horse was killed 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 863 

during- the affray. The attack and attempt upon his life occurred 
near Johnstown. A party was organized to avenge the assault, com- 
posed of Mr. Porter, A. E. Page, John Sisson, George and William War- 
ner, Lafayette Griggs, and Valincourt Griggs. The party came upon 
a part of the band which had attempted the killing and a battle ensued 
which lasted for some time on April 14, 1861. Lafayette Griggs fell 
dead at the first return fire from the jay-hawkers and a running fight 
ensued, the marauders making a stand for their lives near a small lake. 
Eight of the invaders were killed and the captain wounded, he being 
killed later by members of the posse who became the victors in the 
engagement. 

Jefferson L. Porter was appointed associate judge of the Bates 
county court in 1864 wdien the court held its sessions at Johnstown. 
He was prominent in the affairs of Bates county for many years and 
became widely known as a breeder of Hereford cattle and Duroc Jersey 
liogs. In 1901 he started the practice of holding private sales of his 
fine stock at his place and made a success of the undertaking. To Jeffer- 
son L. and Catherine Porter were born children as follow: Stewart 
F., Jonesboro, Arkansas ; Damaris, wife of Lee W^itt. she died in Sep- 
tember, 1917, at Troy, Missouri; Bettie, wife of Alvin Hart, Henry 
county, Missouri; Jennie, wife of Jasper Talbot. Miami, Oklahoma; 
Edith Murray, widow, Longmont, Colorado; Mollie M., wife of Jordan 
Cottle, Chicago. Illinois; George S., subject of this sketch; A. L. 
died at the age of thirty-five years in 1892, killed at Lexing- 
ton Junction in a railway accident; Nora died in 1912, aged forty years; 
three children died in infancy. Mrs. Catherine (Schere) Porter was 
born in Virginia and died in 1892. Mrs. Porter was a daughter of 
John Jacob Schere. born in Guilford county. North Carolina, February 7, 
1785, married Elizabeth Grierson. John Jacob Schere was the son of 
Frederick Schere, born in Guilford, North Carolina, in 1763. married 
Barbara Smith, and served in the Patriot Army during the War of the 
American Revolution, losing an ear in battle. He was the son of Jacob 
Daniel Schere, a native of Oberbelbock, Germany, married Hannah 
Sophie Dick, and immigrated to Berks county. Pennsylvania, in Septem- 
ber, 1748. His son probably migrated to North Carolina and there 
founded another branch of the family from wdiich George S. Porter is 
a direct decendant. 

George S. Porter was educated in school district No. 53, and studied 
in the Appleton City Academy for two years. After leaving school he 



864 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

took up farming and was his father's partner until Judge Porter died. 
He is managing a large farm of five hundred acres in all which is one 
of the best equipped stock farms in Bates county. All of this land is 
located in Deepwater township, excepting eighty acres which lies in 
Spruce township. All of the land excepting sixty acres is in hay, pas- 
ture and timber. The place is well watered, a deep well drilled three 
hundred and twenty feet furnishes an abundant supply of water for all 
purposes. Mr. Porter keeps one hundred head of cattle and al)out 
twenty head of horses and mules on the place. 

On December 11, 1900, George S. Porter was united in marriage 
with Sarah Bessie Alexander, of Deepwater township, a daughter of 
T. J. and Maud (Colegrove) Alexander. Her father was a native of 
Indiana, born in Jay county, May 18, 1854, and accompanied his father. 
Andrew Calvin Alexander, to Bates county in 1867. Andrew Calvin 
Alexander died in Bates county in 1893. T. J. Alexander, farmer, 
died August 21, 1899. His wife, Mrs. Maude x\lexander, was born in 
Lebanon, Indiana, November 12, 1860, and is now making her home 
near Johnstown. Mr. and Mrs. George S. Porter have three children: 
Ruby \^iolet, Ralph Alexander, and Ruth Catherine. Mrs. Sarah Bessie 
Porter was born July 20, 1882, and reared in Bates county. Her 
grandfather, Andrew C. Alexander, a prosperous farmer, was a native 
of Ohio, and married Sarah H. Callahan, who was born April 9, 1834, 
in Jackson county, Ohio, and died Fberuary 10, 1895. They were mar- 
ried June 2, 1853, moved from Indiana to Iowa in 1857, and from Iowa to 
Missouri in 1867 and located near Johnstown. 

While Mr. Porter is a Republican in politics he attends strictly to 
his own business affairs and leaves political matters for those who have 
more time for politics. He votes as a good citizen should but the man- 
agement of his large stock farm and his home affairs keep him occupied. 

M. W. Anderson, a prominent and prosperous farmer and stockman 
of Spruce township, is one of the successful, "self-made" men of Bates 
county. Mr. Anderson was born October 10, 1860, in Lafayette county, 
Missouri, a son of Jesse and Marinda Anderson, who came from Vir- 
ginia in the early days and settled on a farm in Lafayette county. Jesse 
Anderson died when his son, M. W., the subject of this review, was a 
small lad, ten years of age. Mrs. Anderson moved to Arkansas, where 
she died, and the son, M. W., was left to the protection and care of a 
neighbor, J. H. Hobbs, and he was reared by Mr. Hobbs in Johnson 
county. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 865 

Mr. Anderson, whose name introduces this review, obtained his 
education in the pubHc schools of Johnson county, Missouri. At the 
age of twenty-one years, he came to Bates county. He had just fifteen 
cents in his pocket and that amount meant the sum total of his financial 
resources. Mr. Anderson obtained employment at once and for his 
services received an overcoat and a pair of overshoes, which he was 
needing badly, and then served as apprentice with I. N. Paulline, a promi- 
nent contractor of Butler, Missouri, until he had mastered the carpenter's 
trade, which he followed in connection with farming in Bates county for 
thirty years. The first work which Mr. Anderson did in Bates county 
was husking corn in the snow for which he received the munificent sum 
of twenty-five cents a day — and it was real work, at that. By 1889, he 
had saved a sum of money sufificient to purchase a farm and he bought 
his first land in Mingo township, a place he later sold. Mr. Anderson 
then moved from this county to Urich in Henry county and was there 
engaged in buying and selling town lots and improving city property. 
He disposed of his interests in 1894 and purchased his present country 
place, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of land originally, 
from A. J. Allen and to his first holdings later added forty acres more, 
a tract purchased from John Winegardner. On this place in Spruce 
township, Mr. Anderson is profitably employed in raising horses, cattle, 
sheep, and hogs, and purebred Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. 

The marriage of M. W. Anderson and Mary F. Kenney, a daugh- 
ter of Rev. William and Martha A. (Drennan) Kenney, honored and 
revered pioneers of Sangamon county, Illinois, was solemnized Decem- 
ber 7, 1910. Reverend and Mrs. Kenney came to Bates county, Alis- 
souri in the autumn of 1868 and located in Spruce township, where 
they both died. The remains of both father and mother were interred 
in Bethel cemetery in Bates county, Missouri. Mrs. Anderson had the 
following brothers and sister, two living: C. E., Santa Barbara, Cali- 
fornia; B. F., of Spruce township; Mrs. Efiie M. Sparkman. who died 
at Portland, Oregon ; and Arthur E., who died at the age of sixteen 
years at the old homestead in Spruce township, Bates county. Mr. 
Anderson's brothers and sisters were, as follow: John, deceased; Al- 
fred, Osceola, Missouri; Isaac, deceased; Mrs. Jennie Gregory; ]\Irs. 
Lizzie Paul, of Johnson county, Missouri ; Mrs. Mattie Forney, Enid, 
Oklahoma; Mrs. Huldah Allen, Gypsum, Kansas; Mrs. Belle Rich, of 
Deepwater township, Bates county; and Mollie. To M. W. and Mary 
F. (Kenney) Anderson have been born two children: Nina May and 

(55) 



866 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Benjamin A\'esley. By a former marriage, Air. Anderson is the father 
of four sons: Arthur P., a well-to-do merchant of Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia; Robert E.. a successful farmer and ranchman of Great Falls, 
Montana; Archie B.. a well-known farmer and stockman of ]\Iingo 
township. Bates county; and William R., a prosperous farmer of Henry 
county. The Anderson name is widely and favorably known in west- 
ern Alissouri. 

The Anderson farm lies ten miles southwest of Creighton, twenty 
miles northeast of Butler, and sixteen miles east of Adrian. ]Mr. Ander- 
son has himself improved the place, adding all the buildings except 
the old ones erected by Mr. Mingus in the fifties. The improvements, 
which M. W. Anderson has placed on the farm, include a handsome 
residence, a ten-room structure, two stories and with a basement, built 
in 1905; a barn, 46 x 50 feet in dimensions, constructed of native lum- 
ber; a cattle and hog shed, 18 x 60 feet in dimensions; a sheep shed, 
16 X 60 feet in dimensions; a ninety-ton silo, erected in 1911. Air. 
Anderson feeds silage to his herds of horses, cattle, and sheep and is 
an enthusiastic advocate of it, but insists that it should be fed properly. 
He raises fine Percheron horses and is the owner of a Kentucky Ham- 
bletonian mare, a splendid saddle horse and trotter, seven years of 
age. Mr. Anderson has raised Shropshire sheep for twenty-five years 
and at the present time has a number of registered animals in his herd. 

In the election of 1917, M. W. Anderson was elected trustee of 
Spruce township, the first Republican to be so honored. He is now 
serving his first term in oiflce and is attending to all his ofificial duties 
with the skill and excellence of an experienced man. In all the affairs 
of life. Mr. Anderson has manifested the same zeal, enterprise, business 
tact, and excellent judgment, wdiich now characterize him as a public 
ofiticial. His unflagging industry and perseverance have enabled him 
to carry to a successful issue every undertaking to which he devotes 
his time and attention. He is in sympathy with all movements which 
tend to promote the public welfare and his public-spiritedness, his 
candor, and his integrity have won for him the respect of all with whom 
he has come in contact. Mr. and Airs. Anderson are worthy and valued 
members of the AA^alnut Grove Presbvterian church. 

Jesse L. Brooks, wide-awake and progressive farmer of Pleasant 
Gap township, is a native of Alichigan. ha^■ing been born in that state, 
in 1876. He is the son of Samuel Jay Brooks, who was also born in 
Michigan. November 30. 1845. He disposed of his farm holdings in 
Branch county, Michigan in 1883 and came to Bates county, Missouri, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 86/ 

his first purchase of land being a tract of one hundred acres formerly 
owned by David Walker and located three-fourths of a mile north of 
the village of Pleasant Gap. The improvements on the place at the 
time of the purchase were a small house and poor outbuildings. Mr. 
Brooks erected a barn, dug a cellar, and built a hay-shed and added 
to his possessions until he became owner of two hundred forty-five 
acres. He died December 8, 1893. His wife was Amanda Evelyn 
Sweezey prior to her marriage. She was a native of New York, and 
now makes her home in California. The children of Samuel Jay and 
Amanda E. Brooks are: Jesse L., subject of this review; Fannie Effie, 
wife of Perry Rogers, Porterville, California. 

After attending the common schools, Jesse L. Brooks studied for 
one year at Butler Academy. He then returned to the farm in Pleas- 
ant Gap township and worked with his father until his death. Mr. 
Brooks has added twenty acres to the original Brooks home farm and 
now owns tw^o hundred sixty-five acres in one connected body — splen- 
did farm land — all of which is in intensive cultivation and producing 
good crops excepting seventy acres of timber and pasture. Mr. Brooks 
has erected a fine barn 20 x 32 feet in dimensions. His barn number 
two is larger and measures 45 x 60 feet in size. He has also erected 
a silo. 12 X 36 feet, and has a smaller barn for hay and fodder. At 
the present writing (January. 1918) ^Ir. Brooks has twenty head of 
cattle, thirty head of fine hogs, and ten horses and mules — all good 
stock. 

On January 31, 1903, Jesse L. Brooks and }^larv Alice Swezv. of 
Pleasant Gap township, were united in marriage. ]\[rs. Brooks is a 
daughter of David B. and Ida (Brandenburg) Swezy, well-known resi- 
dents of Pleasant Gap township, the former of whom died on Novem- 
ber 5. 1916. and the latter is still living on the farm three miles south 
of Pleasant Gap. The Swezys came to ^Missouri in 1871 and located 
in Bates county in 1873. The remains of ]\Ir. Swezy are buried at 
Round Prairie cemetery. Mr. and [Mrs. Brooks have two children: 
Ida Evelyn, and ]\Iary Arleen. The Brooks home is a very pleasant 
one and ]\Ir. and Airs. Brooks take an active part in social affairs in 
their neighborhood. Mr. Brooks is a member of the Pleasant Gap 
Booster Club, which is working for the establishment of a community 
house at Pleasant Gap, an undertaking which is worthy of success and 
will prove of great benefit to the people of this vicinity in many ways. 



868 - HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

William T. Nichols, a successful farmer and stockman of Grand 
River township, is one of Bates county's most highly regarded and vahied 
citizens. Mr. Nichols is a native of Indiana. He was born in Warren 
county, Indiana, in 1847 and in childhood moved with his parents to 
Warren county, Illinois, in 1854, thence to Coffey county, Kansas, in 
1857, where they took up government land and settled on a farm located 
between Burlington and Leroy and where both father and mother died. 
The mother died in the spring of the year 1859 and the father died in 
the ensuing autumn. W. T. Nichols was an orphan at the age of twelve 
years, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Nichols. He returned to Illinois 
after the death of his father and remained in that state until 1867, 
when he returned to Kansas and two years later came thence to Bates 
county, Missouri, which county has been his home for nearly fifty con- 
tinuous years. 

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, W. T. Nichols was an orphan 
lad fourteen years of age. He was imbued with patriotic fervor and 
endeavored zealously to get into the ranks of the Union army, but he 
was entirely too short. The examining officials demanded of him that 
he remove his boots and then measured him and, as he was an unde- 
veloped boy, he fell far short of the standard height. Mr. Nichols 
attended school in IlHnois and Kansas. In his youth, he was employed 
in work on the Lexington Lake & Gulf railroad bed and it was neces- 
sary for him to follow the officials in order to obtain his last pay. He 
received two dollars a day and a man with a team received from three 
to three and a half dollars a day. After locating in Kansas, Mr. Nichols' 
brothers hauled provisions from Westport, Missouri. In 1869, he pur- 
chased with his hard-earned savings a small tract of land in Grand River 
township. Bates county, thirty acres of his present home place, from 
his uncle, Hiram Nichols, who had settled in Bates county, Missouri, 
in 1862 and died here in March, 1893. To his original holdings Mr, 
Nichols has constantly added until he now owns a valuable farm com- 
prising one hundred ten acres of choice land in Grand River township, 
located five miles northeast of Adrian in one of the best farming districts 
of this section of the state. Hiram Nichols, the former owmer of the 
farm, was one of the first settlers in this township, a brave, sturdy pio- 
neer w^ho spent the greater part of his life in Bates county. His residence 
was a rude, one-room log cabin. W^. T. Nichols was obliged to use the 
water from the branch nearby for drinking purposes, when he first set- 
tled on his farm in Bates county, and in 1874 he carried maple saplings 




WILLIAM T. :;iCHOLS AND Win 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 869 

and two box-alcler trees from the creek banks and transplanted them in 
his yard and they are still growing nicely, one being three feet in diame- 
ter. He recalls how, in the spring of 1875, the devastating grasshoppers 
destroyed his crops and all growing plants on his farm, but undauntedly 
he replanted and in spite of the pests raised a good crop of corn. Mr. 
Nichols well remembers the days in Bates county when hogs sold for 
one dollar and eighty cents a cut, corn for fifteen cents a bushel, eggs 
for three cents a dozen, large hens for one dollar and fifty cents a dozen, 
and small hens for one dollar and twenty-five cents a dozen. He has 
himself sold his produce at the above given prices. In discussing mat- 
ters relative to early-day facilities for obtaining an education, Mr. Nichols 
states that Mingo school district was organized before the Civil War 
and that the one school house in the district, a frame building con- 
structed of native lumber, stood the havoc of war and remained stand- 
ing for many years afterward. 

The marriage of W. T. Nichols and Hattie Simpson, a daughter of 
Benjamin and Mildred (Covington) Simpson, natives of Kentucky, was 
solemnized September 4, 1877. Benjamin Simpson was killed near 
Dayton in Cass county, Missouri, in 1861, mention of which is made 
in Judge Glenn's "History of Cass County." Mildred (Covington) Simp- 
son was a member of the family of Covingtons in whose honor the city 
of Covington, Kentucky, was named. Hattie (Simpson) Nichols was 
born in 1861, in the same year in which her father w^as killed, in Grand 
River township. Bates county, Missouri, and two years later her mother 
moved with her children to the old home place in Kentucky and there 
remained until 1871, when she returned to the Bates county home to 
find everything on the farm destroyed, the house, the barn, and even 
the stone chimney. Mrs. Simpson was the heroic type of pioneer woman 
who knew not what discouragement or failure meant. She rebuilt the 
residence, improved the farm of one hundred twenty acres of land, and 
unaided, reared and educated and provided for eleven chilren. Mrs. 
Simpson was one of the most noble of the brave pioneer mothers, a 
woman of remarkable energy and ability who was held in the highest 
esteem and respect by all who knew her and she was widely known. 
Her death, December 15, 1902, was deeply lamented in Bates county. 
Mrs. Simpson's remains are interred in Crescent Hill cemetery. Mrs. 
W. T. Nichols recalls her first school teacher, Miss Sarah Severs, at 
Deer Creek school house, and she was in turn succeeded by Dr. E. E. 
Gilmore. To W. T. and Hattie (Simpson) Nichols have been born five 



8/0 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

children, all of whom are now living: Etta May, who is at home with 
her parents; Addie Elizabeth, the wife of John Revis, of Severy, Kan- 
sas; William Dallas, at home; Zora, the wife of Edwin Dryden, of Ham- 
burg, Iowa; and Benjamin Franklin, Adrian, Missouri. 

The success which has attended the efforts of W. T. Nichols has 
been constant. He has encountered more than the usual dif^culties that 
beset the pathway of every "self-made" man. He began life with more 
than the ordinary handicaps, an orphan, without educational advantages 
and without financial resources, but with a will which no obstacle could 
weaken and a high purpose born of determination to succeed, he has 
overcome them all and won for himself a prominent place among the 
leading farmers and substantial citizens of his township and county. 

Joseph F. Wix, prosperous and enterprising farmer and stockman 
of Pleasant Gap township, is a native son of Bates county and a mem- 
ber of one of the oldest and most prominent of the pioneer families of 
this section of Missouri. His father was Joseph Wix, who settled in 
Bates county as early as 1839. His mother was Eliza Malcomb Wix, 
also of Missouri pioneer lineage. A complete biography of Joseph 
Wix, pioneer, appears elsewhere in this volume in connection with 
the biography of Clark Wix, brother of Joseph F. Wix. Joseph F. 
Wix was born in Pleasant Gap township in 1862 and has lived all of 
his life in Bates county, having practically grown up with Bates county, 
and progressed with the county from a wilderness of prairie and forest 
to the present time when the county ranks among the first among Mis- 
souri's greatest agricultural counties. His mother was the second wife 
of Joseph Wix, and he has a sister residing in Arkansas. Mr. Wix re- 
ceived his education in the Pleasant Gap public school, now called the 
Pleasant Ridge school. Mr. Wix went to Washington county with his 
parents and also lived for three years in Cedar county, Missouri. He 
resides upon a part of his father's old homestead, having become the 
owner of this place by the purchase of the various interests of the other 
heirs. His farm embraces two hundred and ten acres of rich land, which 
includes thirty acres of timber. All of the existing improvements on 
the place were erected under the supervision of Mr, Wix, his resi- 
dence having been built in 1902, a good building of two stories and 
six rooms. His large barn measures 44 x 50 feet in dimensions, and 
he has a smaller barn 26 x 30 feet in size. The Wix farm is located 
two miles north and one-half mile east of the village of Pleasant Gap 
and is considered one of the best farms in a locality noted for its pro- 
Sfressive farmers and excellent farmsteads. He raises Shorthorn cattle 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8/1 

and handles mostly good grades of livestock, such as Poland China 
hogs and Rhode Island Red poultry. 

On December 19, 1886, Joseph F. Wix and Miss Louise E. W'ielms 
were united in marriage. To this marriage have been born children 
as follow: Grace, wife of H. L. Padley, Pleasant Gap township; Fan- 
nie, wife of E. E. Morilla, Pleasant Gap township; Cora, Tillie, and 
Emma J., at home with their parents, the latter attending the Butler 
High School. Mrs. Louise E. Wix is a daughter of John and Barbara 
Wielms, the former of whom emigrated from his native land of Bel- 
pfium in 1855. Mrs. Wielms was born in Switzerland and left her 
native land and came to America with her parents in about 1855. John 
and Barbara W^ielms were married in Texas and came to .Vernon 
county, Missouri in 1866. Mr. Wielms died in Vernon county, and 
Mrs. Wielms now resides at Virgil City, Missouri. Mr. Wix is one 
of the leaders in the civic life of Pleasant Gap and has served as a 
member of the township board. The Wix family are prominent in their 
home township and are progressively inclined, taking an active part 
in social activities and ever ready to do their part in advancing the 
interests of their home community and county. 

J. W. Anderson, the pioneer druggist of Rockville, Missouri, is a 
member of one of the most prominent pioneer families of the state. 
Mr. Anderson was born in Henry county, Missouri in 1852, a son of 
Dr. Z. and Susan (Gilkeson) Anderson. Dr. Z. Anderson located with 
his family at Papinsville, Missouri in 1856. He was a native of Ten- 
nessee, born in 1826, and a graduate of the McDowell Medical College, 
of St. Louis, Missouri. Susan (Gilkeson) Anderson was a daughter 
of William Gilkeson, an honored pioneer of Johnson county, Missouri. 
At about the time the Andersons came to Papinsville, Missouri, Doc- 
tor Bedinger located at Papinsville. Fie was a native of Germany and 
is still remembered by many citizens of Bates county, who may recall 
his tragic death. The canoe upset and the doctor was thrown into the 
icy cold water and when found several hours later by a negro it was 
too late to revive him and Doctor Bedinger chilled to death in the 
canoe while being taken to Papinsville. Dr. Z. Anderson conducted 
a drug store and practiced medicine at Papinsville until the outbreak 
of the Civil War in 1861. He enlisted with the Confederates and 
served two years. In 1863, he returned to Missouri and located for 
a short time at St. Louis, whence he went to Illinois to remain until 
the war had ended. Doctor Anderson again came back to Missouri 



872 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

in 1866, returning this time to his old home at Papinsville, where he 
was engaged in the practice of medicine until his death in October, 
1868. Mrs. Anderson survived her husband for nineteen years. She 
departed this life in 1887 and was laid to rest beside her mother in Rock- 
ville cemetery. The father's remains rest in the cemetery at Papinsville. 

The following children were born to Dr. Z. and Mrs. Anderson: 
Mrs. Rilla Anderson, Rockville, Missouri; Ella, the wife of Clyde 
Murphy, of Springfield, Missouri; Mrs. Jennie Evans, of Glasgow, Ken- 
tucky; M. L., deceased; and J. W., the subject of this review. In the 
public schools of Papinsville, J. W. Anderson received his education. 
The first teacher, whom Mr. Anderson recalls, was a gentleman from 
New York, whom the school boys called a "Blue-bellied Yankee" and 
"Yank" in its shortened form. Following the New Yorker came Mr. 
Burnsides, from Ohio and he in turn was succeeded by Mr. Johnson, 
from Virginia. The school house was built of logs and among all the 
boys who attended- school there in the early days J. W. Anderson 
knows of but three who are now living, namely: D. O. Bradley, Rich 
Hill, Missouri; J. L. Richardson, Nevada, Missouri; and J. W. Ander- 
son. The merchants of Papinsville, in the days before the Civil War, 
were Mr. Eddy, Mr. Duke, and Phillip Zeal. The Indians were want 
to come to Papinsville each autumn for their winter supplies and well 
J. W. Anderson remembers seeing bands of red men in the little 
village.' He states that in religious matters the Presbyterians were in 
those days in the ascendancy at Papinsville, they having the only church 
in the place. The brick court house was destroyed during the Civil 
War and the bridge near the town was burned by a division of Price's 
army. 

In 1874, J. AV. Anderson entered the drug business at Papinsville 
and remained there until 1884, when in September of that year he 
moved to Rockville and has since continued in business at this place. 
Mr. Anderson has been engaged in the drug business continuously for 
forty-four years. He carries an exceptionally fine line of drugs, sta- 
tionery, cigars, and toilet articles and his thorough knowledge of phar- 
macy, in conjunction with his courteous manner and evident desire to 
please his customers, has brought him a flattering patronage. 

J. W. Anderson and Arabella Barrows, a daughter of Freeman 
Barrows, the first county clerk of Bates county, Missouri, were united 
in marriage in 1880. Freeman Barrows died about 1860 and his remains 
were interred in the cemetery on the Barrows home place and after- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 873 

ward removed to the cemetery at Rich Hill, Missouri. To J. W. and 
Mrs. Anderson have been born three children, all of whom are now 
living: Mrs. Medora Corbin, of Sterling, Colorado; L. W., who is 
a graduate of the St. Louis Pharmacy School, St. Louis, Missouri and 
is now a successful pharmacist at Joplin, Missouri; and Clyde Murphy, 
a graduate of the Rockville High School, Springfield Academy, Randolph- 
Macon Academy, and of the St. Louis Pharmacy School, St. Louis, 
Missouri, who has been stationed at Camp Doniphan since August 5, 
1917 in the service of the United States. 

Mr. Anderson began life a poor boy, with no special preparation 
in the way of educational training, and all that he has and all that 
he is has come as the inevitable result of honest, earnest effort and 
consecutive and persistent endeavor. Among the people with whom 
he has lived for so many years he occupies a high standing and possesses 
countless warm personal friends. The Andersons have for more than 
fifty years been respected and honored among the best families of 
Bates county, Missouri. 

A. L. Gilmore, proprietor of the "A. L. Gilmore Stock Farm" of 
Deepwater township, was born in Portage county, Ohio on December 
31, 1864. He is a son of Henry W. and Cornelia C. (Loomis) Gilmore, 
natives of Portage county, Ohio. Henry W. Gilmore came to Bates 
county, Missouri in 1873, locating in Old Hudson. He bought forty 
acres of the Newkirk farm, where he resided until his death in 1894. 
His wife died in December, 1910 and both parents are buried in Myers 
cemetery in Bates county. Two brothers of Henry W. Gilmore, Sam- 
uel and Charles, were veterans of the Civil War, and Samuel Gilmore 
for a few years conducted a shoe shop at Butler. Henry W. Gilmore 
and Mrs. Gilmore were the parents of six children: Mrs. Laura E. 
Graham, Falls City, Oregon; Mrs. Mary A. Mabry, St. Clair county, 
Missouri; Mrs. Mittie Keene, Spruce, Missouri; Mrs. Rilla Radford, 
Butler, Missouri ; Mrs. Lulu Keene, Lidianapolis, Indiana ; and A. L., 
the subject of this review. 

A. L. Gilmore attended school in Oak Grove district and later 
was a student at Butler Academy. After leaving school, he went to 
western Kansas and proved a government claim. A short time after- 
ward, he landed in the state of California and at that time had just 
thirty cents in his pocket. He made the trip in two days from Marys- 
ville, California to Laporte, a distance of eighty-seven miles. He went to 
work for the Sierra Lumber Company and was sent out with surveying 



8/4 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

parties up in the mountains. He was out on the trip three and one- 
half months. Food and supplies were taken to them on pack mules. 
He killed several deer on the trip and brought some of the deer horns 
back to Missouri, and has them yet. They were snowbound on their 
way home and had to crawl over the summit for a short distance on 
their hands and knees. They were at the foot of Lassen peak at one 
time on their trip. Mr. Gilmore entered the employ of the Sierra 
Lumber Company in California and remained with them for four years, 
the company offering him an increase in wages to remain with them 
longer, but Mr. Gilmore still dreamed of Bates county and l)elieved 
that opportunities were still here and he was soon back again among 
his old friends. He located on a portion of the Captain Newberry 
farm, one mile southeast of Spruce, and built his present residence, 
a house of seven rooms, in 1912 and a commodious barn, 48 x 60 feet 
in dimensions, in 1908. All the improvements now on the place have 
been placed there by Mr. Gilmore and the clearing of the brush for 
farming operations on the soil has also been done by him. The "A. 
L. Gilmore Stock Farm" comprises two hundred forty acres of land 
and Mr. Gilmore is making an excellent success with both cattle and 
hogs. 

Mr. Gilmore was first married January 14, 1892 to Jessie E. New- 
berry, a daughter of Captain Newberry, a sketch of whom appears else- 
where in this volume. Jessie E. (Newberry) Gilmore died in August, 
1893. A. L. Gilmore and Edna E. Lawson were united in marriage 
on March 6, 1902. Edna E. (Lawson) Gilmore is a native of Deep- 
water township, Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of Isaac M. and 
Cordelia M. Lawson, honored and respected pioneers of Deepwater 
township. Mr. Lawson died in 1911 and his widow still resides at the 
Lawson homestead. Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Gilmore have four children : 
Edna L, Arthur L., Homer H., and Paul L. 

Fraternally, A. L. Gilmore is affiliated with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Free 
and Accepted Masons, the Royal Neighbors of America, and the Knights 
of Pythias. Mr. Gilmore takes a most commendable interest in public 
and political affairs and he was elected assessor of Bates county in 
1906 and was deputy assessor prior to that time. He has filled satis- 
factorily the offices of assessor and clerk of Deepwater township and, 
at the time of this writing in 1918, he is filling his second term in the 
office of township trustee, having been elected in April, 1915 and re- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 875 

elected in April, 1917. A. L. Gilmore is a good, honest, conscientious 
official, attending as carefully to the interests of his township and 
county as to his own. He is a thorough, intelligent, and progressive agri- 
culturist and stockman. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore stand high among the 
estimable and valuable citizens of Bates county. 

C. N. Page, a prominent citizen of Mingo township, Bates county, 
an honored Union veteran of the Civil War, is a representative of one 
of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Page was born in 1846 
in Moniteau county, Missouri, a son of William and Mary Page, both 
of whom were natives of Kentucky. William Page came to Moniteau 
county in the early thirties and thence moved with his family to Henry 
county, Missouri, where he died about 1859. His wife, the mother of 
C. N. Page, died in Moniteau county. To William and Mary Page 
were born the following sons : John E., deceased ; Kemp, deceased ; 
Franklin, living in Henry county; Francis Marion, of St. Clair county, 
Missouri; and C. N., the subject of this review. 

In the old fashioned "subscription schools" of Henry county, Mis- 
souri, C. N. Page obtained his education. Educational advantages 
were few in the pioneer days of Missouri and young Page was obliged 
to walk four and five miles to attend school held in a rudely constructed 
log cabin. Mr. Page enlisted in the Union army in 1861, when he 
was a lad scarcely sixteen years of age, and with him in the same com- 
pany at the same time were his brothers, John E. Kemp, Franklin, 
and Francis Marion, all of whom were of the political faith of the 
Democrats but of Northern sentiments in regard to the war. C. N. 
Page re-enlisted with the Sixteenth Kansas Cavalrv and served 
throughout the war, receiving his honorable discharge at Fort Leav- 
enworth. Kansas. Mr. Page was with General Kearney on the Powder 
River expedition in Wyoming in the campaign against the Indians. 
After leaving Leavenworth, Kansas, Mr. Page came to Missouri and 
located near Creighton, whence he came to Bates county in 1896 and 
first established himself on a farm near Mayesburg, moving to his 
present country place in 1901, a farm comprising forty acres of land. 
In Mr. Page's own words, we may truthfully say of him that he is "a 
thoroughbred Missourian." 

The marriage of C. N. Page and Mrs. Sarah M. Crosby was solem- 
nized in 1901. Mrs. Page was born and reared at Coshocton, Ohio. 
She came with her parents from her native state as far West as Illi- 
nois and there slie was united in marriage with C. N. Crosby. Mrs. 
Page came to Bates county, Missouri from Illinois in 1867 or 1868 
and was a resident of Mingo township at the time of her marriage 



876 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

with Mr. Page. C. N. Page has also been twice married. His first 
wife was Eliza ]\Iaupin, now deceased, and to this union were born 
two children: William, of Mingo township; and Mrs. Viola Bryant, 
of Chelsea, Oklahoma. 

Mr. Page is a man of firm convictions and principles and what- 
ever he has undertaken in life has been with the object of benefiting 
not only himself but his neighbors and fellowcitizens as well. In the 
Civil War, he freely and cheerfully offered himself a sacrifice on the 
altar of freedom and duty and since the war has ended he has just 
as conscientiously discharged all duties encumbent upon him. He is 
a gentleman of pleasing personality and his genial manners and fond- 
ness for companionship have attracted to him scores of warm personal 
friendships. His reputation is such that no one calls in question the 
rectitude of his intentions and his character is an open book the pages 
of which are remarkably free from blot or stain. 

Luther Poindexter, a successful and influential farmer and stock- 
man of Spruce township. Bates county, is a native of Boone county, Mis- 
souri. Mr. Poindexter was born in 1879, son of Mr. Poindexter and 
Mary Elizabeth (Salsman) Poindexter, the father, a native of North Caro- 
lina and the mother, of Camden county, Missouri. The Poindexters 
settled in Spruce township. Bates county in 1881 and the father rented 
land in the township until his death in 1903. Interment was made for 
him in the cemetery at Johnstown. The widowed mother now makes 
her home on her farm near Johnstown, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Poin- 
dexter were the parents of the following children: Frances, the wife 
of James Chitty, of Altona, Missouri; Melvin, who died in infancy; 
AVilliam, who went to the state of Idaho in 1916 and now resides there; 
Lark, a well-to-do farmer and stockman residing near Ballard, Mis- 
souri; Mollie, the wife of William Judd, residing near Ballard, Missouri; 
Luther, the subject of this review; Brush, a well-known farmer and 
stockman residing near Johnstown, Missouri; OlHe, who is now deceased 
and he left a widow. Mrs. Mintie (Crump) Poindexter; Roy, who is 
engaged in farming and stock raising- near Johnstown, Missouri; Hattie, 
deceased; Attie, the wife of Nilie Beaman, of Adrian, Missouri; Walter 
and Lucy, who reside with their widowed mother on the farm near 
Johnstown, Missouri. 

When Luther Poindexter was a child, two years of age, his par- 
ents moved with their family to Bates county, Missouri and in this 
countv Mr. Poindexter was reared and educated. He attended the dis- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8/7 

trict schools of Spruce township and after acquiring a good common 
school education began farming and stock raising, in which pursuits 
he has since been engaged. Mr. Poindexter began life for himself at 
the age of twenty years. In 1916, he purchased his present country 
place, a farm comprising one hundred twenty-five acres of land located 
one mile south and one-fourth mile west of Ballard, Missouri, one of 
the most attractive rural homes in Spruce township. A branch of Soap 
creek flows through the farm and the land is well watered, for in addi- 
tion to the creek there are five good wells on the farm. The improve- 
ments include a comfortable, well-built residence, a house of five rooms; 
a barn, 50 x 60 feet in dimensions; a second barn, 40 x 50 feet in dimen- 
sions; an implement shed; and several hog sheds. The buildings are 
situated on an elevation and the drainage around them is the best. W. 
D. Howard formerly owned the Poindexter place. Mr. Poindexter 
is profitably engaged in raising cattle, hogs, horses, and mules and in 
addition is an extensive feeder of hogs. He is one of the enterprising, 
intelligent agriculturists of his township and his tireless efforts, unflag- 
ging industry, and good business judgment well merit a goodly share 
of success. Politically, Mr. Poindexter is a stanch Democrat. 

In 1906 Luther Poindexter was married to Ada Zeiler, a daugh- 
ter of John and Sallie Zeiler, living pioneers of Osceola, Missouri. To 
this union have been born two children: John Melvin and Dimple. 
Mr. and Mrs. Poindexter are highly regarded and valued among the 
best and most prominent citizens of Spruce township, where for nearly 
forty years the Poindexter name has been respected as the synonym of 
honorable and upright manhood and womanhood. 

Matthias L. Smith, a retired farmer and stockman of Rich Hill, 
Missouri, one of the brave clan of noble pioneers of Bates county, a 
prominent, public-spirited, and influential citizen, is a native of Ohio. 
Mr. Smith was born February 4, 1840, in Fayette county, Ohio, a son 
of Jacob and Abbie (Bloomer) Smith. The father died when his son, 
Matthias L., was a child three years of ag-e and the boy was reared to the 
age of twelve years by his uncle, Elijah Bloomer, when his mother 
remarried and young Matthias L. went with her to the new home in 
Noble county, Indiana. He rode horseback all the way from Ohio 
to Noble county, Indiana, accompanied by his step-father, John Baker, 
and his nephew. The mother of Matthias L. Smith died in Noble county, 
Indiana, about 1907. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Matthias L. Smith enlisted 



8^8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

in the Union army, serving with Company C, Thirtieth Indiana Infantry, 
for three years, being mustered out and honorably discharged at Indian- 
apoHs, Indiana. The regiment with which Mr. Smith served look an 
active and important part in the battle of Shiloh on April 6 and 7, 1862, 
where General Johnston, one of the Confederates' most able commanders, 
bled to death on the field of battle before medical aid could be sum- 
moned, as the general had courageously and chivalrously ordered his 
surgeon to attend to the wounded elsewhere, when the total Union 
loss was thirteen thousand killed, wounded, and captured and the Con- 
federate loss ten thousand seven hundred; in the battle of Stone's River 
or Murfreesboro on December 26, 1862, when the casualties were a 
Union loss of thirteen thousand out of a total force of forty-three thou- 
sand, and a Confederate loss of ten thousand out of thirty-eight 
thousand and in this engagement Matthias L. Smith was in the very 
thick of the fray and although comrades all around him fell he seemed 
to have a charmed life and escaped without injury; in the battle of 
Chickamauga on September 19 and 20, 1863, which resulted in the loss 
of nineteen thousand five hundred killed, wounded, and captured on 
the Confederate side and sixteen thousand on the Union side, where 
General Thomas' heroic fight, when surrounded on three sides, saved 
the Union army from a complete rout and won for him the title of 
"The Rock of Chickamauga"; and in the battle of Lookout Mountain, 
"the battle above the clouds," on November 25, 1863. 

After the Civil War had ended, Mr. Smith returned to Indiana and 
thence came to Bates county, Missouri, in October, 1868, and located 
in Lone Oak township on the John Atkison farm of one hundred sixty 
acres, which he purchased and later sold. Mr. Smith then bought a farm 
in the drainage district, disposed of it after having it nicely improved, 
and moved to Rich Hill, where he is now living in quiet and contented 
retirement. It is generally conceded that Matthias L. Smith has cleared 
and improved more land than any other one man in Bates county, 
Missouri. He has ever been an earnest advocate and enthusiastic 
"booster" of public improvements and he was one of the first to agitate 
the digging of the large drainage ditch in this county, one of the first 
to foresee its possibilities, and with Messrs. Bagby and Pitchford came 
to Butler to find out what might be done about it and at the same time 
the Linn county, Kansas, people were at work here agitating the work. 
Judge Harper was in the Legislature at the time and secured the pass- 
age of the bill legalizing the formation of the district. Mr. Smith states 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8/9 

that J. F. Kern is really the "Daddy of the Ditch." Mr. Kern is 
deaf in one ear and Mr. Smith says that the former "always turned his 
deaf ear to the kickers." 

The marriage of Matthias L. Smith and Annie Gallatin, a native 
of Massillon, Stark county, Ohio, was solemnized in 1865 in Noble 
county, Indiana. To this union were born the following children : 
Lewis, of Lone Oak township, Bates county; Daniel, of Lone Oak 
township. Bates county; William, of Summit township, Bates county; 
Abbie, who resides in Garden City, Kansas; and four children died in 
infancy or in childhood. The mother died about 1893 and her remains 
wxre laid to rest in Elliott cemetery in Lone Oak township. Matthias 
L. Smith and Mrs. Amanda Hudson were united in marriage in 1908. 
By her former marriage, Mrs. Smith has five children living: Harvey 
and William, of Vernon county, Missouri; James, of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri ; Mrs. Sada Gilbert, of Vernon county, Missouri ; and Mrs. Rosa 
Seward, of Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a host of friends in 
. Bates county and they are highly regarded among the best and most 
substantial citizens of the city of their residence. The Smith home is in 
Rich Hill on East Maple street. 

Bates county can boast no more noble-minded, better citizen than 
Matthias L. Smith and all who know him bear witness to his many 
excellencies and give unstinted praise to him who has labored so long 
and earnestly in assisting to bring about the large measure of prosperity 
which the county now enjoys. His has indeed been an active and full 
life and the work he has accomplished and the good he has done will 
remain for an untold number of years a monument to his memory. 
Surrounded by a host of friends, now at the age of seventy-eight years, 
Mr. Smith is passing the eventide of life in peaceful quiet and ease, 
enjoying in a marked degree the respect and love of all the citizens of 
his community, living in retrospect the days when Bates county was 
new, and contemplating with satisfaction the countless remarkable 
changes in which he has been a potent factor, through which Bates 
has won a distinguished place among its sister counties of the state. 

L. W. Smith, enterprising and substantial farmer and stockman. 
Lone Oak township, was born in Ligonier, Noble county, Indiana, June 
25. 1868, but has been a resident of Bates county since he was one year 
old. He is thus justly entitled to be classed among the old settlers of 
this county. He is a son of M. L. and Johannah (Gallatin) Smith, 
his father having been born in Indiana and his mother in Ohio. A\'hen 



88o HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

M. L. Smith attained young manhood, he enlisted in the Thirtieth Indi- 
ana Regiment of Infantry and served during the Civil War. Four years 
after the close of his war service he came West and located in Bates 
county on a farm situated about one-half mile from that of his son in 
Lone Oak township. His farm was in section 15 of this township. He 
followed farming and stock raising until his retirement to a home in Rich 
Hill, Missouri. L. W. Smith is one of four children born to his parents; 
and is the eldest of the family, the others being: Abbie, who is married 
and resides in Garden City, Kansas; D, G., a farmer of Lone Oak town- 
ship; W. H., lives in Summit township. 

The education received in the public school by L. W. Smith was 
supplemented by instruction from his mother at home, she having been a 
competent school teacher prior to her marriage. Throughout his entire 
life he has followed farming and has been successful to the extent of 
becoming owner of four hundred five acres of rich land, well improved 
and stocked with high-grade cattle of the Shorthorn and Polled Angus 
breeds. He is one of the prosperous hog raisers of this section of the 
state, having disposed of over two thousand dollars worth of fat porkers 
during the year 1917. During the past year he also harvested nearly 
two thousand bushels of wheat and has sown a considerable acreage 
for the present year's harvest. 

Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Dora Harcourt, a native 
of Bates county, and daughter of Frank Harcourt, an early settler of 
this county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a family of seven children, as 
follow: Howard, living in Lone Oak township; Goldie, at home with 
her parents ; Sylvia, married Juan Warren, of Garden City, Kansas ; 
Lulu, wife of Albert Rhodes, Lone Oak township; Mabel, Frank, and 
Fern, all at home. 

For several years Mr. Smith has taken a prominent and influential 
part in Republican politics and has frequently represented the Bates 
county organization at state conventions, having also served as dele- 
gate to several county conventions where his influence was felt in the 
selection of candidates for office and the forming of party policies. He 
has held practically every office within the gift of the people of his 
township excepting that of assessor and constable. He is a member of 
the Church of the Latter Day Saints. 

Harry T, Pratt, well and favorably known citizen of Hudson town- 
ship, has resided in Bates county for the past fifty years, and is one 
of the best known men of his section of the countv. Mr. Pratt was 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 88 1 

born in New York, May 5, 1864, and is a son of Joel and Mary (Tay- 
lor) Pratt, both of whom were natives of New York. The Pratt 
family came to Bates county, Missouri in 1868 and made a settlement 
in Hudson township, locating on a farm just north of the townsite of 
Hudson. This is one of the Bates county towns that has disappeared 
from the map after a brief heyday of growth and prosperity. In the 
year 1868, Hudson boasted a number of store buildings, a church, school 
and several residences and was a place of some importance. It flour- 
ished until the coming of the railroad and the founding of the town 
of Appleton City in the adjoining county of St. Clair. Hudson there- 
upon took the very best course — the inland town was moved bodily 
to the vicinity of the railroad and thus passed out of existence. Mr. 
Jackling kept store in Hudson in 1868. His son. Daniel Jackling, is now 
a copper mining millionaire residing in San Francisco. The main street 
of Hudson as it was fifty years ago now forms the road between the 
Pheasant and Pratt farms. The present school house is located in a 
grove which had been set out by the townsite company and designated 
as a public park. One tree in this grove is over fifty years old. When 
Appleton City was started, over thirty houses were moved from Hud- 
son to the new city in the early seventies. Among this number was 
the Hudson Presbyterian church which was sawed in two parts and 
hauled by oxen and horses to the new site. The first half of the build- 
ing was burned while being transported to its destination. The other 
half was taken on to Appleton City and the burned part replaced, but 
the entire building has since been replaced by a new church edifice 
more in keeping with the progress of the times. 

Joel Pratt purchased a tract of one hundred and eighty acres on 
the north line of the township or town and increased his holdings to 
a total of two hundred fifty acres which are under the care and manage- 
ment of his son, Harry T. Pratt. He was the first postmaster of Hud- 
son, serving in this capacity during 1868 and 1869. Joel Pratt and 
wife were parents of the following children: Harry T. and Garry, 
are twins, the latter of whom is a merchant doing business in Apple- 
ton City; Mrs. Alice A. Alexander, Appleton City. Joel Pratt was born 
in Washington county. New York, August 2, 1835, a son of Garrison 
Pratt, who was born in Connecticut in 1806, married Miss Elmira 
Smith, of Vermont, and moved to New York when a young man. 
Joel Pratt was reared to young manhood in W^ashington county. New 
York and was educated in the public schools. He was married in Alle- 

(56) 



002 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

gheny county, New York, February 10, 1859, to Miss Mary Jane Tay- 
lor, a daughter of Francis F. Taylor, of Allegheny county. In 1864, 
Mr. Pratt engaged in the mercantile business at Black Creek and con- 
tinued in this business for four years. In 1868 he came to Bates county, 
where he has pursued a long and interesting career. He was prominent 
in the affairs of the Democratic party and served several years as 
township collector. 

Harry T. Pratt received his education in the schools of his home 
township and the old Butler Academy. After ending his school days 
he was engaged in farming until 1902 and was then engaged in the 
mercantile business at Appleton City in partnership with his father 
and brother, Garry. In 1911 he returned to the farm and is success- 
fully engaged in tilling his well-improved place of two hundred thirty- 
five acres. The Pratt place is one of the best w^atered stock farms in 
the county and is equipped with tw^o sets of improvements including 
three barns. Mr. Pratt's present home is a building remodeled from 
wdiat was formerly the postofifice and hotel building of the tow^n of 
Hudson and consists of nine rooms. Since 1917, Mr. Pratt has engaged 
in the breeding of registered Aberdeen Angus cattle and has a herd 
of twenty-five cows and a registered male of this fine breed of cattle. 
He has recently disposed of a carload of fine cattle and has about 
seventy-five head of grade stock on his place. He has sixty head of 
Shropshire sheep and a fine drove of Poland China hogs. He has been 
active in the civic affairs of Hudson township for the past thirty years 
and has filled the office of member of the township board, justice of 
the peace and is now serving as constable and tax collector. Mr. Pratt 
is an elder of the Presbyterian church of Appleton City. He is a mem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows and is affiliated with the Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons and he and Mrs. Pratt are members of the Presby- 
terian church. 

Mr. Pratt was married in 1895 to Lulia E. Chapin, of Hudson 
township, and to this marriage have been born two sons: Louis C, 
a student in the Appleton City High School, class of 1918; J. Lawrence, 
at home. Mrs. Lulia E. (Chapin) Pratt is a daughter of E. S. and 
Sarah Chapin. E. S. Chapin, her father, was born in Medina county, 
Ohio, October 16, 1838. His father, Calvin Chapin, was born in 1805 
in connection, married Miss Susannah Cole Stiles, a native of Massa- 
chusetts. Calvin Chapin moved to Ohio when a young man and E. 
S. Chapin was there reared to young manhood. In the fall of 1861 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 883 

he enlisted in Company G, Forty-second Ohio Infantry Regiment, under 
Col. James A. Garfield, and served three years in the Civil War. He 
was wounded during the siege of Vicksburg. He also took part in 
the engagements at Prestonsburg, Cumberland Gap, Chickasaw Bayou, 
and Arkansas Post, and many other battles. In the fall of 1864, fol- 
lowing his discharge from the service, he was married, December 29, 
1864 to Miss Sarah Field, a native of Medina county, Ohio. In the 
spring of 1867 he came to Missouri and bought land in Hudson town- 
ship. Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin were parents of seven chil- 
dren; Clyde F., Leroy S., Lulia E., Myrta M., Roland T., Gracie, and 
Pearl. 

William Laney, proprietor of one of the best farms in Bates county, 
is an enterprising and progressive citizen of Hudson township. He 
was born in Washington county, Illinois, July 23, 1849, a son of James 
R. and Mary (Young) Hill Laney, the former of whom was born in 
Alabama in 1819 and the latter of whom was born in Illinois in 1820. 
Mr. Laney's mother died in 1858 and his father was again married 
to Mary Ann Walker. By this second marriage James R. Laney was 
father of three children: A. T. Laney, an employe of the "Frisco" Rail- 
road Company, Clinton, Missouri; Mrs. Charles Anthony, Kansas City, 
Missouri; one child died in infancy. James R. Laney died in Hudson 
township in 1891 and his remains are interred in Round Prairie 

cemetery. 

The early education of William Laney was obtained in the public 
schools of his native county and he pursued a higher course of study 
at the Illinois State Agricultural College, Irvington, in the school year 
1868 and 1869. He followed farming in his native state until 1881 
when he came to Appleton City, Missouri and resided there until March 
of 1883. At this time he bought his present home farm of one hundred 
twenty acres in Hudson township, of John Stucker, who had purchased 
it from Fritz Gilbreath who in turn inherited the land from his father, 
Stephen Gilbreath. This fine farm is located two and a half miles from 
Appleton City and is considered to be one of the best kept and most 
productive tracts in this section of Missouri. The first home of the 
Laneys when they purchased their farm, was a log cabin which served 
as their place of habitation for the first ten years of their residence 
in Bates county. In 1893 they erected a new home, having previously 
built two barns, one having been built in 1885 and the other being 
erected in 1895, two years after the new home was erected. Twelve 



884 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

acres of the Laney farm were first broken for cultivation in 1866 and 
this land has continued to yield crops for the past fifty-one years. Every 
deciduous and evergreen shade tree on the Laney place was planted 
by the owner and there is now a fine grove shading the premises. 

Mr. Laney had two uncles and four cousins who saw active service 
in the Union army during the Civil War. They were as follow: John 
and Samuel Hill, uncles. The cousins were Robert and John Laney, 
Andrew Crane, and Daniel Laney. 

Mr. Laney was married in 1869 to Miss Jane Milne, who was born 
in Scotland, and is a daughter of Peter and Allison ( Polick) Milne, 
who immigrated to America from their native land in 1863. A son 
of the family, Harry Milne, enlisted in the Union army at the age of 
nineteen years not long after his arrival in America. Mrs. Laney has 
four sisters living: Mrs. Allison Perkins, Oswego, Kansas; Mrs. Eu- 
phemia Laney, Osweg'O, Kansas ; Mrs. Anna Boggs, Hallowed, Kan- 
sas; Mrs. Mary Nes])itt, Sparta, Illinois. To A\'illiam and Jane Laney 
have been born children as follow: Mary, wife of Walter A. Bundy, 
a jeweler of Miami, Oklahoma, and who taught school for a number 
of years ; Ada, wdio is diligently engaged in Red Cross work and is 
especially employed in the making of the Hudson township community 
flag; Clarence, supervisor of the Federal income tax for northeast 
South Dakota, located at z\berdeen. South Dakota ; Lyman Lee, born 
1879, died in 1917, at Watertown, South Dakota, leaving a widow and 
a son, Roy C. Laney, aged five years; Gertrude, wife of Clyde Piepmeier, 
Hudson township. Mr. and Mrs. Laney have five grandchildren: Will- 
iam Lee Laney, Roy Clarence Laney, Ruby Dell Piepmeier, Pearl 
Louise Piepmeier, and J. D. Piepmeier. 

For a number of years Mr. Laney has served as school director 
of Hazel Hill district and has always taken a great interest in educa- 
tional matters. He and Mrs. Laney have co-operated in the matter 
of giving each one of their children an excellent education, being actu- 
ated in this laudable undertaking by the well founded i^elief that they 
would make better men and women if equipped with an education. 
For a number of years he was a member of the township board. Mr. 
Laney has been prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party and 
has been a member of the county central committee. For four years 
he served as justice of the peace of his township and has ever been 
found in the forefront of all worthy movements intended to advance 
the welfare of the citizenship of his county and township. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 885 

William G. Brown, Union veteran and pioneer settler of Hudson 
township, is a native of the old Buckeye state, who for over a half cen- 
tury has been engaged in farming and stock raising in Bates county, 
becoming widely and favorably known throughout his section of this 
county as a fine citizen and a successful tiller of the soil. Mr. Brown 
was born in Hocking county, Ohio, September 16, 1842. He is a 
son of John Brown, a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother was Mary 
Amelia Fanegan, a daughter of Alexander Fanegan, a native of Ireland. 
The Brown family of which William G. Brown is a worthy descendant 
is a good, old, American family whose members were of the fighting 
stock which have ever been ready to defend the liberties of their country. 
The grandfather of William G. Brown, was John Brown, a soldier of 
the War of 1812. 

The youth of William G. Brown was spent on the home farm in 
his native county, he attended the common schools, and upon the out- 
break of the Civil War he was among the first to respond to President 
Lincoln's call for troops with which to quell the rebellion of the Southern 
states. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Thirtieth Ohio Volun- 
teer Infantry Regiment, and served for three years and one month, 
being mustered out of the service at Jonesboro, Georgia, September 1, 
1864. He took part in many hard-fought engagements and fought at 
the second battle of Bull Run. He participated with his command in 
the siege and capture of Vicksburg, battle of Antietam, South Mountain, 
Jackson. Mississippi, Missionary Ridge, and the many battles incident to 
the siege and capture of Atlanta, Georgia, and fought at Dallas, Geor- 
gia and at Kenesaw Mountain. He never received a wound and had good 
health all through his arduous war service. His first captain was named 
Warner. 

Like many other Union veterans who returned home after their 
war service and found all the good places and opportunities taken by 
the "stay-at-homes" and no place to go but to the far West, and being 
filled with the spirit of adventure and the restlessness peculiar to the 
returned soldier, he made up his mind to come to the AVest and make 
a start for fortune and a life-time home. Accompanied by his brother, 
John, he left the old home in Ohio on January 3, 1866, and came to Bates 
county, driving overland, the trip requiring three months' time. They 
first located on land in Kansas, but finding that there seemed to be a 
cloud on the title they abandoned the idea of making a home in Kansas 
and retracing their steps, made a permanent location in Hudson town- 



886 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ship, this county. Mr. Brown bought eighty acres of the Meyers land 
for five dollars an acre. John Brown bought one hundred twenty 
acres for five dollars an acre. John prospered, reared a fine family and 
departed to his reward a few years ago, and is quietly sleeping the sleep 
of the just in the Baptist cemetery in Hudson township. His sons, L. V. 
and Albert Brown, own the old home place. William G. Brown has 
added to his acreage as the years have passed and now owns a total 
or 460 acres of splendid land, which is now being tilled by his children. 
Mr. Brown has followed general farming and stock raising and has fed 
hundreds and even thousands of cattle during his sojourn in this county. 
At the time he located in Bates county, he recalls that rattlesnakes were 
plentiful in the neighborhood and it behooved the settlers to be wary 
of the reptile when abroad. His first home was a little cabin 14 x 
16 feet in size, and this cabin served as his home until he was able to 
erect a larger residence. He erected his present fine home of ten rooms 
in 1883. The old cabin is still standing and is now used for a tool house. 
Mr. Brown cut all of the logs used for lumber in its construction in 
1868, did the hauling for one-half of the logs he cut, and then gave 
another half of his share for having them sawed ready for building. 
He thus gave two days' work for one on his own account. The Brown 
farm is well equipped with a large barn and other out buildings which are 
maintained in good condition. 

On December 20, 1868, Mr. Brown was united in marriage with 
Miss Mary Wells, who was born in Jefi^erson county, Indiana, May 15, 
1852, a daughter of Henry M. and Lovicy Wells, who came to Missouri 
from Indiana and settled in Hudson township. Bates county. Mrs. Brown 
departed this life on January 26, 1899. She was a member of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian church. The children of William G. and Mary Brown 
are as follow: Ira Merton, born January 26, 1870, farming in Hudson 
township; Mrs. Ora Elfie Page, born September 10, 1872, living in 
Hudson township; Garry Liston, died at the age of five years; Troy 
Foster, successful merchant at Fair Oaks, Hudson township ; Harry 
Blaine, died in 1916, had married Nellie Seelinger; Mrs. Icie Lodema 
Robinson, widow of Millard Robinson, resides with her father and owns 
the home place. Mr. Brown's second marriage occurred October 10, 
1912, to Mrs. Clementine Reat, widow of G. W. Reat. Mrs. Brown's 
maiden name was Clementine Thomas, a daughter of Joseph and Nancy 
(Rice) Thomas, of Hocking county, Ohio. In the days of long ago when 
they were children growing up amid the hills and valleys of their native 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 88/ 

county, Mr. and Mrs. Brown were schoolmates. Mrs. Brown has three 
sisters and two brothers living: Mrs. James Patterson, Macon, Illi- 
nois; Isaiah G. Thomas, Tarlton, Ohio; Otis W. Thomas, Circleville, 
Ohio; Mrs. J. H. Lutz, Circleville, Ohio; Mrs. Elizabeth Pitman, Amanda, 
Ohio. Mr. Brown is a member of Stedman Post, Grand Army of the 
Republic No. 172, Appleton City. 

In the eventide of his long, eventful, and energetic life, this aged 
veteran is living in peaceful and comfortable enjoyment of the fruits 
of his long years of labor. Well past the allotted three score and ten 
years which are the Scriptural span of life given to man, he is still 
active, mentally and physically, and has a zest for living equalled by but 
few men of his years. Mr. Brown and his family are among the best 
respected in Bates county and have many warm friends who wish them 
well and esteem them highly for their excellent qualities. Only recently, 
Mr. Brown divided his land among his children and gave each son 
and daughter a nice farm. 

Icie L. Robinson, who is now caring for her father at the old home 
place of which she is the owner, is the widow of the late Millard D. 
Robinson, who was a prominent merchant of Rockville, Missouri. Mr. 
Robinson was born January 23, 1878, in Rockville, a son of Wesley and 
Tweed Robinson, old residents of Bates county. Pie was reared and 
educated in his native county and attended the public schools of Rock- 
ville, graduating from the Rockville High School in 1896. He then pur- 
sued a course in the Clinton Business College, graduating therefrom 
in 1899. That same year he engaged in business in Rockville in part- 
nership with his uncle, J. Meredith, and the store was conducted under 
the firm name of Meredith and Robinson until 1909, when Mr. Robin- 
son purchased his partner's interest and conducted the business suc- 
cessfully until his death on February 3, 1916. 

On September 5, 1911, the marriage of Millard D. Robinson and 
Icie L. Brown was solemnized and the marriage was a happy and 
prosperous one. Mr. Robinson's death was a distinct loss to the com- 
munity which lost a valued and worthy member. He was a good man, 
kind and thoughtful of the welfare of others, honest to the core in all 
of his business transactions and made and retained friends easily. He 
was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and was a 
progressive citizen in every way. 

W. E. Bailey. — Nothing in the way of a history of Hudson town- 
ship would be in the least complete without prominent mention of the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Bailey family, pioneers and prominent citizens of this part of the coun- 
ty. W. E. Bailey, subject of the above caption, is a son of Wright 
Bailey, now living in Appleton City and widely known as one of the 
most successful stockmen in southwest Missouri. The Bailey farm 
consists of five hundred fifty-four acres in high state of improvement 
and showing on every hand evidence of modern and successful man- 
agement. 

The father, Wright Bailey, was born in Howard county, Missouri, 
in 1854 and is a son of Moses Bailey, who came to southwest Missouri 
from that section of the state and settled in Bates county in 1865. 
Wright Bailey married Miss Fannie Stephenson, a daughter of the 
late Judge Stephenson, who was for many years one of Appleton City's 
official and most prominent citizens. To them five children were born : 
C. H. Bailey, Rockville, Missouri; Pearl, now wife of O. E. Piepmeier, 
a well-known farmer and stockman of Hudson; Lottie Gladys Bailey, 
teacher in Appleton City High School ; Miss Myra, at home ; W. E. 
Bailey, the subject of this sketch, who was born on the farm where he 
now lives and is already one of the best known and successful young 
stockmen of this part of the state, showing that he is a "chip off the old 
block" and following in the footsteps of his father. He was educated 
in the public schools at home and in the Appleton City Academy. For 
the past seven years he and his father have been engaged in the stock 
business under the firm name of Bailey & Son and feed on an average 
of one hundred fifty to two hundred head of cattle and as many hogs 
each year. In addition to other stock they are handling one hundred 
fifty goats. At the present time they are drilling a deep well in order 
to furnish l)etter water supply. 

W. E. Bailey was married in 1904 to Miss Amelia Fox, a daugh- 
ter of John and Marguerette Fox, former residents of Hudson town- 
ship. Mrs. Fox is deceased and Mr. Fox lives at Appleton City. The 
Fox family came to America from Switzerland in 1869 and first located 
in Prairie township. The children of the Fox family are as follow: 
Anna, widow of John Yoss, Prairie City; Elizabeth, wife of John Mock. 
Hudson township; Christian, living on the home place in Hudson town- 
ship; Peter, whereabouts unknown; Lena, wife of Jared Griggs, Hud- 
son township; May, wife of William Smith, St. Louis, Missouri; Mrs. 
W. E. Bailey. 

Alonzo Irving Roberts. — For a period of forty-eight years Alonzo 
Irving Roberts has been a resident of Rockville township — a long span 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 889 

in which many things can happen. Mr. Roberts has seen the unbroken 
prairie transformed by the hand of man. He has witnessed the coming 
of the railway into his neighborhood and seen towns and villages 
spring up and grow apace. He, himself, has taken an active part in 
the development of this county and has created one of the finest farms 
in Bates county from what was unbroken prairie land. He purchased 
his present home place on April 6, 1870, and has lived thereon since 
that time. The Roberts farm is located one and three-fourths miles 
northeast of Rockville and consists of three hundred twenty acres. The 
original homestead consisted of but one hundred and twenty acres. 
The fine residence which domiciles the Roberts family was erected in 
1903 and is a beautiful modern home of ten rooms — considered to 
rank among the finest homes in Bates county. The cyclone in April 
of 1916 did considerable damage to the home and buildings. The 
roof was torn off the house and carried some distance. Windows were 
blown out and carried away. It was necessary to rebuild his large barn 
and another structure w^as blown entirely away, as were a silo, two 
poultry houses and a smoke house and ice house. The shop and 
implement sheds were torn down and destroyed. The big trees which 
had been the pride of their owner were destroyed as were a fine grow- 
ing plum and peach orchard. Over four thousand dollars' worth of 
damage was done to the property — all of which has since been replaced 
even better than before. Mr. Roberts is an extensive feeder of cattle 
and hogs and at this writing. February, 1918, he is wintering fifty- 
five head of cattle and one hundred head of porkers. Besides feeding 
all of the grain raised on his own land each season he buys grain in 
large quantities for the purpose of feeding his livestock. 

Alonzo I. Roberts w-as born in Rockford, Illinois, in 1849. and is 
a son of William and Mary Roberts, who lived all of their days in 
Illinois and died there. Mr. Roberts received his education in his 
native state and in 1868 he came West and invested in one hundred 
twenty acres of land which he subsecjuently improved. He has prac- 
tically grown up with Bates county and prospered as the county has 
gained in wealth. 

Mr. Roberts was married on February 23, 1881 to Ulrika Larson, 
a daughter of Lars Poulson and Johanna, his wife, natives of Sweden 
who immigrated to America in 1879 and located in Rockville. Mr. 
Poulson died here in 1917 at the age of ninety-six years. For the last 
twenty years of his long life he was totally blind. Mrs. Poulson died 



890 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

in 1885, aged sixty-nine years. To Alonzo Irving and Ulrika Roberts 
have been born children as follow: Ira W., in charge of the home 
place, was educated in the Rockville schools and has remained on the 
home place excepting one year spent at Piano, Illinois, with the Inde- 
pendent Harvester Company's Works, married Rose Hays, of Tabor- 
ville, March 29, 1914, and is father of a daughter, Evelyn; Oscar B., 
who volunteered for service with the National army on July 24, 1917 
and is now stationed at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan; Clara 
E., at home ; Chester L., Rockville, Missouri, manager of the Farmers 
Co-operative Elevator Company, married Ida M. Rapp, November 29, 
1916; Cora M., wife of Thomas D. Neale, St. Clair county; Bessie, died 
in 1885. 

For the past twelve years, Mr. Roberts has been a member of 
the local school board and has always endeavored to take a good citi- 
zen's part in local enterprises. He is progressive and keeps well abreast 
of the times and is recognized as a leading citizen of his locality. He 
is a member of and an elder of the Re-organized church of the Latter 
Day Saints. 

William Douglas is a highly respected citizen of Rockville township, 
where he was born in 1870. He is a son of Harvey and Eliza (Camp- 
bell) Douglas, who came to Bates county in 1865 from Iowa and rented 
the Simeon Gilbreath farm in Hudson township. Soon afterward, Har- 
vey Douglas located in Rockville township and bought a forty-acre 
farm adjoining the townsite of Rockville. Later, he sold this farm 
and bought one hundred twenty acres located one mile east of the 
town and there spent the remainder of his life, dying there in 1870 at 
the age of fifty-one years. He was highly respected and valued through- 
out the community and was one of the sterling pioneer citizens of 
Bates county. One brother, Alonzo Douglas, saw service in the Civil 
War, Alonzo having fought on the Union side at the battle of Lonejack. 
The Douglas children are: John, deceased; Mrs. Emma Ward, deceased; 
Ollie Bennifield, Lees Summit, Missouri ; William, subject of this sketch ; 
Mrs. Maggie Greene, Hudson township; two sons. General and Luma, 
died in infancy. 

William Douglas was educated in the Rockville public schools and 
has always followed farming pursuits. After his father's 'death he 
cared for his mother until her death. He became owner of fifty acres 
of the home place to which he has added seventy acres, making one 
hundred twenty acres in all comprising his farm. Mr. Douglas had a 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 89 1 

well improved place until along came a cyclone on April 19, 1916 and 
practically wiped everything out of existence. The house, cattle barn, 
and hen house were destroyed and a fine grove of maples in the yard 
were razed to the ground. The wind mill was torn down, a flock of 
one hundred eighty chickens were killed, and the farm machinery was 
smashed. All of this devastation has since been replaced with better 
buildings and new machinery, etc. Mr. Douglas escaped unhurt because 
he sought refuge in the cellar. 

Mr. Douglas was married on November 14, 1917 to Marie Jacobs, 
of Hudson township. At the present writing, February, 1918, Mr. 
Douglas is feeding thirty head of Hereford cattle and thirty-five head 
of hogs. For the past ten years he has made a practice of feeding 
livestock for the markets. He is a Republican in politics. 

J. B. Durand, the oldest resident of Prairie township, Bates county, 
Missouri in point of years of residence, was born in Pennsylvania in 
October, 1843, a son of J. N. and Betsey Durand. the father, a native 
of New York and the mother, of Pennsylvania. J. N. Durand was born 
in 1816 and Mrs. Durand was born in the same year. The Durands 
moved from the state of New York to Pennsylvania when J. N. Durand 
was very young. He came with his family to Missouri in 1850 and 
the first year they were located on a farm which is the present townsite 
of Pleasant Gap, settling in Prairie towaiship on a tract of land com- 
prising forty acres adjoining the site of Prairie City, which city was 
planned, platted, and named by J. N. Durand in 1858. Provisions and 
merchandise were hauled in wagons drawn by oxen from Osceola and 
Boonville, from one to two weeks being required for the trip. Osceola 
was the head of navigation at that time and Bates county was prac- 
tically all open prairie. J. N. Durand was the first and only postmaster 
of Prairie City prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Prairie City, 
in the days before the Civil War, boasted two stores which were con- 
ducted by Mr. Nickerson and Mr. Lee. The little village was burned 
during the conflict, and it then was composed of probably a dozen 
or more homes. T- N. Durand w^as a member of the Missouri state 
militia and served under Captain New^berry, a cousin of Mr. Durand. 
J. B. Durand recalls the time when Captain New^berry came to Bates 
county in 1853, walking across the prairie coming from the north, for 
he made his home with the Durands for some time. J. N. Durand 
was killed in April. 1863 by "bushwhackers," when he was on his way 
from his home to Butler, where he had been stationed. Interment was 



892 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

made in the cemetery at Prairie City, Alissouri. Betsey Durancl had 
preceded her husband in death many years. She died May 9, 1853. To 
J. N. and Betsey Durand were born four children: J. B., the subject 
of this review; Mary J., deceased; Eugene, deceased; and Alphonso, 
who died in infancy. Mr. Durand was married a second time and to 
him and Sarah Lutsenhizer were born two children : Emily, of Little- 
ton, Colorado; and Warren, of Littleton, Colorado. 

J. B. Durand was educated in the public schools of Prairie town- 
ship and the University of Missouri. After leaving the State Univer- 
sity, he returned to his home in Prairie township, where he has spent 
the remainder of his life to the time of this writing, in 1918. Mr. 
Durand is the owner of a valuable farm, comprising seventy acres of 
land adjoining the townsite of Prairie City, where he is engaged in 
general farming and dairying. The Durand place is well improved, 
the improvements including a handsome residence, a house of eight 
rooms, modern throughout, built in 1880; a barn, 32 x 51 feet in dimen- 
sions ; a second barn. 32 x 44 feet in dimensions ; and several sheds. 
Mr. Durand planted an apple orchard covering many acres of land in 
1874. A few of the trees of the original orchard remain and for sev- 
eral years his efforts along the line of horticulture appeared to be 
wise and promised great returns. His last large crop was in the year 
of 1895, when a terrific storm in September blew them all off the trees. 
He dried eighty thousand pounds of apples and made four hundred 
barrels of cider and vinegar that year, but due to the low prices they 
were hauled at a loss. Mr. Durand is now devoting his attention to 
dairying. 

The marriage of J- B. Durand and Sarah Anna Short was solem- 
nized December 11, 1877. Mrs. Durand is a daughter of David and 
Sarah Short, the former, a native of Washington county, Indiana and 
the latter, of Louisville, Kentucky. The Shorts located in St. Clair 
countv. ^Missouri in the days before the Civil AA^ar and in this county 
their daughter, Sarah Anna, was born. Mr. and Mrs. Short moved to 
Baldwin, Kansas to educate a granddaughter and thefe Mr. Short died. 
Mrs. Short's death occurred at Rockville, Missouri and both father and 
mother were laid to rest in the cemetery at Rockville. Mrs. J. B. 
Durand has the following brothers and sisters, now five living: Mrs. 
Susan Shoemaker, Rockville. Missouri ; Owen. Los Angeles, California ; 
Mrs. Amanda Pingree, deceased; Mrs. Ella Lewellen, of St. Clair county, 
Missouri ; Eddie P., of St. Clair county, Missouri ; and Charlie, whose 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 893 

address is unknown. To J. B. and Sarah Anna (Short) Durand have 
been born four children, all of whom were born in Prairie township, 
Bates county, Missotiri, have been reared to maturity, and are now 
living: Walter, a prosperous farmer of Powell, Wyoming; Jessie, who 
is a trained nurse at St. Joseph, Missouri; Oscar, who is successfully 
operating a dairy farm at Sumner, Washington ; and Eugenia, the widow 
of John A. Kinman, of St. Joseph, Missouri. 

In 1867, Mr. Durand states, the boat named "Thomas Stevens" 
made one trip up the river to Papinsville and two trips to Belvoir, four 
miles below Papinsville, with lumber and salt. The "Osage" also made 
one trip. Mr. Durand was deputy sheriff under Captain Newberry and 
has filled several different township offices and has served as a mem- 
ber of the school board. He has long been numbered among the sub- 
stantial and influential farmers and stockmen of Bates county and as 
a gentleman and citizen his record is one well worthy of- emulation. 
Mr. Durand in his prime was a man of great endurance, strong and 
vigorous of body, equally strong and vigorous of mind, a splendid 
specimen of symetrically developed manhood. Temperance in all 
things, correct habits of living, and healthful outdoor exercise have 
conserved his energies and prolonged his life past the three score years 
and ten allotted to man and he now in Prairie township stands like 
a lone forest tree, the companions of youth long since cut down and 
many sleeping in forgotten graves. Although now on the shady side 
of the mountain of life and proceeding onward toward the "twilight 
and evening bell" and the journey's end he still retains to a remarkable 
degree many of his faculties and his memory is as keen as in his more 
vigorous days. On the roll of Bates county's most honored pioneer 
citizens, the name of J. B. Durand is found among the first. 

William A. Searfus, farmer and stockman. Lone Oak township, was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, June 19, 1866. He is a son of 
Reuben A\\ and Amanda (Darety) Searfus, the former of whom was 
born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio. Reuben Searfus was reared 
in Ohio and served in the Union army during the Civil War as a mem- 
ber of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He 
enlisted at Camp Denison, Ohio, in 1861 and served for four years in 
the Federal service. His active career as a soldier in the ranks ended at 
the battle of Shiloh, where he was severely wounded, and after his 
wound was healed at the army hospital he was detailed for duty in 
the commissary department during the remainder of his four years of 



894 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

service. In 1869, he came to Bates county and made a permanent loca- 
tion in Lone Oak township. He purchased a farm of eighty acres from 
Felix Bonnett and at the time of his death in 1892 he owned one hun- 
dred twenty acres. Both he and his wife are buried in Butler ceme- 
tery. Reuben Searfus was prominent in the affairs of Lone Oak town- 
ship and served as a justice of the peace and member of the town- 
ship board. He helped to organize School District No. 4 in 1871. The 
first teacher of this school was William Glatfelter, who was also W. A. 
Searfus' first teacher. Nellie Norton, of Butler, was the second teacher 
of this school. 

After attending the district school in Lone Oak township, William 
A. Searfus spent three years in St. Louis applying himself to the science 
of electrical engineering and for a time had charge of the Citizens Elec- 
tric Light and Power Company. When his father died he returned 
to the home farm and took charge of the property. Mr. Searfus not 
only owns the old home place of the family, but has added two hun- 
dred acres to his holdings, making three hundred twenty acres in all, 
which is known as the "Star Stock Farm." Star school house is located 
on this farm. For the past twelve years he has been a breeder of 
registered Red Polled cattle and is also a breeder of Chester White 
hogs, having begun the breeding of the O. L C. hogs three years ago. 

In 1891, William A. Searfus and Mattie Frances Adams were united 
in the bonds of matrimony. Mrs. Mattie Searfus is a daughter of Charles 
and Martha (Woody) Adams. Her father was a pioneer in Bates 
county and one of the citizens who selected the site for the court house 
at Butler. Both Mr. and Mrs. Adams are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. 
Searfus have six children : Ethel, wife of J. F. Rogers, living on a farm 
near Butler, Missouri; Mary, wife of J. G. Burch, Butler, Missouri; 
Elizabeth, wife of John Deems, Butler, Missouri; Ella, at home with 
her parents; Sager, and William A., Jr., at home. 

Mr. and Mrs. Searfus are members of the Church of the Latter 
Day Saints of Butler, of which religious denomination Mr. Searfus 
was ordained a minister in 1914. This church was organized in 1894 
and has sixty members at the present time. For many years, he has 
been prominent in the afTairs of the Republican party and was his 
party's candidate for representative in 1916. In 1908 he was a candi- 
date for the office of county surveyor and ran ahead of his ticket 
during the election. He has filled the office of justice of the peace 
two terms, and has been a member of the township board. For the past 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 895 

twenty years, Mr. Searfus has served as a member of the school board. 
He served as township committeeman for several years, and was secre- 
tary of the Republican central committee in 1910. Mr. Searfus was a 
candidate for county surveyor in 1912. He is considered to be one of 
Bates county's ablest and best citizens and is keenly alive to every 
movement for the betterment of conditions in his home township and 
county. 

John T. Yoss. proprietor of "Shaw Branch Stock Farm" in Rock- 
ville township, Bates county, is one of the progressive and prosperous 
agriculturists and stockmen of western Missouri. Mr. Yoss was born 
in Rockville township at the Yoss homestead located one and a half 
miles east of Prairie City, Missouri, a son of John and Susanna (Stutz- 
man) Yoss, the former, a native of Switzerland, born in 1840 and the 
latter, a native of Switzerland, also. John Yoss came to the United 
States in 1871 and located in Bates county, Missouri where he settled 
on a farm in Rockville township. He purchased twenty acres of land 
at ,the time of his coming to Missouri and constantly added to his 
original holdings until he had acquired an estate of two hundred sev- 
enty-five acres of land. Mr. Yoss was a carpenter by trade and in addi- 
tion to his farm work followed his trade in order to make his way in 
the new country. As a paying proposition, farming was in the early 
days not an alluring vocation and Mr. Yoss at one time sold his hogs 
for as little as three cents a pound, corn for fifteen cents a bushel. His 
son, John T., has in his possession the books kept by his father in the 
early days, books showing his income and expenses which are an inter- 
esting record, carefully kept and complete in every detail. Mr. Yoss, 
Sr. built the first silo in Bates county and it is still standing on the 
home place, a building made of native lumber and covered with cor- 
rugated iron. He was one of the leaders of his community and as such 
assisted in promoting many public utilities and enterprises. He was 
one of the organizers of the Prairie City Cheese Company and of the 
Bates County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company and of the 
Lutheran church of Prairie City. John Yoss was secretary of the church 
for forty years and his son. Fred E., has succeeded him in this oliice 
of the church. John and Susanna (Stutzman) Yoss were the parents 
of the following children: John T.. the subject of this review; Chris- 
tian J., a skilled carpenter and shoemaker, who is employed in Appleton 
City, Missouri; Mary S., the wife of Christian Fuchs, of Bates county, 
Missouri; Fred E., Prairie Citv, Missouri; Albert H., of Rockville. Mis- 



896 PIISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

souri, now owning eighty acres of home place ; Lena, the wife of August 
Yorick, of Horton, Missouri ; and Anna K., the wife of Leonard S. 
Hegnauer. The mother died in 1892. John Yoss was married a sec- 
ond time and to him and Annie (Fuchs) Yoss were born two sons: 
Reinhold, deceased; and Otto R., of Prairie City, Missouri. Mr. Yoss 
died January 10, 1916 and interment was made in the Lutheran cem*e- 
tery at Prairie City, where Susanna Yoss, the mother of John T., the 
subject of this review, was laid to rest. 

John T. Yoss attended a parochial school at Prairie City, Mis- 
souri first and later was a pupil in the district schools of his home town- 
ship and educated at home. Mr. Yoss has been interested in agricul- 
tural pursuits practically all his life, was born and reared on the farm 
and has spent his entire life up to the time of this writing engaged in 
farm work. He is now the owner of a fine farm, comprising two hun- 
dred thirty acres of land in Rockville township, a beautiful country 
place located four miles west of Rockville. The improvements on 
"Shaw Branch Stock Farm" include a barn, 48 x 66 feet in dimensions, 
built in 1904, frame of native lumber, having a silo inside of barn. 14 
X 30 feet in dimensions, one of the best in Rockville township ; a large 
stock barn; cribs; and an attractive residence, a house of five rooms 
rebuilt in 1908. The farm is well watered by two never-failing wells 
and Shaw branch, which flows through the place. Mr. Yoss is a suc- 
cessful breeder of purebred and high grade Red Polled cattle and at 
the present time, in 1918, he has twenty head of cattle on the farm in 
addition to a large herd of mules, Poland China hogs, and a nice flock 
of Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. He has fourteen dairy cows and 
has followed the dairy business for eighteen years. 

December 21, 1899, John T. Yoss was married to Louise Fischer, 
a daughter of John and Louise Fischer, of Pleasant Gap township. 
John and Louise Fischer were both born in Germany, he on March 5, 
1840 and she on February 24, 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Fischer came from 
Germany to the United States in 1867 and they located at Collinsville, 
Illinois, thence to Kansas City, Missouri and in 1873 to Atchison, Kan- 
sas, coming thence to Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, about 
1877. Mr. Fischer died January 14. 1908 and his widow now makes 
her home at Prairie City. Mrs. John T. Yoss has the following brothers 
and sisters living: Carl G., a carpenter of St. Louis, Missouri; John J., 
a farmer of Rockville, Missouri; Amelia, the wife of Carl L. Bracher; 
Albert W., of Pleasant Gap township, Bates county, Missouri; Lizzie, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 897 

the wife of Joe Fleisher, of Rockville township, Bates county, Missouri; 
Anna, the wife of Henry Kehnhoff, of Wathena, Kansas; and Emma, the 
wife of John W. Marquardt, a well-to-do farmer of Prairie township. 
Bates county, Missouri. To John T. and Louise (Fischer) Yoss have 
been born five children: Reinhold R., Lydia L., Walter W., John J., and 
Agnes A. 

Mr. Yoss has always manifested a most commendable interest in 
political and educational matters and has taken an active part in public 
affairs. He is the present competent and highly respected assessor of 
Rockville township and has filled the ofhce of constable in a most capable 
manner. He has been a school director for many years and is one of 
the deacons of the Lutheran church of Prairie City. In financial matters, 
Mr. Yoss has been very successful and he is personally esteemed by his 
neighbors and a host of friends for his countless sterling characteristics 
and noble qualities of manhood. Rockville township points with pride 
to families such as the Yoss family and Bates county owes its present 
supremacy to the class of clear-headed, strong-armed yoemen, of which 
John T. Yoss is a most creditable representative. 

George W. Hart, one of the honored and respected citizens of Bates 
county, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hart was born in Morgan 
county, Illinois on June 12, 1843, a son of Anderson and Nancy (Spiers) 
Hart, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Anderson Hart was born 
in Kentucky but was reared and educated in Tennessee. He was born 
in 1806 and when nineteen years of age, in 1825, left Tennessee and went 
to Illinois. He was a veteran of the Black Hawk War of 1832, when 
the Indians under the leadership of Black Hawk were driven into Wis- 
consin and captured after a severe battle at Bad Axe. The Black Hawk 
War was the last Indian struggle on the northwestern frontier until 
the gold hunters began to invade the Rocky Mountain region more 
than thirty years afterward. Mr. Hart died in Illinois and his widow 
departed this life in Bates county, Missouri. The remains of the mother 
were interred in Cove Creek cemetery, one of the first burial grounds 
of the county. 

In the state of Illinois, George W. Hart was reared and educated 
and there resided until 1881, when he came to Bates county and pur- 
chased a part of his present country place in Mingo township, a farm 
now comprising two hundred five acres of choice land lying seven miles 
from Creighton in the northeastern part of the township. Cove creek 
flows through the place, which is an ideal stock farm. Mr. Hart has, 
(57) 



898 HISTORY OP' BATES COUNTY 

in his more vigorous days, raised much stock, but his son, Otis P., 
now has charge of his place. The Hart farm is located in Smoky Row 
School District Number 1. When Mr. Hart came to Bates county 
thirty-seven years ago, there were three school districts in Mingo town- 
ship and at the present time there are four. The improvements on the 
Hart place are in good repair and are neatly kept. 

The marriage of George W. Hart and Mary E. Sims, a daughter 
of Silas and Elizabeth (Russell) Sims, of Illinois, was solemnized in 
1875. Mr. and Mrs. Sims came to Bates county, Missouri in the eighties 
and both father and mother are now deceased. Their remains lie 
interred in Cove Creek cemetery. To George W. and Mary E. (Sims) 
Hart have been born two children: Oren Kenton, of Bartlesville, Okla- 
homa; and Otis P., who is in charge of the Hart home place, a sketch 
of whom will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Hart 
have a host of friends in Bates county and they are numbered among 
the most valued and esteemed citizens of Mingo township. 

John Henry Douglass, an honored and respected member of the 
noble clan of brave pioneers of Bates county, Missouri of 1848, one of 
the best known and most prominent citizens of Mingo township, is a 
native of Clay county, Missouri. Mr. Douglass was born July 25, 1839, 
a son of Jesse and Sarah A. (McOuiddy) Douglass, both of whom were 
natives of Kentucky. John Henry Douglass was left fatherless when 
he was a small boy. His father died at the Douglass homestead near 
Windsor, Missouri and interment was made in the cemetery at Windsor. 
The widowed mother remarried, her second husband being Martin 
Hackler, of Van Buren (now Bates) county and Mingo township. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hackler moved to Bates county with their family in 1848 and 
settled on the farm now owned by J. W\ Middleton, a place located one 
and one-fourth miles west of Mayesburg. John Henry Douglass has 
a half-brother. Perry Hackler, whose address is unknown. 

In the Civil War, John Henry Douglass was a member of the Paw 
Paw militia, or Home Guards, of Clinton, Missouri, on the Federal 
side. He was with Price after the battle at Lexington. After the con- 
flict had ended, Air. Douglass resided for some time at Butler, Mis- 
souri, at Clinton, Missouri, and then in Illinois. His stepfather, Martin 
Hackler, willed to him his present country place, a farm comprising 
sixty acres of land in Mingo township, and since 1868 he has been 
engaged in the vocation of farming and stock raising in the vicinity of 
Mayesburg. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 899 

March 9, 1865, John Henry Douglass and Eliza C. Hutchinson were 
united in marriage. Eliza C. (Hutchinson) Douglass, of Henry county, 
Missouri, was born in Callaway county, Missouri, a daughter of John 
R. Hutchinson, one of Missouri's first brave pioneers. To John Henry 
and Mrs. Douglass were born the following children, who are now liv- 
ing: Mrs. Anna B. Cannon, the wife of C. G. Cannon, of Pomeroy, 
Washington, who is a brother of Thomas F. Cannon, a sketch of whom 
appears elsewhere in this volume; Jesse R., Riverside, California; 
Thomas E., Pomeroy, Washington; William, who resides with his father 
on the home place in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri; and 
James W., of Grandview, W^ashington. The mother died in 1906 and 
her remains were laid to rest in Mullins cemetery. Mrs. Douglass was 
one of Bates county's beloved pioneer women, a faithful wife and lov- 
ing mother, whose presence has been sadly missed from the broken 
home circle at the Douglass home in Mingo township. 

When the Hacklers came to Mingo township. Bates county in 1848, 
John Henry Douglass was a lad nine years of age, a bright, keen-eyed, 
impressionable boy, and he recalls much in regard to the conditions of 
this section of the country in the late forties and early fifties. Johns- 
town and Dayton, Cass county, were the two nearest trading points. 
Mr. Hackler and his wife frequently went on horseback to Harrison- 
ville, Missouri to trade. Mr. Douglass remembers the night of the 
arrival of the family at the new home. A heavy sleet fell during the 
night and the next morning many limbs of the trees along the creek 
banks were broken off and the prairies, as far as one could see, looked 
as if covered with a sheet of glass. Among the early settlers, who lived 
here prior to the Civil AVar, were Mr. Ashcraft, on Peter creek; Thomas 
Burris, on Peter creek; Alfred Carnutt, who lived one-half mile west 
of the Hackler home ; Mr. Cathey, whose residence was north of the 
Hackler home on Cove creek; and "Uncle Oscar" and Joe Reeder, on 
Peter creek. Wild game abounded, deer and wild turkeys being found 
in large numljers. and the red men of the forest frequently passed 
through this part of the country* especially during the hunting season. 
There were no public schools in Bates county prior to the Civil War, 
but "subscription schools" were held and Powell Williams was one of 
the early day teachers, or "schoolmasters." The school house in Mineo 
township was a rudely constructed log cabin, located two miles from 
Hackler's, and half of one end of the log building was a huge fire- 
place. In the earliest days, preaching was held in the cabin homes of 



900 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the settlers. Alfred Carnutt had built a two-room log house and as 
he had a much larger residence than the majority of the pioneers the 
religious services were most frequently held at his home. Reverend 
Shoemake, from north of Harrisonville, Missouri, w^as a pioneer "cir- 
cuit rider" who often preached at Carnutt's and other homes in this 
vicinity. Thus, in brief, were the primitive institutions in Bates county, 
Missouri and such were the conditions of the country during the boy- 
hood and early manhood of John Henry Douglass. 

Nearly eighty years have dissolved in the mists of the past since 
John Henry Douglass first saw the light of day, years fraught with 
momentous consequences, with some of the most stirring events of 
history, with the greatest and most important progress, perhaps, known 
to humanity. Mr. Douglass has witnessed the growth and develop- 
ment of Bates county from a wilderness abounding in wild animals 
and Indians to one of the most progressive sections of the great state 
of Missouri and he has heartily co-operated with every movement hav- 
ing this object in view. Mr. Douglass' life has been well spent and 
though far past the allotted span of life he is still active and alert, 
physically and mentally, and surrounded by a host of friends is spend- 
ing his declining years in quiet enjoyment of happiness and peace well 
deserved, looking hopefully into the future which has nothing for him 
to fear and reminiscently into the past which has much for him to muse 
upon, loved ones to recall. 

George W. Sunderwirth, president of the Prairie City Cheese Com- 
pany, was born in Gasconade county, at Hermann, Missouri, in 1854, 
a son of Henry William and Charlotte Sunderwirth, one of the first 
families of Missouri. Henry William Sunderwirth located in Gasconade 
county, Missouri, in 1817, coming thence from St. Louis', Missouri. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. William Sunderwirth died in Gasconade county. The father 
died in 1865, and his son, George W., was then but a child eleven years 
of age. 

George W. Sunderwirth attended the Methodist College at Warren- 
ton, Missouri, for three years and then was employed as teacher in the 
public schools of the state for fifteen years. Mr. Sunderwirth came to 
Bates county, Missouri, in 1882, and has resided at Prairie City for 
the past thirty-six years. He has been interested in the manufacture 
of cheese at Prairie City for more than a quarter century and is now 
successfully demonstrated the fact that Bates county, Missouri, can 
produce as good cheese as any county in the state or in the United 
States. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 9OI 

April 9, 1885, George W. Sunderwirth and Ida Schneiter were united 
in marriage. Ida (Schneiter) Sunderwirth is a native of Switzerland. 
She was born in the canton of Berne, town Briens, and when an infant 
came to America with her parents, Melchior and Elizabeth Schneiter, 
who located at Prairie City, Missouri, in 1870. Mr. Schneiter resided on 
a farm located east of Prairie City and was engaged in general farming 
until his death in 1901, at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Schneiter 
died in 1902, at the age of sixty years, and both father and mother were 
laid to rest in the German Reformed cemetery. The former assisted 
in organizing the first German Reformed church at this place. The 
cyclone of 1886 blew away the first church building, but another was 
erected soon afterward. To George W. and Ida Sunderwirth have been 
born four children : Clara C, who is a graduate of Tarkio College, receiv- 
ing degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, and is now prin- 
cipal of the Winchester High School, Winchester, Kansas ; George A., 
who is a graduate of Tarkio College in the class of 1916 and is now the 
well-to-do proprietor of a valuable dairy farm in Bates county, Missouri; 
Clarence H., who is a graduate of the Butler High School and is now sec- 
retary and manager of the Prairie City Cheese Company; and Wil1)ert W., 
a junior student in the Butler High School. 

The Prairie City Cheese Company was organized March 22, 1890, 
a stock company having a capital stock of eight hundred dollars. The 
first officers were Judge Fred Fix, president; and George W. Sunder- 
wirth, secretary and treasurer. The company was incorporated March 
3, 1904, with a capital stock of two thousand dollars, forty shares of 
fifty dollars each. Two years ago, dating from the time of this writing 
in 1918, Mr. Sunderwirth purchased the interests of the different stock- 
holders and since acquiring the ownership of the factory has installed 
a refrigerator valued at actual cost three thousand dollars and has 
placed his son, Clarence H., in charge of the cheese-making depart- 
ment, an experienced cheese-maker, who learned the art under R. A. 
Murray, who is now located at Adrian, Missouri. This cheese factor}'- 
did not always have smooth sailing. At one time, the owners paid their 
cheese-maker thirty dollars when the amount of milk received was 
valued at twenty-eight dollars. In December, 1917, a DeLaval whey 
separator was installed at a cost of five hundred dollars and the value of 
the plant is now approximately ten thousand dollars. Ninety thousand 
three hundred ninety-nine pounds of cheese v.-ere made in 1917 and sold 
for twentv-two thousand five hundred dollars. The cheese is made in 



g02 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

two styles: the round print, called the "Daisy Cheese," twenty pounds to 
a cheese; and the square print, ten pounds to a cheese. Orders are daily 
received by mail from wholesale grocers and packing houses and the 
demand for the cheese far exceeds the supply. An interesting part of 
the plant's fixtures is the vats, two in number, having a capacity of seven 
hundred gallons of milk. One hundred pounds of milk make ten pounds 
of cheese and the whey is returned to the farmer, who finds it excellent 
food for his hogs. The refrigerator, previously mentioned, has been a 
most profitable investment, having made a great saving. The factory is 
sanitary throughout and kept scrupulously clean and the products have 
proven their equality by selling at higher prices than do those from the 
Wisconsin factories. The present officers of the Prairie City Cheese 
Company are : George W. Sunderwnrth, president ; Ida Sunderwirth, 
treasurer; and Clarence H. Sunderwirth, secretary and manager. The 
Sunderwirths deserve much praise and respect for the splendid success 
which they are making of their most valuable factory. Mr. Sunderwirth 
has advanced steadily, overcoming a myriad of obstacles and discouraging 
circumstances, has forged to the front in the business M^orld and now 
ranks with the most successful and prominent manufacturers of western 
Missouri. Industrious and energetic, he took advantage of every oppor- 
tunity that came, his dealings have been honorable, his integrity unques- 
tioned, and his good business judgment and keen discernment have borne 
legitimate fruitage in the comfortable competence which is now his. 
The career of George W. Sunderwirth is only additional proof of the old 
adage that "Fortune is a fickle goddess to be wooed before w^on," and 
his example may well be emulated by the ambitious young man just 
beginning life for himself. Mr. Sunderwirth is a valued member of the 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica. He and Mrs. Sunderwirth are highly respected and consistent 
members of the Presbyterian church. 

William C. Doane, Jr., a former newspaper man, one of the founders 
of the Joplin "Daily American," a retired attorney-at-law, one of the 
well-known farmers of Lone Oak township and a successful merchant 
of "Ada," was born in Lone Oak township, Bates county, Missouri on 
July 7, 1866, a son of W^illiam C, Sr. and Mary E. (Hancock) Doane. 
William C. Doane, Sr. was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1844. 
He emigrated from his native land an came to the United States in 
1860, making the journey thence on a sailing vessel which was six 
months on the way. Mr. Doane, Sr. landed at New Orleans, Louisi- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 9O3 

ana and from that city went to St. Louis, Missouri and from St. Louis 
to the state of Illinois, where he located temporarily at Quincy. He 
came to Bates county, Missouri from Quincy, Illinois on January 1, 
1866 and purchased the tract of land, comprising one hundred twenty 
acres, upon which his son, Charles W., now resides. Later, Mr. Doane, 
Sr. increased his holdings by the addition of a forty-acre tract of land. 
In addition to farming and cattle raising, he made coffins for the need 
of the pioneers of this part of the country and also followed the trade 
of gunsmithing, both of which trades he had mastered in England in 
his youth. To William C, Sr., and Mary E. Doane were born three 
children, who are now living: William C, Jr., the subject of this re- 
view; Charles W^, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Lone Oak 
township, Bates county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this 
volume ; and Hattie Lee, the wife of William Lacorse, of Lewiston, 
Idaho. The mother died at the Doane homestead in Lone Oak town- 
ship in 1891 and seven years afterward she was united in death with 
her husband, who died March 19, 1898. The remains of both mother 
and father were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri. Mr. 
and Mrs. William C. Doane, Sr., were honored and respected among 
the best families of pioneers who settled in Bates county. 

William C. Doane, Jr., attended the public schools of Lone Oak 
township. Bates county, and Butler Academy. After leaving school, 
Mr. Doane, Jr., returned to his father's farm, where he was for several 
years engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He left the farm to engage 
in newspaper work at Joplin, Missouri, and for two years was with the 
Joplin "Daily American" and the "Daily /American," assisting in the 
founding of the latter paper. From Joplin, Mr. Doane, Jr.. went to 
Kansas City, Missouri, where for ten years he w^as associated in part- 
nership in the law business with F. M. Knard. The former retired 
from the firm and returned to the farm in Bates county, Missouri, a 
place embracing forty-one acres of valuable land, where he now resides, 
located ten miles southeast of Butler. In connection with his farm 
work, Mr. Doane, Jr., conducts a general store and he calls the place, 
"Ada." His place is on Rural Route 5 from Rich Hill, Missouri. 

W. C. Doane, Jr., was married March 16, 1918, to Anna V. Stan- 
bury, a native of Missouri, reared near Stillwell. Johnson county, Kan- 
sas. By a former marriage to Maggie E. Shuster, of Lone Oak town- 
ship. Bates county, Mr. Doane has three children: Charles McKinley, 
fireman with the "Frisco" railroad, Kansas City, Missouri ; William H., 



904 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



who enlisted in the Fourteenth United States Cavalry, April, 1915, and 
is now a corporal stationed at Valverde county, Texas; and Edgar D., 
a grocer, Kansas City, Missouri. 

Thomas F. Cannon, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mingo 
township, a former well-known hotel keeper of Urich, Missouri, is a 
native of Illinois. Mr. Cannon was born January 28, 1861, in Pike 
county, a son of Cornelius and Lydia Cannon, the former, a native 
of Kentucky and the latter, of Alabama. The Cannons came to Missouri 
in 1878 and settled on a tract of land, comprising eighty acres now 
owned by the son, Thomas F., the subject of this review, a farm located 
in Mingo township which place they purchased for fourteen hundred 
dollars. Thomas F. Cannon is one of five living children born to his 
parents, the other children being, as follow: C. G., of Pomeroy, Wash- 
ington; Mrs. Sarah Amanda Scranton, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Kizzie 
Billings, Urich, Missouri; and Mrs. Louisa Williamson, Nebo, Pike 
county, Illinois. 

For nearly five years, Thomas F. Cannon was engaged in the hotel 
business at Urich, Missouri. He left this state and for two years was 
a resident of Oklahoma. On his return to Missouri, he settled on the 
Cannon home place in Mingo township and has spent the remainder 
of his life to the time of this writing in 1918 engaged in the pursuits 
of farming and stock raising in Mingo township. Bates county. Mr. 
Cannon has increased the original holdings of the Cannons and his 
farm now embraces one hundred twenty acres of valuable ^Jand, a 
splendid country place, neatly kept and most attractive in appearance. 
The residence and farm buildings are situated on an eminence over- 
looking the farm and Cove creek, which flows past the farm on the 

west. 

October 31, 1884, Thomas F. Cannon was united in marriage with 
Jennie L. Carney, a daughter of J. and Margaret Carney, of Henry 
county, Missouri. Mrs. Carney died in 1911 and her remains were 
laid to rest in White Oak cemetery. Mr. Carney resides at the present 
time in Henry county, Missouri. 

Mr. Cannon states that he is related— politically— to Joseph G. 
Cannon. ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives. Thomas F. 
Cannon is one of the committeemen of the Republican party in Mingo 
township, at the time of this writing. He is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America and of the Knights and Ladies of Security. Mr. 
and Mrs. Cannon are among the representative citizens of Bates county. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 905 

The following, relative to the early history of Mayesburg, Bates 
county. Missouri, has been contributed by Mr. Cannon and will undoubt- 
edly be of interest to the older readers of this volume. He states that 
J. M. Mayes and L. O. Carlton were the first merchants at Mayes- 
burg, beginning business at this place in 1879. Their establishment 
was known as Mayes & Carlton. Later, the firm dissolved partner- 
ship and L. O. Carlton erected a new store building and entered the 
mercantile business independently. Poage & West erected a drug store 
building and "Nick" Miller built a hardware store building at about 
the same time, the former establishment afterward burning to the ground. 
At the high tide of its prosperity, Mayesburg boasted two general stores, 
a hardware store, a confectionery, two blacksmith shops, a millinery 
store, and a postofiice. L. O. Carlton was the first postmaster. Resi- 
dents of Mayesburg now receive mail on Rural Route 29 from Urich, 
Missouri. 

Clyde C. Owens, proprietor of a general store at Mayesburg, is 
one of Mingo township's progressive "hustlers." Mr. Owens is a native 
of Henry county, Missouri. He was born October 9, 1885, a son of 
Thomas and Allie (Showman) Owens, both of whom are natives of 
Ohio. Thomas Ow^ens is a member of one of the sturdy and sterling 
pioneer families of Missouri. He came to this state when he was a 
very small boy with his parents, who settled on a farm near Urich. 
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Owens still reside at Urich, Missouri, the former, 
now at the advanced age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Owens is sixteen 
years the junior of her husband. They are the parents of four children, 
who are now living: Ada, the wife of Lon Ray, of Butler, Missouri; 
Kate, the wife of Arthur Scholl, of Wellsville, Kansas; Gladys, the 
wife of Fred Hillebrant, of Windsor, Missouri; and Clyde C, the sub- 
ject of this review. 

Clyde C. Owens attended school at Hickory Grove school house, 
at Lucas, and at Urich, Missouri. He w^as reared on a farm, but he 
began life for himself as a clerk in the employ of AV. B. Morlan, at 
Urich. Missouri. Mr. Owens was later employed by H. Harvey, at 
Urich, Missouri. In 1915. the former purchased the Walter Gilbert 
general store at Mayesburg and for the past three years has been con- 
ducting this mercantile establishment, continuing the business estab- 
lished and doubling the trade. He carries a general line of merchan- 
dise, hauling the goods from Urich, nine miles away. Mr. Owens' store 
is a widely-known market for country produce and as he pays as good 



906 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

prices as are paid at railroad points. He enjoys a most liberal patronage. 
He is located on Rural Route 29 from Urich, Missouri. Besides the 
store, Mr. Owens is the owner of his residence. 

February 15, 1912, Clyde C. Owens was married to Jessie Goodacre, 
a daughter of John and Elizabeth Goodacre, of Bolivar, IMissouri. Both 
parents of Mrs. Owens are now deceased. She is a native of the state 
of Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Owens has been born one child, a daugh- 
ter, Eunice Elizabeth. The Owens family is widely known in Bates 
county and no citizens in Mingo township stand higher in the public 
estimation than do Mr. and Mrs. Clyde C. Owens. Mr. Owens is a 
young man of unimpeachable honesty and integrity and he takes a 
comprehensive view of local affairs and is quick to respond to the 
calls made for aid in promoting the welfare and prosperity of the com- 
munity in which he lives. 

George Gench, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Hudson town- 
ship, is one of Bates county's best citizens. Mr. Gench was born in 
McLean county, Illinois, on January 9, 1860, a son of Frederick and 
Mary (Brauer) Gench, both of whom were born in Saxony, Germany. 
Frederick Gench located in the state of Illinois, when he was a young 
man, and there resided ten or twelve years when he came thence to 
Bates county, Missouri, and settled in Prairie township on a tract of 
land purchased from the Bradley brothers for ten dollars an acre, one 
hundred twenty acres of prairie land. He split the rails with which to 
fence his farm and built a rude house of tv^'o rooms constructed of 
roughly-hewed timber. Later, Mr. Gench built a comfortable frame 
residence on his place. Pleasant Hill was the nearest railroad center 
at that time. Frederick Gench was deeply interested in educational 
matters and for many years served as a member of the school board 
in his district. To Frederick and Mary Gench were born the following 
children: John, of the firm of Gench Brothers of Rich Hill, Missouri; 
Mary Ann, the wife of Edward Keller, of Appleton City, Missouri; 
George, the subject of this review; Lizzie, the wife of Henry Grob, of 
the state of Washington; Lon and Frank, twins, the former, in the 
hardware business at Butler, Missouri, and the latter, in the Peoples 
Bank at Butler, Missouri ;and Carl, wdio is engaged in fruit and truck 
growing in the state of Florida. The father died in 1884 and the mother 
joined him in death in 1907. In the early history of Bates county, 
the name Gench stood as it stands today, the synonym of honor and 
no citizens were held in higher regard than were Mr. and Mrs. Fred- 
erick Gench. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 907 

In the public schools, the "cipher" schools, and the mission schools 
of Bates county, Missouri, George Gench obtained his education. Upon 
leaving school, he engaged in farming on the home place until he was 
eighteen years of age. He then left Missouri and went to Kansas, 
where he located in Leavenworth county for two years. Returning to 
Bates county, Missouri, he again engaged in agricultural pursuits and 
in 1887 purchased his present country place, a farm comprising eighty 
acres of land partly improved at the time of his purchase. All the 
improvements now on the place have been placed there by Mr. Gench, 
including a residence, a house of eight rooms built in 1905 ; a barn, 
48 X 60 feet in dimensions and sixteen feet to square, used for stock 
and feed; a silo, having a capacity of one hundred ten tons; and other 
necessary farm buildings needed to facilitate the handling of stock and 
grain. Mr. Gench raises brown Swiss dairy cattle, the herd headed by 
a registered male, and at the time of this writing in 1918 he has twelve 
milch cows. He is also interested in Duroc Jersey hogs, but has only 
a few on the place at this time. 

The marriage of George Gench and Caroline Hammer was sol- 
emnized November 27, 1884. Caroline (Hammer) Gench is a daughter 
of Mr. and Mrs. Anton Hammer. Mrs. Gench's mother died when 
the former was an infant and the little girl was reared by her step- 
mother, Mary (Grob) Hammer. Anton Hammer first married a sister 
of Mrs. Gench's mother and to the first union was born a son, Fred, 
who resides in Pleasant Gap township. The other children of Anton 
Hammer are as follow: Emma, the wife of Gottlieb Hirschi. of Rock- 
ville. Missouri; Louisa, the wife of Fred Drawe, of Rockville. Missouri; 
Louis, of Olds, Alberta, Canada; Willie, a truck farmer in Florida; and 
John, of Rockville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. George Gench are the par- 
ents of eight children: Lewis, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of 
Hudson township. Bates county, Missouri; Agnes, the wife of Eldo 
Hirni, of Visalia, California; Gertie, the wife of Albert Hirni, of -Rock- 
ville, Missouri; Martha, the wife of Carl Bartz, of Pleasant Gap .town- 
ship. Bates county, Missouri; Frances, Edith, Eva, and Orville, at home 
with their parents. 

Mr. Gench affiliates with the Republican party and for the pa.st 
eight years he has been the justice of peace of Hudson township. 
He is a quiet, unobtrusive citizen, yet a man long considered one of 
the substantial, progressive agriculturists of the county. 



908 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

William E. Walton. — The high position in the citizenship" of Bates 
county which is held by William E. Walton, founder of the Walton 
Trust Company of Butler, Missouri, has been honorably and honestly 
won. His long career extending over a period, of forty-seven years in 
Bates county has been marked by a regard for the well being of his fellow- 
men and a heartfelt desir'e to advance the interests of his adopted com- 
munity, which has not been excelled by any individual in Bates county. 
Mr. Walton's success as a financier has been such as to place him in the 
front ranks of banking men of Missouri. His course in dealing with 
the people, who placed trust in him, has been of such an open nature 
and so honorable as to cause them to always have implicit confidence 
in his word. On the other hand, there are scores of citizens in Bates 
county, now prosperous, who have good and just reasons to be immeasur- 
ably thankful for his kindness in times of stress and his assistance in 
times of need. Mr. Walton, while amassing a competency by strictly 
honorable dealings, has endeared himself to the mass of Bates county 
citizens as no other one man has done. Coming to this county a young 
man of ambition, integrity, and industrious habits, when the develop- 
ment of the county was practically in its infancy, he has played a very 
prominent part in the great work of bringing Bates county to the very 
forefront of Missouri counties and no name enrolled in the citizenship 
of this county is held in greater esteem than his. 

W^illiam E. Walton was born August 31, 1842, on a farm in Cooper 
county, Missouri, a son of William P. and Louisa (Turley) Walton. 
His father, a native of Virginia, came to Missouri from his native state 
in 1837. He was married in this state to Louisa Turlev, a daughter of 
Samuel Turley, a native of Kentucky, who moved from Madison county, 
Kentucky, to Cooper county, Missouri, in 1813. He was one of the 
earliest of the Missouri pioneers and came here in a day when the coun- 
try was wild and sparsely settled and the red men were still disputing 
the right of the invading white settlers to occupy what had for untold 
years been their camping and hunting grounds. Samuel Turley entered 
land from the government, improved it for his permanent habitation, 
and resided thereon for a period of fifty years. Jesse B. Turley, brother 
of Samuel Turley was, for over thirty years a Santa Fe trader and w^as 
well acquainted with many of the noted frontier characters of the early 
days. He wrote the "Life of Kit Carson" and was intimately acquainted 
with the famous hunter and scout who lived for a time with the Turley 
family. Benjamin T. Walton, an uncle of William E. Walton, served 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 909 

as a captain in the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment, Confederate army, 
during the Civil War and was killed at the l^attle of Port Republic. 

Mr. Walton was reared and educated in Cooper county, attending 
the old-time "subscription schools," whereby each parent paid one dol- 
lar per pupil per month. There were eleven children in the Walton 
family, the following of whom are now living, all reared in a log cabin: 
William E., subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Marshall, Eldorado Springs, 
Missouri; James W., Salt Lake City. Utah; Mrs. Florence Hoops, Kan- 
sas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Virginia Chamberlin, Los Angeles, California ; 
Mrs. Lutie Williams, Los Angeles; and Mrs. Nellie Stoddard, Los 
Angeles, California. 

William E. Walton came to Bates county, and located in Butler 
in 1870. His first work on coming here w^as to make or write up com- 
plete abstracts of title to all land and town lots in Bates county, making 
probably the first complete set of abstracts ever made in Bates county. 
Mr. Walton became the local representative of Eastern firms, who 
loaned large sums through him to Bates county land owners, and he 
has had more experience in loaning money on farm lands than any 
other person in this section of Missouri. In those days, money was an 
absolute necessity and an essential to the development of the county. 
The incoming settlers were mostly men from the older states and more 
settled communities, where land had advanced in price, and young men 
came here where lands were cheap in order to get a start. Through 
Mr. Walton, they obtained financial backing with which to carry on 
their farming operations and develop their land. Mr. Walton and the 
Walton Trust Company have loaned millions of dollars upon Missouri 
farm lands and afterward sold the farm mortgages to hundreds of Life 
Insurance Companies, Savings Banks, and individual investors through- 
out the country. It is a fact that they never allowed any mortgage 
buyer to lose a dollar of principal or pay any of the contingent expenses 
connected with the transactions. On the other hand, Mr. Walton always 
protected the land-owner who borrowed the money and gave assistance 
to the mortgagee to the limit of his ability and never allowed a mortgage 
to be foreclosed if it were within his power to prevent it by giving 
counsel, encouragement and further needed assistance to the struggling 
farmer. Many well-to-do farmers of this section have good reasons to 
bless his kindly interest and his encouragement to them to do their 
best. 

The Missouri State Bank of Butler is his creation and this bank 



9IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

was organized by him in 1880. For a period of thirty-seven years, he 
was connected with this bank in the capacity of cashier and president. 
In 1891, he organized the Walton Trust Company of Butler, one of the 
most important and strongest institutions of its kind in this part of Mis- 
souri. He served as president of this concern for twenty-one years. 
The Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company are vertiable 
monuments to his enterprise and financial ability and are of such rock- 
ribbed stability and built upon a standard policy of fair dealing and 
integrity that they bid fair to endure as long as the civic state exists. 
Mr. Walton is now a stockholder and a director of the Missouri State 
Bank and the Walton Trust Company, but at his own request, he retired 
from the presidency on January 1, 1917. 

The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Wal- 
ton and, in 1874, he was elected county clerk of the county and served 
for a period of four years. Aside from taking a good citizen's interest 
in local, state and national politics he has never aspired for prominence 
in political afTairs. For over forty years he has been a member of the 
Christian church of Butler and takes a great interest in church and 
religious matters. He is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, Butler Lodge No. 180. Mr. Walton is deeply inter- 
ested in history, especially if it relates to his home state and section, 
and he has served two terms as president of the Old Settlers' Society 
of Bates County. 

Mr. \\'alton w^as married in March, 1878, to Miss Cora Allen, of 
Butler, Missouri, a daughter of F. M. Allen, of Butler. 

Personally, Mr. W^alton is an approachable, genial, kindly and 
accommodating gentleman and is upon most friendly terms with the 
majority of Bates county citizens. His life work has been creative and 
productive and his aim in life has been to assist to the extent of his 
power in the right development of the resources of his home county. 
In this endeavor, he has succeeded and his name in this history of Bates 
county is one of the most honored — his rightful place in the history 
of his home community has been won and he is valued to such an extent 
a sto place him in the forefront of the Bates county citizenry. 

J. Emmett Hook, a well-known farmer and stockman of Hudson 
township, president of the Bank of Rockville, is a member of one of 
the old, pioneer families of western Missouri. He is a native son of 
Bates county who has grown up and progressed with his home county, 
and has taken a prominent and active part in the development of this 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 9II 

county since early young manhood. Mr. Hook was born at the Hook 
homestead March 23, 1869, and has lived all of his life on the farm 
which he now owns in Hudson township. He is a son of the late 
James S. Hook, one of the most prominent of the early pioneers of 
Bates county. 

James S. Hook was born in Alleghany county, Virginia, May 31, 
1814, and was a son of Stephen Hook, a native of Maryland, who fought 
in the War of the American Revolution. Stephen Hook moved with 
his parents to 'Virginia and there grew to manhood and married Miss 
Sally Hansberger, a native of Virginia. James S. Hook was reared to 
young manhood on the parental farm in Virginia and came West in 
the year 1840, first locating in Monroe county, Missouri. He raised 
but one crop in that county and in 1841 came to Bates county, where 
he entered land and improved the farm upon which his son now resides. 
Mr. Hook entered four hundred eighty acres of land but accumulated a 
total of nine hundred acres, which became one of the best-improved tracts 
in Bates county. The original papers granting James S. Hook title to the 
land and signed by Presidents Pierce and Buchanan are still in possession 
of J. Emmett Hook. When Mr. Hook first came to Bates county he 
earned his living by hewing logs near Johnstown for a wage of thirty- 
five cents per day. 

James S. Hook took an active part in building operations and 
assisted in the erection of four court houses in Bates county. An inci- 
dent of Civil War times is recalled by the scrip paid by General Price 
to Mr. Hook for seventy head of cattle which the Confederate coni- 
mander commandeered when the troops were camping on the Hook 
farm. This scrip, of course, was never redeemed and is still held bv 
the son, J. Emmett. In 1891, the father turned over the active man- 
agement of the farm to his son, and lived in quiet retirement for the 
remainder of his life, his death occurring on November 5, 1905. Dur- 
ing his long life he took an active and influential part in political mat- 
ters and was prominent in Masonic circles. 

On December 28, 1846. he was married in Hudson township to 
Miss Rebecca Hornsinger, daughter of Jacob Hornsinger, one of the 
pioneers of Bates county. Mrs. Rebecca (Hornsinger) Hook was 
born in Boone county, but came to Bates county with her parents 
when but two years of age. Ten children were born to this marriage, 
of whom J. Emmett is the youngest. 

J. Emmett Hook, with whom this review is directly concerned. 



912 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

« 

received his primary education in the public schools of Bates county 
and his higher learning in the Northwestern Normal School at Stan- 
berry, from which school he graduated. After finishing his normal 
course he returned home and assisted his father in the cultivation of 
the home farm. In 1891, his father laid aside the duties of the farm, 
and since that time the son has had entire charge of the place. He has 
followed in his father's footsteps as a successful tiller of the soil and 
stockman and has made a pronounced success in the oldest of honor- 
able vocations. Mr. Hook is thorough in his methods of agriculture 
and has succeeded in becoming prosperous on his own account as well 
as assisting materially in the development of his section of the state 
of Missouri along advanced lines. He has other financial interests 
besides his farm lands and is president of the Bank of Rockville, Mis- 
souri. 

On November 29, 1891, Mr. Hook was married to Miss Elizabeth 
Scott, who was born in Pettis county, Missouri, June 20, 1869. She 
was a daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Johnson) Scott. Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Hook departed this life February 5, 1896. Mr. Hook was again 
married on January 1, 1905, to Miss Lena Argenbright, and to this 
marriage have been born two sons, Howard A. and Joseph Emmett. 
Mrs. Lena Hook was born in Bates county, June 17, 1874, a daughter 
of Preston and Rebecca (Harrison) Argenbright, who were parents of 
eight children. Preston Argenbright was born near Staunton, Vir- 
ginia, October 16, 1838. Mrs. Rebecca Argenbright was born in Ten- 
nessee, November 23, 1841. During the Civil War times, Mr. Argen- 
bright was a member of the Missouri State Militia and served as justice 
of the peace. 

Mr. Hook has always been aligned with the Democratic party, and 
is usually interested in the welfare of his party. He has served the 
people in several minor offices and generally takes an active and influen- 
tial interest in local civic affairs. He is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church and is fraternally affiliated with the Masonic Order, 
in which he belongs to Rockville Lodge No. 341, Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons; the Appleton City Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He 
is a member of Butler Lodge No. 958, Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks, and the Maccabees of Rockville. Mr. Hook is known as a 
progressive and enterprising citizen who is ever ready to assist worthy 
local enterprises of a meritorious character. He is popular, well liked, 
and highly esteemed by all who know him. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 913 

Jerome T. Donnohue, a well-known and successful young agricul- 
turist and stockman of Hudson township, is a member of one of the 
highly respected pioneer families of Bates county. He was born on 
the farm where he now resides, a son of Daniel and Anna (Wilson) 
Donnohue, the former, a native of Missouri and the latter, of Virginia. 
The Donnohues settled in Hudson township in the late sixties on a 
farm located one-half mile southwest of Hudson, which was then quite 
a village with a store, a postoffice, and a doctor. Daniel Donnohue 
owned one hundred eighty acres of land in Hudson township, a farm 
which he spent the greater part of his life in improving and where he 
died in 1909. Mrs. Donnohue, the widowed mother of Jerome T., the 
subject of this review, resides at Appleton City, Missouri. 

In the public schools of Hudson township, Bates county, Missouri, 
Jerome T. Donnohue obtained his elementary .education. He is a 
graduate of Appleton City High School, Appleton City, in the class, 
of 1907. After completing the high school course, Mr. Donnohue 
returned to the home place, a part of which he now owns, and has 
since been engaged in agricultural pursuits. For the past two years 
he has been handling graded sheep and, at the time of this writing 
in 1918, he has a herd of forty-five on the farm. Mr. Donnohue raises 
high-grade Duroc Jersey hogs. Shorthorn, cattle, and good mares and 
mules. The past autumn, he planted thirty-five acres of the place in 
wheat. The Donnohue farm comprises one hundred sixty-eight acres 
of land, a large portion of wdiich is devoted to pasture. 

In 1912, Jerome T. Donnohue and Minnie Deller, of Hudson town- 
ship, a daughter of Henry and Agnes Deller, residents of St. Clair county, 
Missouri, were united in marriage. To this union have been born three 
sons: v'ern, Harry, and Albert. Mr. and Mrs. Donnohue stand high 
in their community and are respected by all who know them as young 
citizens of genuine worth. Mr. Donnohue is a stanch believer in the 
efficacy of hard, continued labor and he has probably done more diffi- 
cult manual work than any other man of his years in the township. 
He is a gentleman of much public spirit, progressive ideas, and enter- 
prise and he is deeply interested in the. advancement of his township 
and county. He is numbered among the excellent citizens of Hud- 
son township and Bates county, as was his father before him. 

E. M. Capps, of the Capps Realty Company of Rich Hill, Missouri, 
is one of the leading and most successful citizens of Bates county. 
Mr. Capps is a native of Camden county, Missouri. He was born in 
(58) 



914 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

1876, a son of John W. and Mary E. (Vance) Capps, who are now 
residents of Putnam county, Missouri. They are the parents of four 
sons and one daughter, who are now living, as follow: E. M., the sub- 
ject of this review; S. E., of Kirksville, Missouri, the civil engineer of 
Adair county; G. H., of Worthington, Missouri, the foreman of the 
steel bridge construction "gang" of Burlington; A. B., a conductor 
employed on a street railway at Davenport, Iowa; and Minnie, the 
wife of G. E. Robbins, of Davenport, Iowa. 

Mr. Capps, whose name introduces this sketch, received his ele- 
mentary education in the public schools of Schuyler county, Missouri. 
He is a graduate of the Glenwood High School, Glenwood, Missouri. 
After completing the high school course, Mr. Capps entered the gen- 
eral mercantile business at Worthington, Missouri, and was thus engaged 
for five years. While at Worthington, he became interested in the 
real estate business, trading his property in this place for a farm near 
Parsons, Labette county, Kansas. He moved to Parsons, Kansas, but 
not on his farm, which he soon afterward traded for a grocery store at 
Webb City, Missouri, an establishment which he conducted for four 
months, when he traded it for property in Rich Hill, Missouri. E. M. 
Capps is still the owner of a mercantile establishment in this city. l\vo 
years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, Mr. Capps 
established his real estate business at Rich Hill, a business for which 
he had from experience found himself well adapted, and he opened 
his present office in the Benedict building. The Capps Realty Company 
is one of the most aggressive and successful in this county and the 
amount of business done annually has far exceeded the expectations 
of E. M. Capps. He sells farm lands, city properties, stocks of goods, 
and, in addition, writes insurance policies and makes farm loans. He 
states that within the last eight months farm land has advanced fifteen 
per cent, in value. Mr. Capps also has the agency for the Chevrolet 
and the Grant Six cars in partnership with his brother-in-law, F. E. 
Berry, and the firm is enjoying an excellent business, having sold ten 
Grant Six cars in the six weeks of the opening season and at the present 
rate of sale Capps & Berry hope to sell seventy-five to eighty Chev- 
rolets this year of 1918. 

The marriage of E. M. Capps and Pearl N. Barnes, a daughter 
of E. T. and Mary (Dyer) Barnes, of Queen City, Missouri, iwas 
solemnized February 28, 1900. To this union have been born two 
daughters: Cleta and lone. Mr. and Mrs. Capps are well known and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 915 

respected in Bates county and they are numbered among the best 
families of Rich Hill, where they number their friends by the score. 

J. P. Herrmann, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Shawnee 
township, a member of one of Bates county's pioneer families, and 
justice of the peace of Shawnee township, is a native of Monroe county, 
Illinois. Mr. Herrmann was born September 29, 1866, a son of John A. 
and Barbara Herrmann. The Herrmanns settled in this county on the 
farm in Shawnee township, where Mr. and Mrs. John A. Herrmann 
still reside and have lived for forty-nine years, in 1869. August Herr- 
mann, the paternal grandfather of J. P. Herrmann, came to Bates county, 
Missouri, a few years later and in this county died. His remains are 
interred in a cemetery in Shawnee township, located near the Herr- 
mann homestead. Mrs. Herrmann, wife of August Herrmann, died at 
Waterloo, Iowa, and interment was made at Burksville, Illinois. To 
John A. and Barbara Herrmann have been born seven children, who are 
now living: Anna, the wife of Theodore Marqueardt, of Independence, 
Kansas; August B., Jacksonville, Illinois; Elizabeth, the wife of John 
Deerwester, of Shawnee township; J. P., the subject of this review; 
Maggie A., the wife of William Hart, of Clinton, Missouri ; Lula, at 
home with her parents; and John A., Jr., a prominent merchant at 
Culver, Missouri. The Herrmann family has long been numbered among 
the best and most substantial families of western Missouri. 

In the public schools of Shawnee township. District 48, in the first 
school house erected there in 1872, J. P. Herrmann obtained his edu- 
cation. His first instructor was Miss Sarah Reynolds, who is now Mrs. 
Sarah (Reynolds) Schantz. Mr. Herrmann remained at home with his 
parents until he was twenty-seven years of age and then moved to 
his present country place. He began with a tract of land, embracing 
eighty acres, cultivated but unimproved, and is now owner of two hun- 
dred forty acres of choice land in Shawnee township, a splendidly 
improved, abundantly, watered, well-located farm. 

In 1895, J. P. Herrmann and Henrietta Filgus, a daughter of August 
and Henrietta (Erscamp) Filgus, were united in marriage. Mrs. Filgus 
died in Bates county in 1902 and interment was made in the cemetery 
at the Reformed church of Prairie City, Missouri. Mr. Filgus now 
makes his home at Prairie City. To J. P. and Henrietta (Filgus) 
Herrmann have been born the following children : Guy Anderson, Kan- 
sas City, Missouri; Carl Adam, Kansas City, Missouri; Lena May and 
Herbert Hadlev, both at home with their parents. 



91 6 ' HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

There are two sets of improvements on the Herrmann farm in 
Shawnee township, including a beautiful residence, a seven-room struc- 
ture, 46 X 30 feet, built in 1895 and remodeled in 1910; a barn, 4+ x 56 
feet, for cattle, with a silo, 14 x 32 feet of one hundred tons capacity; 
a second barn, 44 x 36 feet, for horses, having a concrete floor; a com- 
fortable tenant residence; and a third barn, 32 x 36 feet. Mr. Herrmann 
has on his farm, at the time of this writing, in 1918, thirty head of 
high-grade cattle, in addition to large herds of horses and hogs. 

Mr. Herrmann has been justice of the peace of Shawnee township 
and a member of the township board for many years. He was a candi- 
date for county judge on the Republican ticket in the election of 1904 
and made a very creditable race. Mr. Herrmann takes a broad view 
of life and keeps himself well-informed relative to public and political 
affairs and he has long been numbered among the public spirited citi- 
zens of Bates county. 

Col. John Ewing Holcomb, a native of Gallia county, Ohio, came 
with his family to Butler, Missouri, in the fall of 1869. His sons, Phineas 
H. Holcomb, and Anselm T. Holcoml:), both attorneys of Bates county, 
had preceded him. He bought a small tract of land, on Pine street, on 
the knoll, this side of Oak Hill cemetery. He built a very handsome 
and comfortable home there and at once took a prominent part in the 
upbuilding of the county. His family, his wife, and his children : P. H., 
A. T., Eliza, Sarah H.. Charles, and Sumner, were most highly estimated. 
Mr. Holcomb lived in Butler until about 1886, when he temporarily moved 
with his sons, Charles and Sumner, to Greenwood county, Kansas, and 
bought there a small farm, which he owned at the time of his death. 
He bought lands in Hudson and Osage townships and built two or 
three houses in the east side of Butler. He was assistant postmaster 
in Butler from 1873 to 1876. He was a Master Mason, and, with Dr. 
Lyman Hall and Charles M. Peck, established the present chapter of 
Royal Arch Masons in Butler. In his latter years he was greatly afflicted 
with rheumatism and heart trouble. Mr. Holcomb was a man of wide 
and extensive information. He was a good story-teller and an engaging 
conversationalist and always a Republican in politics. AMiile Mr. Hol- 
comb never affiliated with any church, his life was so pure, honorable, 
and stainless that he enjoyed the highest esteem of all his neighbors 
and acquaintances and the general public. 

The following, from a boy-hood friend, Hon. William Synuues, 
gives an impartial history of his life in Ohio: 



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COLONEL JOHN EWING HOLCOMB. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 917 

"Colonel John E. Holcomb was born in Vinton, Gallia county, 
Ohio, on August 16, 1817, and died at his home in Butler, Bates county, 
Missouri, August 30, 1889, in the seventy-third year of his age. On 
September 12, 1838, he was married to Miss Mary Matthews, daughter 
of Captain Phineas Matthews, by whom he had eight children, five 
boys and three girls. One son and one daughter have passed on before 
him. An aged widow, four sons and two daughters survive him to 
mourn their irreparable loss, all of whom he saw happily situated in 
life. Mr. Holcomb resided in Vinton till the fall of 1869, when he moved 
with his family to Butler, Missouri. He was the third son of General 
Samuel R. Holcomb and brother of the late General A'. T. Holcomb, 
and Hon. E. T. Holcomb, of Vinton, Gallia county, Ohio. 

"Colonel Holcomb held many positions of trust and honor while he 
resided in Gallia county, among which was that of United States mar- 
shal, during the war; justice of the peace for many years; postmaster; 
clerk in the house of representatives, etc. He was engaged in the mer- 
cantile business for many years, and was trusted and honored by all 
with whom he came in contact. He loved the just and true. With a 
willing hand, he gave alms and with an honest heart and faithful hand 
he discharged all and every public and private trust. * * * '^j^ 
honest man — the noblest work of God.' " 

The "Gallia Tribune," Gallipolis, Ohio, says: "He was a son of 
the late General Samuel R. Holcomb; lived at Vinton, in this county, 
until about twenty years ago, when he removed to Missouri. He was 
provost marshal during the Rebellion and was a man fearless in the dis- 
charge of his duty. His convictions were of the strongest ; he was a 
man of the kindest of hearts ; 

" 'And where he met the individual man. 
He showed himself as kind as mortal can.' 

"No man ever lived in Gallia county, Ohio, whose word was more 
a synonvm for truth than his. No man had keener sense of personal 
honor; and no man can point to an action of his that was not of the 
truest and purest kind. His heart was as big as the world, and in it was 
a world of love and charity." 

The "Bates County Democrat" says: "No citizen of Bates county 
was ever more highly esteemed than John E. Holcomb. He was straight- 
forward, upright, honorable, and just in all his dealings with men. At 
home in the midst of his family he w^as kind, affectionate and consider- 



9l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

ate, ever solicitous of the welfare and happiness of his loved ones there. 
To his family he leaves the legacy of a noble and well-spent life, upon 
which they may look back with unconcealed pride. To the world, the 
example of a good man." 

His wife, Mary Matthews Holcomb, after her husband's death, 
remained in Bates county until her death, December 15, 1894. She 
died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Eliza S. Wilcox, of Passaic, 
this county, aged nearly seventy-seven years. She retained, in a marked 
degree, all her excellent faculties to the last moment. She was a mem- 
ber of a very prominent family in southern Ohio and was from youth 
distinguished for her kind, gentle, and amiable disposition. She was an 
Universalist in her religion. 

The oldest son, Phineas H. Holcomb, came to Bates county in 
1869 and died in Butler, January 27, 1917, at the age of seventy-six 
years. He was an excellent lawyer and a citizen of the highest type. 
His second son, Anselm T. Holcomb, was admitted to practice law in 
1868, in Butler, and practiced in Bates county till the fall of 1878, when 
he removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he still resides, and in his sev- 
enty-third year is still engaged in the practice of law. He has always 
been a taxpayer in Bates county and owns a farm of three hundred 
fourteen acres near Foster. He has been highly honored by official 
positions, and is regarded as a successful business man. His daughter. 
Eliza S., married Richard Wilcox, who lived at Passaic. Mrs. Wilcox, 
now a widow, owns a fine farm near that village. Sarah IT., his second 
daughter, married Captain John C. Bybee and lives with her husliand 
and daughter at Kansas City, Kansas. Charles M. Holcomb. so well 
known to the older citizens of Butler, moved to Kansas in 1885 and died 
at Buffalo, Wilson county, Kansas, in April, 1917, loved, honored, and 
respected. His wife. Belle Morgan, and six children survive him. 
Sumner C. Holcomb, born January 7, 1857, was admitted to the bar 
at Butler about 1881, engaged in the practice of law in Butler until 
1886, when he removed to Woodson county, Kansas. He has been five 
times elected prosecuting attorney of Woodson county. Tic married 
Margaret Trueman, and has two children; Lydia Grace and Sumner C, 
Jr. He is a highly esteemed and prosperous citizen of Yates Center, 
Kansas. 

Amos J. Hughes, an honored pioneer of Bates county, a member 
of one of the oldest families of the state, is a native of Pettis countv. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 919 

Mr. Hughes was born June 11, 1848, a son of James A. and Elizabeth 
(Johnson) Hughes, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. 

In 1873, Amos J. Hughes moved from Pettis county to Bates 
county, Missouri, and settled on a tract of land located in Spruce town- 
ship one mile west of his present country place. Mr. Hughes purchased 
at that time forty acres of land for fifteen dollars an acre. He has since 
increased his holdings and is now owner of one hundred twenty-eight 
acres of land in Spruce township, a well-improved farm and nicely situ- 
ated. The improvements on the Hughes place include a comfortable 
residence, a structure of one and a half stories ,and a good barn, 32 x 40 
feet in dimensions. Mr. Hughes is interested in general farming. \\'hen 
he came to Bates county, in 1873, Mr. Hughes was owner of a 
team of horses and a cow. There was a small, rudely-built house on 
the forty-acre tract of land which he purchased from William Tyler, 
who now resides at Butler, and this was the Hughes home for many 
years until better, happier days dawned. In the autumn of the year 
of 1873, the blue-grass was so tall that a man on horseback might 
easily hide in it. Mr. Hughes remembers the drouth of the summer 
of 1874, when from June 11 until the spring of 1875 there was no 
rainfall, for he was obliged during that time to haul water from four 
miles away in order to keep his family and his stock alive. He relates 
an interesting incident in his life, which most strikingly illustrates the 
conditions under which traveling was done in Missouri in 1875. Mr. 
Hughes started on horseback from Clinton, Missouri, for his home in 
Spruce township. He traveled through two miles of water in Big creek, 
passed Old Urich in Henry county and Old Dayton in Cass county, 
crossed the Grand river, south of Dayton where the bridge now is, and 
was lost, utterly lost. Mr. Hughes traveled on and on and on, and in 
one instance was obliged to make an opening in a fence in order to 
get through, to get out of a field into which he had gone he never 
knew how, and at last gave his horse the rein and the animal found the 
way home. They were both completely worn out for they had gone 
from eighty to one hundred miles that day. 

The marriage of Amos J. Hughes and Mary J. Moore was solemnized 
in 1869 in Pettis county, Missouri. To this union have been born four 
children, who are now living: Lillie R., the wife of Elijah Dark; Lulu 
Frances, the wife of John Greer, of Butler, Missouri; Daisy, the wife 
of Albert Swartz, of Adrian, Missouri ; and Mary A., the wife of Thomas 



920 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Powers, of Lanton, Howell comity, Missouri. Mr. Hughes has the 
following- brothers and sister living: Pleasant S., Amsterdam, Missouri; 
George \\ . ; and Mrs. Sallie Sharp, of Vcvnon county, Missouri. 

Amos J. Hughes has been an eye-witness of the development and 
advancement of this great commonwealth and in his own quiet, unas- 
suming way has been a potential factor in contributing to the pros- 
perity and upbuilding of the community in which he resides. 

George Hertz, proprietor of "Shady Brook Stock Farm" in Mount 
Pleasant township, is one of the successful farmers and stockmen of 
Bates county. Mr. Hertz is a native of Iowa. He was born Novem- 
ber 21, 1867, in Johnson county, a son of Henry and Florentine Hertz. 
The father is now deceased and the mother still makes her home at 
the Hertz homestead in Iowa. Mrs. Florentine Hertz celebrated her 
eighty-fourth birthday on December 28, 1917. She is one of the beloved 
pioneer women of Johnson county, Iowa, where she and her husband 
settled in the earliest days and improved a splendid farm. 

George Hertz, obtained his education in the public schools of John- 
son county, Iowa, was engaged in raising Percheron and Belgian draft 
horses there prior to coming to Bates county, Missouri, in 1904. About 
six years ago, Mr. Hertz began raising Hereford cattle and, at the 
time of this writing in 1918, he has on the farm in Mount Pleasant 
township eighteen head of high-grade animals. Last year, 1917, Mr. 
Hertz also began the breeding of big-bone Spotted Poland China hogs. 
He is an enthusiastic advocate of pure-bred stock, for he states that 
it costs no more to raise a good animal than it does to raise a "scrub." 

The marriage of George Hertz and Rose Leuenberger was 
solemnized September 28, 1898. To this union were born two children: 
Harold and Esther. Mrs. Hertz, the mother of the children, is deceased. 
Mr. Hertz remarried, November 22, 1916, his second wife being Myra 
Ethel Eaton, a daughter of Herbert and Marian Rosalie Eaton, of John- 
son county, Iowa. 

"Shady Brook Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township comprises 
one hundred forty acres of land, well watered by Mound l^ranch and 
cwo wells wdiich have never been known to have been dry. This farm 
lies one and three-fourths miles northeast of Butler and is one of the 
nicely improved country places of Bates county. The residence is a 
two-story structure of nine rooms and there are two well-constructed 
barns on the farm. Mrs. Flertz has complete charge of the poultry on 
''Shady Brook Stock Farm" and she is making a name for herself as 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 92 1 

an exceptionally successful producer of pure-bred Plymouth Rock 
chickens and Toulouse geese and at the present time she has a Hock 
of one hundred twenty-five fine birds. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hertz are comparatively newcomers in Bates county, 
but both possess to a marked degree the happy faculty of making and 
retaining friends and they have now countless warm personal friends 
in this part of the state. George Hertz is a man of industry and excel- 
lent judgment and one of Bates county's progressive citizens. 

J. W. Moles, farmer and stockman of Shawnee township, was born 
in Jackson county, Missouri, September 17, 1868, the son of G. W. 
and Mary (Tabor) Moles, the former of whom was born in 1840 in 
Missouri, but returned to Kentucky with his parents and remained in 
that state until 1866. In that year G. W. Moles made his home in 
Jackson county, and after a residence of some years in that county he 
located in the northern part of Bates county. He now lives in Adrian. 
Mrs. Mary (Tal)or) Moles was born at Crescent Hill, Missouri, in 1841, 
and died in 1916. They were parents of children as follow: Mrs. John 
Allen, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. William Poindexter, deceased; A. N. 
Moles, Mound township, Bates county; J. W. Moles, of this review; 
A. D., Adrian; EfTie, at home with her father; Mrs. Marian Roberts, 
Adrian. 

J. W. Moles received his schooling at Altona and Old Index in 
Bates and Cass counties. At the age of twenty years he began to make 
his ov\m way in the world. He began farming on his own account in 
Mt. Pleasant township near Butler. He purchased his first farm in 
1895 of Frank Pickett, a tract consisting of eighty acres located seven 
miles southeast of Adrian in Shawnee township. Mr. Moles has improved 
this farm with good buildings, trees, a well and other improvements. 
Pie rebuilt the residence in 1902. The barn was erected in 1901. Mr. 
Moles raises Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. Forty acres of 
the farm are sown to wheat and forty acres are in grass at the present 
time. 

On February 15, 1893, J. W. Moles and. Miss Mellie Sloan were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Moles was l)orn in Pennsylvania, a daughter 
of Z. B. and A. (Duesman) Sloan, the former of whom was born in 
1845 and the latter in 1851. The Sloans came to Bates county, Mis- 
souri, in about 1883 and Mr. Sloan died at the Soldiers' Home, Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, in August, 1915. Having been a veteran of the Civil 
War, he made his home at Leavenworth in his extreme old age under 



922 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the care of the United States Government. Mrs. Sloan lives in Kansas 
City. Mr. and Mrs. Moles are parents of the following children: Otha 
C, born October 12, 1894; Neva M., born June 3, 1896; Claude V., 
born December 5, 1897; Harry D., born December 30, 1899, died April 
25, 1900; Lena C, born April 16, 1901; Clyde O., born March 1, 1903; 
Alva D., born February 13, 1905; Gertie L., born March 3, 1907; Wilma 
R., born April 30, 1909, died October 16, 1910. Mr. Moles has been 
a member of the township board for seven years and has served as 
trustee of the township. 

Hon. Lucien Baskerville, former representative of Bates county, is 
a progressive farmer and stockman of Deepwater township. He is the 
son of William Baskerville, late pioneer settler of Deepwater township, 
who was one of the best-known citizens of the county. 

\^'illiam Baskerville was born in Montgomery county, Virginia, 
May 20, 1828, the son of \\'illiam B. and Mary (Ferguson) Baskerville, 
natives of Virginia. The family left Virginia in 1837 and moved to 
Cooper county, Missouri, residing in that county for twelve years. Will- 
iam B. Baskerville later located in Henry county, Missouri, and was 
engaged in the mercantile business and in agricultural pursuits in that 
county until his death in 1882 at the age of ninety-two years. AA'hen 
William Baskerville was twenty-three years of age he joined an over- 
land freight train as teamster and made the long trip to New Mexico. 
After he had served as teamster for twelve months he was promoted 
to the post of wagonmaster, and in 1852 took a train through to Cali- 
fornia, arriving on the coast in the spring of 1853. He then returned to 
New Mexico and took a drove of 20,000 sheep through to California. 
He returned home in 1854, spent the winter at home, and in the spring 
of 1855, he made another trip to California but was taken sick and 
remained ill for nearly a year. In the fall of 1856 he made a trip to 
the West Indies, and from the Islands came home by way of New 
Orleans, arriving late in that year. He then engaged in the mercantile 
business w'ith his father in Henry county, Missouri, and continued in 
business until the breaking out of the Civil War. From 1861 to 1865 he 
was engaged in farming. He had previously purchased his home farm 
in Deepwater township. Bates county, in 1856, when land was cheap and 
plentiful. He improved the tract and made his permanent home thereon 
in section 25, of Deepwater township, in 1869. Mr. Baskerville became 
owner of over three hundred thirty-six acres of well-improved land, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 



923 



which is now owned by the children of the family and managed by his 
son, Lncien. 

William Baskerville was married October 31, 1870, to Miss Mary 
Caldwell, born in Kentucky, a daughter of James and Mary Caldwell. 
The following children were born to this marriage: Benoni R., farmer, 
Deepwater township; Virginia, Martha, Judith, at home and Lucien B., 
of this sketch. Mr. Baskerville died in June, 1914. Mrs. Baskerville 
departed this life in 1887. 

Lucien M. Baskerville, youngest son of the family, was educated 
in the district school of his neighborhood, the Appleton City Academy, 
and the Missouri State University at Columbia, where he finished his 
studies in 1904. Not long afterward he was employed as foreman of 
the rolling mill department of the Acme Steel Goods Company, Chicago, 
Illinois, and remained with this concern for a period of five years. He 
began with the company as shipping clerk and was soon promoted to 
the post of foreman. Owing to his father's declining health by reason 
of advancing age he returned home and has since had charge of the 
home place of the family. Mr. Baskerville pursued a law course at 
Columbia and was admitted to the Bates county bar in 1904, and prac- 
ticed for a short time in Butler previous to locating in Chicago. In 
the fall of 1912 his candidacy for the office of representative from Bates 
county was announced and he was nominated and elected. Mr. Basker- 
ville and his sisters are living on the old home place which Mr. Basker- 
ville is managing. This farm consists of three hundred and twenty acres 
of excellent farm land. His brother, Benoni, and he are farming in part- 
nership and are making a great success of their farming and live-stock 
operations. They have about one hundred and fifty head of cattle on 
the place and have fifty head of Hereford cows for breeding purposes. 
Besides a good grade of Poland China hogs they have a herd of twenty- 
five head of sheep. The Baskerville farm is well improved and nicely 
located about five miles northwest of Appleton City and lies in the 
southeast corner of Deepwater township. 

Benoni R. Baskerville was born in Deepwater township in 1872. 
He received his education in the district school and the Academy at 
Appleton City. He was married in October, 1903, to Jeannette Gait, a 
daughter of James and Mary (Brown) Gait, of Appleton City, the latter 
of whom died in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. ''Ben" R. Baskerville have a daugh- 
ter, Pauline. 



924 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Hiram G. Cummings, the capable trustee of Shawnee township, 
Bates county, was born in Jackson county, Missouri, on February 20, 
1884, a son of A. B. and EHza (Garten) Cummings, the former, a native 
of Jackson county, Missouri, and the hitter, of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. 
A. B. Cummings reside at Grainfield, Kansas, to which city they moved 
in 1906. They are the parents of the following children: Stella May, 
the wife of Walter Bailey, of Topeka, Kansas; Leva, the wife of Troy 
Bartlett, of Martin City, Missouri; Hiram G., the subject of this review; 
Andrew, of Summit township, Bates county, Missouri ; Roy,- Grainfield, 
Kansas; Eric, who is now with the United States Expeditionary force 
in the trenches in France, enlisting on April 27, 1917, a Jasper county 
boy, twenty-seven years of age; Ruth, the wife of Marcellus Harrison, of 
Grainfield, Kansas; Marie, the wife of William Cline, of Grainfield, Kan- 
sas; and Goldie, who is a member of the teaching profession at Grain- 
field, Kansas. 

In the public schools of Jackson county, Missouri, Hiram G. Cum- 
mings obtained his education. He was a resident of Cass county, Mis- 
souri, for three years prior to coming to Bates county, in 1903, with his 
parents. Air. Cummings purchased his present home from Charles 
Moore in 1908, a tract of land embracing originally eighty acres, to 
which he has in 1915 added another eighty-acre tract purchased from 
the Nuckols brothers. The Cummings place now comprises one hundred 
sixty acres of valuable land located three miles west of Culver, Missouri, 
and eight and a half miles northeast of Butler, Missouri. Mr. Cummings 
has placed all the improvements thereon, including a comfortable resi- 
dence, a house of five rooms and two stories, built in 1908 and 1909; 
a barn, 30 x 46 feet in dimensions; a good crib and granary. Mr. Cum- 
mings raises high-grade hogs, cattle, and sheep. He has, at the time 
of this writing in 1918, nineteen head of Shropshires. Among the citi- 
zens of his township, Mr. Cummings is rated highly as a progressive, 
industrious, intelligent agriculturist and stockman. 

February 12, 1907, Hiram G. Cummings and Gertie Moore were 
united in marriage, the ceremony being performed at tlie home of her 
uncle, C. H. Moore, in Shawnee township. Gertie (Moore) Cummings 
was born July 18, 1882, in Shawnee township, a daughter of Leander 
Lewis and Laura (Laux) Moore, the father, a native of Pettis county 
and the mother, of Scott county, Missouri. Mr. Moore came to Bates 
county, Missouri, in 1880 and purchased and improved the place in 
Shawnee township now owned by Percy Lee Moore. Leander Lewis 




HIRAM G. CUMMINGS AND FAMILY. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 925 

and Laura (Laux) Moore were the parents of the following- children: 
Percy Lee, a prosperous farmer of Bates county, Missouri; Mrs. Hiram 
G. Cummings, the wife of the subject of this review^; and (3ra May, 
who died in infancy. Mr. Moore died February 5, 1885, and his wife 
was united with him in death two years later, on March 10, 1887. Both 
father and mother were laid to rest in Bethel cemetery in Bates county. 
To Hiram G. and Mrs. Cummings have been born four children, who 
are now living, and one deceased; Ann Eliza, who died at the age of 
sixteen months; Roger Lee; Hazel Verlinda; Clifford Hiram; and Allen 
Laux. 

Mr. Cummings is serving his third term as a member of the school 
board of Shawnee township and in 1917 he was elected trustee of the 
same township and is the present .incumbent in that office. Mr. Cum- 
mings is a young man of strong character, practical mind, and the 
success he has now achieved is but the prediction of a larger measure 
of success to be won in the future. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings have a 
host of friends in Bates county and in their community no family is 
held in higher esteem. 

Lyman Hensley, a prominent citizen of Butler, Missouri, is a 
representative of one of the pioneer families of Bates county. Mr. 
Hensley is a native of Homer township. Bates county. He was born 
at the Hensley homestead on January 22, 1874, a son of W. C. and Mary 
Jane (Halley) Hensley. W. C. Hensley was born in Kentucky in 1844 
and Mrs. W. C. Hensley was born one year later in the same state. 
They came to Missouri from their native state in 1868 and settled near 
old Mulberry, where two years afterward Mr. Hensley purchased two 
hundred forty acres of land, now known as the Stevens farm. Mr. 
Hensley was a veteran of the Civil War. He served two years, a 
Union soldier, in Company B, Kentucky cavalry, as message bearer, and 
while in service was seriously injured, receiving a gunshot wound. After 
coming to Missouri, Mr. Hensley engaged extensively in farming and 
stock raising, in buying and shipping stock for the St. Louis and Kansas 
City markets. He was a well-to-do and highly respected citizen of 
his township, a kindly, courteous, companionable gentleman who made 
many friends in this state. W. C. Hensley died on the farm where he 
and his noble wife reared to maturity their family of twelve children : 
John, who is now deceased ; Sallie, the wife of Ben Biggs, of Hume. 
Missouri; Anna, who is now deceased: Charlie, a widely-known and 
successful auctioneer and shipper of livestock, Columbus, Kansas; Leora, 



926 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

deceased; Carrie, the wife of E. P. Nickell, of Kansas City, Missouri; 
Lyman, the subject of this review; Jessie, the wife of CHfford Jackson, 
Denver, Colorado; Bettie, the wife of J. W. Allen, Alma, Nebraska; 
Mary Lou, the wife of Hugh McGee, Rawlings, Wyoming; H. C, 
Neodesha, Kansas; and Lola, deceased. The widowed mother now 
makes her home at Hume, Missouri. The father was laid to rest in 
Mulberry cemetery in Bates county. 

Mr. Hensley, wdiose name introduces this review, obtained his edu- 
cation at Hotwater school house in Homer township. The name of 
the school house recalls the amusing incident in commemoration of 
which the building was named. The early-day settlers in this particu- 
lar district had decided by vote to move the school house two miles 
north of the original site. The vote was not unanimous, and Grandma 
Doddsworth was very much opposed to the proposition. She moved 
into the school house and made preparations to "stand pat" and when 
Jack Showers, who had the contract to move the building, came, she 
threw scalding-hot water upon him. The poor old lady was afterward 
forced to capitulate and the school house was moved, "ag'in' her voice 
and vote," as Will Carleton puts it in "The New Church Organ." 

In his boyhood days, Lyman Hensley was want to ride to Butler 
behind his father on "Old Cooly," a mare which lived to be thirty-seven 
years of age, the idolized pet of the Hensley children, and the three often 
swam across the intervening streams in the days before bridges were 
known in Bates county. Mr. Hensley's prairie home was on the old 
Butler-La Cygne stage route and when he was seventeen years of age 
he was employed as mail carrier on this route for nearly a year. He 
remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-two years of 
age, engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He was thus employed for 
ten years prior to his coming to Butler to reside and to enter the stock 
business in this city. Mr. Hensley buys and sells cattle, hogs, horses, 
and mules. He formerly attended sales as auctioneer but in recent years 
he has abandoned this line of work. Mr. Hensley was a candidate for 
probate judge of Bates county in 1914 on the progressive ticket. 
, The marriage of Lyman Hensley and Carrie May Henderson, a 

native of Pickaway county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Margaret 
Henderson, was solemni/.cd Fel:»ruary 10, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Hender- 
son came to Homer township. Bates county, Missouri, in 1884, and 
located near Mulberry on the Leach place, which they had purchased 
and that is now owned by Angela Scully. They are both now deceased 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 927 

and their remains are interred in a cemetery at Columbus, Kansas. 
To Lyman and Mrs. Hensley have been born five children: Harvey, 
Marie, Goldie, Ruth, and Antoinette, all of whom are at home with their 
parents. 

As a citizen, Lyman Hensley discharged his (duties wnth icom- 
mendable fidelity and few men in Bates county enjoy a larger share of 
public respect and confidence. 

J. A. Beard, a well-known and successful farmer and stockman 
of Summit township, is one of the Bates county boys of yesterday who 
have "made good." Mr. Beard was born January 2, 1875, at the Beard 
homestead in Deepwater township, a son of Henry and Eliza (Kret- 
zinger) Beard, one of the worthy and most prominent pioneer fami- 
lies of Bates county. Henry Beard was a native of Indiana. He came 
with his family to Missouri in 1867 and they settled in Bates county 
on a tract of land in Deepwater township. Mr. Beard died in 1897 
and interment was made in Smith cemetery. His widow still survives 
her husband and now, at the age of seventy-two years, resides on the 
home place in Deepwater township. Henry and Eliza (Kretzinger) 
Beard w^ere the parents of the following children: Charles F., who was 
at one time sheriff of Bates county and now resides at Parsons, Kansas; 
Mrs. Emma Frost, of Deepwater township; Mrs. J. H. Baker, the wife 
of T- H. Baker, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; 
J. A., the subject of this review; I. E., who is engaged in farming on 
the home place in Deepwater township; Ava, of Lone Oak township; 
Mrs. Minnie Ferris, who resides in Canada; Mrs. Maud Parker, of 
Deepwater township; Mrs. Dora Thomas, of Pleasant Gap township; 
and Mrs. Nina McKinley, of Hudson township. 

In Deepwater township, Bates county, J. A. Beard was reared and 
educated and, at the age of twenty years, began farming Independently. 
The first farm he ever owned was a part of the Allen place, a tract com- 
prising sixty acres, which he sold within a short time after purchasing. 
Mr. Beard then bought one hundred acres of land in Pleasant Gap town- 
ship, of which he disposed at the time he left Missouri and went to 
Colorado, in which state he resided two years, and Kansas, where he 
was a resident of Labette county for two years. After four years, Mr. 
Beard returned to Bates county. J. A. Beard was engaged in the mer- 
cantile business at Pleasant Gap for one year and for eight years was 
a leading auctioneer of the county, but in the future he intends to devote 
his entire time and attention to the pursuits of farming and stock raising. 



928 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

lie has, at the present time, on the farm three head of Shorthorn cattle, 
thirty head of Duroc Jersey hogs, and seven horses of good grade. 

February 17, 1897, J. A. Beard and Lizzie King, a daughter of 
Alfred and Minerva King, of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage. 
The Kings came to Bates county from Ohio in 1886 and they located 
near Rockville, where they remained for five years, and then returned 
to their native state to reside for three years, when, they again came to 
Bates county and at this time located at Butler, where Mrs. King still 
makes her home. Mr. King died in 1906 and his remains were interred in 
Rogers cemetery in Bates county. To J. A. and Lizzie (King) Beard 
have been born eight children, all of whom are now living and are at 
home with their parents: Harley, Hershel, Buell, Ava, Basil, Cecil, 
Lucille, and Willie Kenneth. 

J. A. Beard was left fatherless at the time he most needed a father's 
advice and assistance and financial support in getting started in life, 
and he was but one of a large family. Bates county is proud to number 
him among the most valued of the "self-made" men of Summit township. 

John P. Connor, proprietor of the "Connor Stock Farm" in Sum- 
mit township, one of the finest stock farms in Bates county, is one of 
the county's prominent farmers and stockmen. Mr. Connor is a native 
of Illinois. He w^as born March 17, 1867, in Ford county, Illinois, a 
son of John, Sr., and Bridget (McClellan) Connor, natives of Ireland. 
Mr. and Mrs. John Connor, Sr., had located in Pennsylvania upon land- 
ing in this country and from Pennsylvania had moved to Illinois, where 
they settled in Ford county, among the earliest pioneers in 1865. To 
John, Sr., and Bridget Connor were born the following children: Mary, 
the wife of Ed Finnegan, of Leonard. Colorado: ]ylrs. Helen Brophy, 
deceased; Alice, the wife of John Brophy. of ^^'hiteside county, Illi- 
nois; Mrs. Kate Gadsell, of Champaign county, Illinois; and John P., 
the subject of this review. The father is now deceased and the widowed 
mother resides at Pana. Illinois. 

In Champaign county, Illinois, John P. Connor was reared and, 
in the district schools of the county, educated. He has followed farm- 
ing and stock raising practically all his life with the exception of 
one year when he was engaged in railroading. The "Connor Stock 
Farm" in Summit township comprises six hundred forty acres of land, 
which were formerly a part of the Fry Ranch in Bates county. Mr. 
Connor purchased his place in 1910 and has since devoted his time and 
attention to raising high-grade stock, having eighty head of cattle and 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 929 

thirty head of horses and mules on the farm at the time of this 
writing in 1918. The farm, which is indisputably one of the best in 
the township and in Bates county, is situated eight miles southeast of 
Butler. The place is well equipped with all the latest facilities for 
handling stock and the improvements include a well-built stock barn; 
a cattle barn, 30 x 200 feet in dimensions; a huge crib for corn and 
grain, and, at the present time, filled; and hog houses. Two hundred 
forty acres of the "Connor Stock Farm" are annually planted in grain, 
the remainder being given to pasture and meadow. Mr. Connor raises 
Aberdeen Angus cattle and he is the owner of two registered males. 
He also has on the farm a horse eligible for registry. 

The marriage of John P. Connor and Helen Brophy, a daughter of 
John and Mary (Ryan) Brophy, of Champaign county, Illinois, was 
solemnized in 1892. Both parents of Mrs. Connor are now deceased. 
To this union have been born seven children: Mary, the wife of James 
Gordon, of Summit township; Ellen, the wife of John Shautz, of Shaw- 
nee township; Charles, John, William, Leo Patrick, and Margaret, at 
home with their parents. 

Although Mr. Connor is a very public-spirited gentleman, he is not 
an active partisan politically, being content to labor quietly among his 
fine stock at his beautiful country place in Summit township. He is 
well informed on the leading questions and issues of the day and is 
firm in his convictions of right and wrong. He has ever been indus- 
trious and he deserves the success which has attended his well-directed 
efforts. 

James R. Gordon, a well-known young agriculturist of Bates county, 
was born August 5, 1884, on his father's plantation in Fleming county, 
Kentucky, located near Flemingsburg, a son of J. AA^ and Victoria 
Gordon, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Virginia. 
J. W. Gordon was a son of James and Betsy ( Wallingford) Gordon. 
James Gordon, grandfather of James R., the subject of this review, was 
a native of Ireland. He had emigrated from his native land in early 
manhood and had come to the United States, where he settled in Ken- 
tucky and was united in marriage with Betsy Wallingford. a member of 
a prominent colonial family, of Wallingford, Kentucky. J. W. Gordon 
was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War and he served three years 
with John T. Morgan's regiment. Mr. Gordon died in 1915 and his 
remains were interred in the cemetery near his home in Fleming county. 
Kentucky. His widow still survives him and at present is making her 

(59) 



930 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

home at Penfield in Champaign county, IlHnois. J. A\'. and Victoria 
Gordon were the parents of the following children: Mary Alice, 
deceased; John William, deceased; George W., Wallingford, Kentucky; 
James R., the subject of this review; Anna, the wife of Cleveland 
WycofT, of Champaign county, Illinois; Eugene, of Champaign county, 
Illinois; and Eunice, the wife of Claud Mart, of Wallingford, Kentucky, 
who are twins. 

In the pulilic schools of Elcming county, Kentucky, James R. 
Gordon received his education. Prior to coming; to Missouri, Mr. 
Gordon was engaged in tobacco growing in Kentucky and since he 
came to Bates county in 1912 and purchased the lease to the land on 
which he now resides he has followed the pursuits of farming and stock 
raising. Mr. Gordon's farm comprises one hundred sixty acres of the 
Angela Scully lands. 

James R. Gordon and Mary Connor, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
J. P. Connor, a sketch of whom appears in this volume, were united in 
marriage in 1912 at Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Gordon was born Novem- 
ber 11, 1892, in Champaign county, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Gordon 
have been born three children: John William, Mary Agnes, and James 
Robert, Jr. The Gordons are highly respected in their community. 

James M. McGovern, a valued member of the directorate of the 
Missouri State Bank of Butler, a prosperous farmer and stockman of 
Summit tow-nship, is a native of Macoupin county, Illinois. Mr. McGov- 
ern was born September 14, 1858, a son of William M. and Hester A. 
(McPherron) McGovern, natives of Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. W'illiam 
M. McGovern were the parents of the following children: John, 
deceased; William, Jr., who resides in Kansas; Ephraim, deceased; 
Eugene, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Eliza Edwards, Fort Smith, 
Arkansas; Frederick, Kansas City, Missouri; and Oscar, deceased. The 
father died in Macoupin county, Illinois, in November, 1858. Mrs. 
McGovern survived her husband many years, when in 1897 they were 
united in death. The mother died at Kansas City, Missouri. 

In Macoupin county, Illinois, in the common schools, James M. 
McGovern obtained his education. iHe was reared to manhood in 
Illinois and for eleven years was employed in the coal mines located 
near his father's home. Mr. McGovern came to Kansas City, Missouri. 
in 1890 with his widowed mother and entered the employ of the Metro- 
politan Street Railway Company. ITe worked for this company for three 
years and then moved from Kansas City to Bates county and settled on 
his present farm in Summit township, after residing for some time on 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 93 1 

a part of the Argenbright farm, which he purchased in 1893. The 
McGovern farm in Summit township comprises eighty acres of choice 
land, conveniently located within five miles of Butler, abundantly 
watered, and nicely improved. About half the place is in pasture land 
and grass. Mr. McGovern has built a barn since he acquired the owner- 
ship of the farm and has improved and remodeled all the other build- 
ings on the place. He is engaged in raising cattle, horses, and hogs, 
and he has made a marked financial success with his stock. 

The marriage of James M. McGovern and Clara J. Anderson was 
solemnized in 1907. Clara J. (Anderson) McGovern is a daughter of 
Mr. and Mrs. William Anderson, honored pioneers of Macoupin count\ 
Illinois. Mrs. Anderson died when her daughter, Clara J., was a young 
girl, seventeen years of age. Mr. Anderson is still living and is now 
eighty-six years of age. Mr. and Mrs. McGovern have for many years 
made an annual visit to their relatives and friends in Macoupin county, 
Illinois. By a former marriage, James M. McGovern is the father of 
three children : Clarence M., the youngest child and only one now living, 
a w^ll-to-do farmer and stockman residing two miles southeast of But- 
ler, Missouri, who married Cora Powell and to them have been born 
two children, Rosa Lee, and Annetta Ailene. The first wife, and the 
mother of Clarence M. McGovern, Cora (Overstreet) McGovern, 
departed this life in 1906. William M. McGovern, the father of James 
M., the subject of this review, and Sterling Overstreet, the father of 
Cora (Overstreet) McGovern were comrades in the Mexican War o' 
1846. -i^^f''^^'^ 

Mr. McGovern is a man of strong character, practical mind, and 
rare business ability. He possesses to a marked degree the gift of 
foreseeing with remarkable accuracy the outcome of all transactions. 

Fred Wolf, assessor of Mount Pleasant township, is a native of 
Ohio. He was born in Adams county and w^as tliere reared and edu- 
cated. At the age of nineteen years, he came to Bates county, Missouri 
— "a-foot and alone" — and located at Pleasant Gap, where he was 
emploved at anv kind of work he could obtain in the summers and for 
two winters attended school. 

In 1892. Mr. Wolf purchased his first land, a tract of seventy-three 
acres, which he sold in the autumn of the same year and then l)ought 
a farm comprising- eighty acres. Five years later. ]\Tr. Wolf disposed 
of his second country place and in 1896 moved to Butler. In April, 
1898, he resigned his position as clerk in a mercantile establishment at 
Butler and enlisted in the service of the United States in the Spanish- 



932 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

American War, enlisting at Bntler. He was sent to Jefferson Barracks 
at St. Louis, then to Chickamauga Park and to Lexington, Kentucky, 
and thence to Albany, Georgia, where he was mustered out at the close 
of the conflict. At one time, Mr. Wolf was sent on a sick furlough to 
the City Hospital at St. Louis, and while he was recuperating in the 
soldier's ward it was being reported in PuUler that he was dying and 
later that he was dead. When he returned home, Mr. Wolf had the most 
unusual experience of reading his own obituar}- in the Butler newspa- 
pers. Prior to leaving Butler, he was employed at the Hill Cash Store 
as clerk. Afterward, he w^as with the American Clothing House in the 
shoe department for one and a half years and wdth the Levy Mercantile 
Company for one year. He purchased his present home place of eighty 
acres of choice land located two miles west of Butler in Mount Pleasant 
township in 1910 and moved to it. 

In 1895 Fred W'olf and Stella Burch were united in marriage and 
to this union were born two children: Bernice Vivian, who is now a 
junior student in the Butler High School ; and Ronald Wayne, at home. 
Mrs. W^olf died in 1906. A sister of Fred AA'olf has charge of tlie house- 
hold and is caring for the children. 

Mrs. Wolf was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James K. Burch. a promi- 
nent pioneer family of Bates county. James K. Burch came to this part 
of Missouri in 1844 and located on land eight miles south of Butler. 

While a resident of Pleasant Gap township, Fred Wolf was elected 
assessor and served capably two years. He is the present assessor of 
Mount Pleasant township. Mr. Wolf is a worker. His life has been 
one of untiring activity and has been crowned with the degree of success 
which is attained by those only who devote themselves indefatigably to 
the work that lies l)efore them. He is wddely recognized in Bates county 
as a man of intelligent views, excellent judgment, and sterling moral 
worth. 

Judge Estes Smith, a late prominent citizen of Bates county, Mis- 
souri, was a native of Daviess county, Missouri. He was born February 
6, 1856, a son of Stephen H. and Catherine (Plarsha) Smith, honored 
and respected pioneers of Daviess county. Stephen H. Smith was born 
June 6, 1819, and Mrs. Smith was born May 14, 1823. They were united 
in marriage in 1840 and to them were born thirteen children. Stephen 
H. Smith died May 25, 1896, at Marcelinc in Linn county, Missouri. 
His wife died in Idaho in Latah county, near Troy. 

Judge Smith came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1878 and located in 




JUDGE ESTES SMITH. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 933 

Mingo township. He was in business at Mayesburg for one year, after 
which he moved to the country place where his widow now resides, a 
farm comprising one hundred twenty-seven acres of choice land located 
seven miles southwest of Creighton. Judge Smith was one of the lead- 
ing men of affairs in his township and during his lifetime filled many 
different township offices. He was a lifelong Democrat. He filled the 
office of judge from the northern district of Bates county, serving one 
term. He was appointed superintendent of Drainage District No. 1 while 
the drainage work was in progress and in 1914 he was re-elected judge 
of the county court. Judge Smith has served but six months of his second 
term in the capacity of judge when his death occurred on June 16, 1915. 
The marriage of Judge Estes Smith and Missouri E. Staley was 
solemnized May 15, 1883, at the Staley homestead in Mingo township. 
Missouri E. (Staley) Smith was born May 31, 1859, in Mingo township. 
Bates county, a daughter of Stephen M. and Elizabeth (Lefiar) Staley, 
the former, born in Virginia in 1820 and the latter, in Illinois in 1838. 
Mr. Staley came to Missouri prior to the outbreak of the Civil War 
and settled on the farm where .Thomas Staley now resides. The Staley 
estate comprised three hundred sixty acres of land at the time of the 
death of Mr. Staley in 1875. Mrs. Staley now makes her home with her 
children, in Bates and Cass counties, Missouri. To Judge Estes and 
Missouri E. (Staley) Smith were born the following children: Stephen 
E., principal of the Osceola, Missouri, schools; Robert, who is engaged 
in lumbering in Idaho; Marvin, who joined November 2, 1917, in Wyo- 
ming with the Army of the United States, a Mingo township boy, edu- 
cated in the public schools of Bates county, born March 30, 1888, now 
thirty years of age, with Company M, One Hundred Sixty-first Infantry; 
Clyde B. and Clarence Estes, at home with their widowed mother; Lil- 
lie May, who died at the age of four years in 1889; and Mary Lee, who 
died at the age of four years in 1895. Clyde B. Smith, born May 26, 
1896, and Clarence Estes Smith, born October 14, 1898, above named, 
are engaged in farming" and in raising Shropshire sheep and Shorthorn 
cattle. Judge Estes Smith died June 16, 1915, and interment was made 
in West cemetery. He was a highly valued member of the Ancient 
Free and Accepted Masons of Johnstown, Missouri, with whom he affili- 
ated in 1880, and was past master of the Wadesburg Lodge No. 348 of 
Creighton. Judge Smith was a devout Christian gentleman, an earnest 
and conscientious member of the Aaron Methodist church. 

Erom sterling pioneer ancestry Judge Estes Smith was descended, 



934 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and the family of which he was a most creditable representative was 
one of the best in western Missouri, of whom devotion to duty was a 
marked characteristic. He was long esteemed as one of Bates county's 
most honorable citizens, as one who had at heart the public good, who 
strived to do the right in every sphere to which he was called. The 
confidence which the people had in Judge Smith and in his ability was 
proven again and again by elevating him to responsible positions and the 
manner in which he invariably discharged all duties incumbent upon 
him demonstrated the wisdom of their choice, proved that their trust 
was in the keeping of a high-minded, efficient, and honest gentleman. 
Though his labors here are ended, the memory of his exemplary life will 
ever linger like a sweet incense to cheer the sorrowing hearts of those 
who loved him and the influence of his good deeds will encourage others 
to emulate his virtues and to trust the God whom he served and wor- 
shipped. 

E. G. Grant, proprietor of the "Grant Stock Farm" in Summit 
township, is one of the enterprising farmers and stockmen of Bates 
county. Mr. Grant is a native of Kansas City, Missouri, born in 1887, 
the only son of Charles and Ann (Hazlett) Grant, the former, a native 
of England and the latter, of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Charles Grant 
have been l)orn two children : Nellie, w'ho makes her home with her 
father at Butler; and E. G., the subject of this review. Charles Grant 
purchased the farm, which is the home of his son, E. G., about 1890 from 
Thomas Bushear, who died at Kansas City, Missouri, in 1916, and 
the Grants resided at their country place until the autumn of 1909. Mr. 
Grant is now making his home at Butler, Missouri. 

In the district schools of Bates county, E. G. Grant obtained his 
elementary education. lie later attended the Butler High School for 
two years. Mr. Grant has resided on the farm, which is now his home, 
practically all his life, as he was a little child, three vears of age, when 
his father brought the family to this county to make their home. The 
"Grant Stock farm" comprises one hundred ninety acres of land, most 
of which is "bottom land" drained by Willow branch, and was formerly 
known as the Glass farm. Major Glass used to be the owner of the 
place and the cemetery, which occu]:)ics one acre of the farm, was 
in the days gone by named in his honor. ETis wife and child were the 
first two persons interred in the burial ground. This is one of the 
fine stock farms of Summit township and Mr. Grant is successfully 
raising white-face cattle and Poland China hogs, keeping registered 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 935 

males at the head of each herd, and Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. 
Since accjuiring the ownership of the farm, Mr. Grant has built a barn, 
48 X 48 feet in dimensions, installed a Wind-mill and scales, put up 
hog-tight wire fencing in all the pastures, and remodeled the residence. 

The marriage of E. G. Grant and Susan Tyler was solemnized in 
1909. Susan (Tyler) Grant is a daughter of W. B. and Rachel (Moore) 
Tyler. W. B. Tyler, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, was born 
in Kentucky. Mrs. Tyler is a native of Missouri, as is also her daughter, 
Mrs. Grant. Mr. Tyler enlisted in the Civil War when he was a very 
young man and served throughout the struggle. He is a descendant of 
Charles Tyler, an honored pioneer of Bates county, Missouri, who set- 
tled on a tract of land near old Johnstown, in the earliest days of the 
settlement of this part of Missouri. Grandfather Tyler and Grand- 
father Moore were both brave, old pioneers and wealthy slaveowners 
of Bates county in the days before the War. Mr. Moore died near 
Lamonte, Missouri, during the Civil War, when his clothing and bed- 
ding were taken from him by the Federals, his death coming as the 
result of exposure. To E. G. and Susan Grant have been born two 
children : A\'illiam and Charles. 

As a public-spirited, progressive citizen, there is no more highly 
valued man in Bates county than Mr. Grant. 

William H. Brannock, one of the pioneers of Bates county, a suc- 
cessful farmer and stockman of Summit township, is widely known 
throughout the county as a breeder of high-grade Percherons. For 
more than fifty years, the Brannock name has l:»een a familiar and 
highly respected one in Butler and Bates county for the Brannocks 
settled here in 1866, when this part of the state was still in its primitive 
condition, having but one highway Across the prairie and abounding 
in wild deer and prairie chickens. Mr. Brannock is a native of Ken- 
tucky. He was born in Harrison county in 1841, a son of Darius and 
Catherine (Hall) Brannock, natives of Kentucky. Darius Brannock 
moved with his family from Kentucky to Indiana in 1848 and from 
Indiana to Missouri in 1866, settling on the farm now owned by Will- 
iam H: Brannock, a place comprising two hundred eighty acres of land 
formerly owned by Jeptha Hollingsworth, a wealthy slaveowner of 
Bates county in the days before the Civil War. Mr. Brannock was a 
stonemason bv trade and he followed his vocation previous to coming 
to Missouri and for several years afterward. He erected the Sheriff 
Atkinson building in Butler, a building which stood on the east side 



936 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of the public square on the site of the one now occupied by the Levy 
Mercantile Company. He paid Mr. Hollingsworth ten dollars an acre 
for his farm and at the Brannock homestead, Darius Brannock departed 
this life a few years after he had come West. Mrs. Brannock survived 
her husband many years, when in 1903 they were united in death. Both 
father and mother were interred in Oak Hill cemetery. 

Robert Brannock and William H. Brannock are the sole surviving 
members of their father's family. William H. Brannock was reared and 
educated in Indiana. He attended school at Greencastle, Indiana, and 
remained with his parents and assisted with the farm work until after 
the death of his father, about 1873, when he took charge of the home 
place and continued to carry out his father's plans. A small house, of 
two rooms, was built in 1867 and later rel)iiilt and made larger. Mr. 
Brannock built a new residence in 1913, a comfortable, pleasant home 
of seven rooms, and a good barn. His farm comprises fifty-three acres 
of land located four miles southeast of Butler. He is an expert horse- 
man and naturally so, for all the Brannocks as far back as they are 
known have been interested in fine horses. Mr. Brannock raises 
Percherons of high grade. 

In 1864, the marriage of William H. Brannock and Clara Nelson 
was solemnized. Mrs. Brannock is a daughter of William Nelson, a 
late resident of Greencastle, Indiana. To this union has been born 
one child, a daughter, Minnie, who is at home with her parents. 

Measured by the true standard of manhood, Mr. Brannock's life 
has been a decided success. He is an excellent agriculturist and breeder, 
industrious and enterprising and though not lal:)oring on quite so exten- 
sive a scale as some of his neighbors, he has by capable management of 
his business affairs acquired a fair share of this world's goods. Per- 
sonally, he is a very companionable gentleman, and a man of many 
friends. 

R. J. Thomas, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Mount Pleas- 
ant township, is one of Bates county's successful citizens. Mr. Thomas 
is a native of Illinois, born in Schuyler county, in 1866, a son of Daniel 
and Sarah (Guinn) Thomas. Daniel Thomas was a native of Ohio. 
He came with his family to Missouri in 1869 and located at Butler. He 
drove through from Illinois. He was a well-digger by trade and after 
locating at Butler followed his vocation in this city and vicinity. Prob- 
ably half the wells in Butler which were dug from 1869 until 1880 were 
dug by Daniel Thomas. He was a genial man of kindly disposition, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 937 

industrious and capable and popular with the residents of this city. 
His death in 1887 was long lamented by all who knew him. Mrs. 
Thomas departed this life in February, 1917, at the age of eighty years. 
She was one of the noblest of the brave pioneer women who settled 
in Bates county. The remains of both father and mother were interred 
in Oak Hill cemetery. Daniel and Sarah Thomas were the parents of 
the following children: Fleetwood, Butler, Missouri; David, who died 
at the age of fifteen years; R. J., the subject of this review; Mrs. Phoebe 
Taylor, Butler, Missouri; Daniel, Jr., St. Louis, Missouri; and John, 
who died in youth. 

R. J. Thomas attended the citv schools of Butler. Since he was 
twelve years of age, he has made his own living, working by the day, 
month, and job. When he was twenty-five years of age, he began farm- 
ing for himself. Mr. Thomas first purchased the John Keeton place 
of forty acres of land, to which he later added one hundred twenty 
acres adjoining land and then sold the farm and returned to Butler. 
Two years afterward, Mr. Thomas purchased a tract of land compris- 
ing eighty acres and he had successively added tracts of forty acres 
each to his original holdings until he was the owner of two hundred 
acres of choice land in Bates county, a farm located three miles east 
of Butler. This place he sold seven years ago and purchased his present 
country home from Lott Warren, a farm embracing one hundred sixty 
acres of land situated one mile east of Butler. Mr. Thomas' place is a 
splendid stock farm and he has twenty acres of it in pasture, forty 
acres in hay, and the remainder under cultivation. He devotes much 
time and attention to raising Duroc hogs and to horses and mules. 
The Thomas farm is abundantly supplied with water from wells and 
a spring. The improvements are in excellent repair and include a 
comfortable residence, two barns, a hog shed, cribs, and numerous 
other farm buildings. 

The marriage of R. J. Thomas and Luella Martin was solemnized 
in 1884. Mrs. Thomas is a daughter of R. F. Martin, of Butler. Mr. 
Martin was a Union veteran of the Civil W^ar. He died at Butler and his 
remains were interred in Oak Hill cemetery. To R. J. and Luella 
(Martin) Thomas have been born five children: Charles AV., at home 
with his parents: James Virgil, at home with his parents; Nellie, the 
wife of Clarence Bolin, Butler, Missouri; Ada May and Helen Louise, 
who are at home with their parents. 

Nearly a half century ago, the Thomas family settled in Bates 



.938 J[IST()RY OF BATES COUNTY 

county, and for ncarl}' fifty years nicnihcrs (jf the family have Ijccn 
connected closely witli the development and growth of the county. He 
has invariably given his support cheerfully and his influence liberally to 
all worthy enterprises for the public good and b\' living a good life him- 
self. R. J. ddiomas exerts a potent inllueiice upon all with whom he 
comes in contact. 

J. P. Ellington, a progressive farmer and stockman of Mount 
Pleasant township, is the owner of one of the best stock farms in Bates 
county. Mr. I^llington is widely known as a successful horseman and 
breeder of mules, cattle, and hogs. He is a native of Bath county, 
Kentucky. He was born June 30, 1873, a son of Joseph G. and Alice 
(Wyatt) Ellington, both of wdiom were also natives of Ken- 
tucky. Joseph G. F>llington came to Missouri in 1882 and settled in 
Bates county on a farm in Pleasant Gap tcnvnship. He bought at the 
time of his settlement here a tract of eighty acres of land, to which 
he later added forty acres, a place located twelve miles from Butler, 
and for ten years was engaged in tobacco growing. Joseph G. and 
Alice iCllington were the parents of five children: Ed, Butler, Missouri; 
June, the wife of Robert Eondrum, of Gardner, Texas ; J. P., the sub- 
ject of this review; Lee, who is now the owner of the Ellington home- 
stead; and Eannie, the wife of Everett Morilla, deceased. The mother 
died November 13, 1901, and the father joined her in death August 12, 
1917. I)Otli parents w-ere laid to rest in Myers cemetery in Hudson 
township. Mr. and Mrs. Ellington were well-known and respected 
throughout Pleasant Gap township and they have been sadly missed 
from the number of good citizens in Bates county. 

At High Point, one of the district schools of Hudson township, 
J. P. Ellington obtained his education. When he was twenty-one years 
of age, he left home and moxcd to his own farm, which lies one mile 
south of his i)resent country place. Mr. Ellington purchased the latter 
farm, which comprises two hundred fifty acres of land, in 1910. a place 
formerly owned by Joe T. Smith, of Butler. In addition, Mr. Elling- 
ton owns a tract of forty acres of land in Summit township. The home 
farm is situated one and three-fourths miles east of Butler and lies parllx' 
in Mount Pleasant and partly in Summit townships. This is an excel- 
lent stock farm nicely located, well watered, and splendidly improved. 
The residence is a house of seven rooms, built on the highest point (/ 
the farm. There are three different sets of improvements on the Elling- 
ton place. \\'ith the residence is a large barn, which is used for stock. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 939 

On the south tract, there are two barns, and on the forty acres in Sum- 
mit township there are also good improvements, including a residence 
and well-constructed barn. Mr. Ellington deals extensively in horses 
and mules, but he also gives some attention to raising cattle and hogs. 
He has about the average number of cattle and a herd of hogs. One 
hundred acres of the farm are in pasture and one hundred acres ar; 
rich "bottom land." 

June 9, 1897, J. P. Ellington and Alice Morilla, a daughter of 
Charles and Emma (Thomas) Morilla, formerly of Lone Oak township 
and now of California, were united in marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Ellington have been born three children : Edna, who is now in her 
senior year at the Butler High School; Virgil, a student in the But- 
ler High School; and Harold, a pupil in the grades. 

Mr. Ellington is a man of untiring industry, which is equaled only 
by his capacity to accomplish the vast amount of work he undertakes. 

Charles Marsteller, one of the prominent agriculturists of Mount 
Pleasant and Lone Oak townships, is a member of a pioneer family of 
Bates county. When the Marstellers settled here there was no court 
house at Butler, but one was erected soon after they came, which build- 
ing was destroyed during the Civil War and a second constructed. In 
the lifetime of the Marstellers in Bates county, there have been three 
different court houses erected at Butler. Mr. Marsteller was born at 
Butler, Missouri, in 1862, in the home which is now Judge Silvers', a 
son of Randolph and Mary A. Marsteller. Randolph Marsteller was 
a native of Licking county. Ohio. He came to Bates county, Missouri 
in 1857 and purchased the farm now owned by his son, Charles. Dur- 
ing the Civil War. when Order Number 11 was issued, the Marstellers 
moved to Henry and Pettis counties and remained there until the con- 
flict had ended. When Mr. Marsteller came back to his home in Bates 
county, he was obliged to begin life anew for all the buildings he owned, 
including five houses, practically all his stock, the fencing, and from 
five to eight hundred bushels of corn were destroyed. In the war, he 
served with the Home Guards under Captain Newberry. The Marstel- 
lers returned to the farm to live, a place formerly owned by Lucinda 
Seal and comprising five hundred acres of splendid, productive land, of 
which Charles Marsteller owns one hundred forty-five acres located 
two and a half miles south of Butler. To Randolph and Mary A. Mar- 
steller were born six children: Harriet, the wife of Mr. Daniels, of 
Lone Oak township; James A., Lone Oak township; Mollie, the wife 



940 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of Mr. Pierce, Battleground, Tippecanoe county, Indiana; Florence, 
deceased; Tena, deceased; and Charles, the subject of this review. Mr. 
Marsteller was actively identified with the farming and stock interests 
of Bates county for many years. He was a man of industrious habits, 
an excellent, public-spirited citizen, who served his township many 
years as justice of the peace. He died about 1883. Mrs. Marsteller 
departed this life April 10, 1914. Both father and mother were laid 
to rest in the cemetery known as Oak Hill. Mr. Marsteller was an 
enterprising and energetic .farmer, a gentleman of native abilities of 
a high order. He was honest himself and not only expected but thought 
everyone else to be so. Generous and obliging, he assisted to the limit 
of his ability all worthy enterprises. His death and that of Mrs. Marss- 
teller, a brave pioneer woman, were sadly lamented in Bates county. 

Charles Marsteller attended the city schools of Butler. He remained 
at home with his father and his mother until both were taken from him 
and he still makes his home on a part of the old home place, a farm 
of one hundred forty-five acres. The Marsteller farm lies partly in 
Mount Pleasant and partly in Lone Oak townships. Mr. Marsteller 
is numbered among the best citizens of his community and he is widely 
and favorably known throughout the county. He is unmarried. 

Seth E. Cope, a well-known and highly respected citizen of Bates 
county, Missouri, an honored pioneer of New Home township, veteran 
of the Civil War, was born May 21, 1845, in Monroe county, Ohio. Mr. 
Cope is a son of Edmund and Mary (Blackburn) Cope, the former, a 
native of Virginia and the latter, of Maryland. They were the parents 
of four children : Samuel B., deceased ; John O. Adams, a sketch of whom 
appears elsewhere in this volume; Maria A., the wife of Leonard Tripp, 
of Mountain View, Wyoming; and Seth E., the subject of this review. 
A more elaborate genealogy of the Cope family is given in connec- 
tion with the biography of John O. Adams Cope. 

In Clark county, Missouri, Seth E. Cope received his education. 
The Copes had moved from Ohio to Iowa in 1847 and thence to Mis- 
souri in 1851, locating in Clark county, where they resided for several 
years when they moved to Kansas in 1862. In 1864 Seth E. Cope enlisted 
with Company E and was later transferred to Company F, Eleventh Kan- 
sas Cavalry, and was in active service in Kansas, Arkansas, and in the land 
of the Cherokee Nation. Capt. Evan G. Ross, Company E.. who later 
became United States Senator and whose vote acquitted President John- 
son from impeachment, was later appointed governor of New Mexico by 



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SETH E. COPE. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 94 1 

President Cleveland, was a brave officer. Mr. Cope says William Gil- 
breath was the largest slave-holder in the county and was a strong 
Union man. Mr. Cope had a special pension bill passed for a blind girl, a 
soldier's daughter. Mr. Cope was an important participant in the battle 
of Mine Creek and in the engagements accompanying Price's famous 
raid from Lexington to Weber Falls, Arkansas. The regiment, of which 
he was a member, made the Indian campaign in Wyoming and on the 
plains in 1865. Mr. Cope states that Quantrill, returning from the raid 
on Lawrence, Kansas, on August 21, 1863, disbanded in New Home town- 
ship. Bates county, Missouri, just north of the river, a part of his men 
going down the north side and a part down the south side of the Marais 
des Cygnes. Mr. Cope was discharged from the Union service August 
31, 1865, at Fort Leavenworth and took a one-hundred-dollar bond in pay- 
ment for services. 

In the fall of 1866, he came to Bates county and selected his land and 
at Butler, heard Colonel McClurg speak. In the spring of 1867, Seth 
E. Cope came to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on a farm in New 
Home township, where he has lived continuously since. Mr. Cope now 
makes his home with his brother, John Q. Adams Cope, of whom further 
mention is made in this volume. The former has resided in Bates county 
for fifty-one years and has known personally and still knows probably 
every individual of prominence in the county. 

In January, 1885, Seth E. Cope and Gussie Littlefield, a daughter 
of Warren Littlefield, of New Home township, Bates county, Missouri, 
were united in marriage. To this union were born two children, who are 
!iow living: John Logan, of New Home township, Bates county; and 
Etta, who is now married and resides at Hoskins, Iowa. Mr. Cope is 
widely and favorably known in western Missouri and among the most 
valued men of Bates county he occupies a conspicuous place. He is a 
gentleman of the old school, possessing countless sterling qualities of 
mind and heart, and he has a host of friends in this section of the state. 
PYaternally, Seth E. Cope is affiliated with the Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons and is a Royal Arch Mason, Miami Chapter No. 76. 

John Logan Cope married Grace Osborne, of Bates county, and 
has a daughter, Ruth, born July 1, 1917, for whom Mr. Cope has bought 
a government bond. Mr. Cope is promoting the plan of every grand- 
father buying a bond for every grand-child born since 1917. 

Etta married Edward Wolverton and has two sons : Clay Reese, 
aged six years and six months; and Howard Logan, aged four years. 



942 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

In the seventies Mr. Cope had introduced and passed tlirough Colonel 
Burdette, a bill by the general government establishing a mail route from 
Osceola to Garnett, passing through Chalk Land, Papinsville and Rich 
Hill, New Home, Walnut, Pleasanton and Mound City, etc. 

John Quincy Adams Cope, pioneer of New Home township, Bates 
county, Missouri, proprietor of two hundred forty acres of land in New 
Home township, where he has resided for fifty years, an honored veteran 
of the Civil War, notary public in Bates county for thirty years, is one 
of the county's best known and most prominent citizens. Mr. Cope is 
a native of Ohio. He was born December 5, 1835, in Columbiana county 
near Lisbon, a son of Edmund and Mary (Blackburn) Cope. Edmund 
Cope was born May 2, 1807, a son of John and Mary (McCabe) Cope, 
who were united in marriage in 1803 in Frederick county, Maryland. 
Mr. and Mrs. John Cope removed with their family to Fairfield town- 
ship, Columbiana county, Ohio, where they settled in 1810. John Cope 
was a son of Oliver Cope, who emigrated from Wiltshire, England and 
came to the colony of Pennsylvania among the earliest settlers from his 
native land, in 1687. Oliver Cope was the father of the following chil- 
dren: William, Elizabeth, Ruth, and John. Edmund Cope, a son of 
John Cope, was united in marriage with Mary Blackburn in 1832 and to 
this union were born the following children: Samuel B., who was born 
October 6, 1833, and died at Enid, Oklahoma, in 1913; John Quincy 
Adams, the subject of this review; Maria A., who was born April 20, 
1838, is now the wife of Leonard Tripp; and Seth E., who was born May 
21, 1845, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Edmund 
and Mary (Blackl)urn) Cope moved with their family to Van Buren 
county, Iowa, in 1847, thence to Clark county, Missouri, in 1851, and 
to Kansas in 1862. In the state of Kansas, the Copes resided at differ- 
ent times in Jefferson, Shawnee, and Jackson counties. In 1867, they 
came to Bates county, Missouri. Mary (Blackburn) Cope was born 
in 1800 in Maryland. The father died in 1884 and the mother joined 
him in death four years later, in 1888. 

All three sons of Edmund and Mary (Blackburn) Cope enlisted and 
served in the Civil ^^'ar, Samuel B., with the Seventh ]\lissouri Cavalry; 
John Quincy Adams, witli the Second Kansas State Militia in the Topeka 
Regiment; and Seth E., with the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry. John 
Quincv Adams Cope fought in the battle of ^^'estport and assisted in 
driving Price southward. After the l)attle mentioned, he returned to his 
home, receiving his honorable discharge. Seth E. Cope took part in the 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 943 

Indian conflicts on the plains in 1865. In the autumn of 1866, John Quincy 
Adams and Seth E. Cope came to New Home township and purchased 
one hundred sixty acres of land. Their father, Edmund Cope, took up 
a homestead claim of forty acres of land; Samuel B., forty acres; John 
Quincy Adams, forty acres ; and Seth E., forty acres. Afterward, John 
Quincy Adams Cope bought an additional tract of one hundred twenty 
acres for ten dollars an acre. He cared for his father and mother as 
long as they lived. 

Politically, Mr. Cope is afifiliated with the Republican party. He 
twice cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln, the first time in Clark county, 
Missouri, and again, in 1864, at Indianola, Kansas. In religious mat- 
ters, Mr. Cope is a Deist, believing in Nature, in a Hereafter, and in the 
doctrines of Christianity. He has been a member of the Ancient Eree 
and Accepted Masons since 1865 and in point of membership is the oldest 
Mason now living in Bates county. Mr. Cope is a member of the 
Foster Blue Lodge, of the Butler Chapter and Commandery. 

John Wright, a well-known citizen in Bates county, is a native of 
Kentucky . Mr. Wright was born in 1853, a son of James and Eliza- 
beth (Dean) Wright, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. James 
Wright came to Missouri in 1881 and settled on a farm of eighty acres 
of land in Mount Pleasant township, a place formerly owned by Henry 
Medcalf, of Kentucky, and now owned by Lewis Deffenborgh. Mr. 
Wright resided on this farm until his death in 1887. Mrs. Wright 
departed this life in 1905 and both father and mother were interred in 
the cemetery at Oak Hill. James and Elizabeth (Dean) Wright were 
the parents of the following children: Jackson, Okmulgee, Oklahoma; 
Mary C, the widow of John McCann, Butler, Missouri; Angelina, the 
wife of G. W. George. Carlisle, Kentucky; John, the subject of this 
review; R. M., who died about 1897 and whose remains are interred 
in Oak Hill cemetery; Dorcas, who died in 1886; Sallie J., the wife of 
C. O. Blake, Mount Pleasant township, Bates county, Missouri; and 
Bettie, who first married John Walls, now deceased, and then Thomas 
Gibson, of Kansas. City, Missouri. 

John Wright came to Mount Pleasant township. Bates county in 
1878. He rented land for one year and then purchased forty acres of 
land, on which tract liis present country home is located. At different 
times later, M. Wright added to his holdings tracts of forty acres each 
and he is now owner of a farm comprising one hundred twenty acrc-^ 
of valuable land. All that is now on the Wright farm in the way of 



944 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

improvements, John Wright has himself placed there. In addition to 
his country place, Mr. Wright owns the old John Karris homestead in 
Butler, a handsome residence of eight rooms with a barn and an abun- 
dance of shade and fruit trees situated on a tract of two and a half 
acres of land in Burton's addition. 

At Aberdeen, Ohio, the marriage of John Wright and Mary A. 
McCann was solemnized on November 11, 1875. Mary A. (McCann) 
Wright is a daughter of James and Susan (Barr) McCann, both of 
whom were natives of Nicholas county, Kentucky. The Wrights and 
the McCanns were neighbors in Kentucky and John and Mary were 
friends and playmates in their school days. Mrs. McCann died in 1891 
and Mr. McCann joined her in death in April, 1907. Their remains 
are resting in Concord cemetery in Nicholas county, Kentucky. To 
John and Mary A. Wright have been born two children: Carrie E., 
the wife of Charles AV. Dickerson, of Butler, Missouri ; and Anna Maud, 
the wife of Harry French, of Charlotte township. Bates county, Mis- 
souri. Mr. and Mrs. Wright are very proud of their five grandchil- 
dren, the sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Harry French : Kenneth 
Wright, Dorothy Belle, Doris Louise, Mary Mildred, and John \\illie. 

Mr. Wright moved to Butler from his farm several years ago and 
while a resident of Butler he was twice elected assessor and served capa- 
bly and well for two terms. After six years in the city, he returned to the 
farm and in Mount Pleasant township he was again elected assessor and 
he served one term. When Mr. Wright again took up his residence 
in Butler, about tw^o years ago dating from the time of this writing 
in 1918, the voters of this city knew where to find an honest, conscien- 
tious of^cial and he was for the fourth time elected assessor and served 
another term in office, making a record of eight years of efficient, satis- 
factory service. 

Mr. Wright has steadily climbed upward in life, overcoming count- 
less obstacles and forging to the front until he now ranks high with 
the successful citizens of Butler and Bates county. 

J. F. Bedinger, of Mount Pleasant township, is one of the success- 
ful farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Bedinger is a native 
of Illinois. He was born in 1885 at Normal, a son of AA^illiam H. and 
Mary E. (Bishop) Bedinger, both of whom were born in Kentucky 
and died in Illinois. William H. Bedinger was a prosperous farmer 
and stockman of Illinois. 

J. F. Bedinger is a descendant of colonial ancestors. George Mich- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 945 

ael, his great-grandfather, came to America from Germany with his 
parents and they settled in Pennsylvania. He was at Philadelphia at 
the time the Declaration of Independence was signed and later fought 
at Valley Forge, serving under General Washington. J. F. Bedinger 
obtained his elementary education at Normal, Illinois and afterward 
attended the State University of Illinois. In early maturity, he came 
to Missouri from Bloomington, Illinois, and located at Kansas City, 
where he conducted a hat store for several years. He came from Kan- 
sas City to his present country home in Bates county. 

The Bedinger farm comprises two hundred forty acres of land 
located three miles southwest of Butler. This farm is one of the attrac- 
tive country places in Bates county. There are two sets of improvements. 
The Bedinger residence is a comfortable house of seven rooms and with 
it is a barn, 34 x 60 feet, and a garage. On the east one hundred sixty 
acres are a cottage of four rooms and a barn, 80 x 50 feet. A well, twenty 
feet in depth, was dug on the farm in 1917 and from it water is piped 
to the barn. The water runs over the top of the well and into the pipes 
at the rate of about thirty barrels a day, thus an abundance of good 
water is supplied the stock. He is just beginning the raising and breed- 
ing of registered Hereford cattle. He has at the present time twenty- 
six head of Hereford heifers eligible to be registered, heifers from the 
Jacob Varren herd at Appleton. Missouri. "Vincent." 481148, a regis- 
tered steer from the Judge E. Hurt herd, heads the Bedinger herd. 

In. February, 1915, J. F. Bedinger and Maud Florence Snyder, daugh- 
ter of George Snyder, of Kansas City, Missouri, were united in mar- 
riage. To this union has been born one child, a son, George AVesley, 
who was born July 23, 1917. 

Mr. Bedinger is keenly alive to everything pertaining to the growth, 
development, and betterment of his township and county and he has 
always been a stanch advocate of progress. Mr. and Mrs. Bedinger 
have countless friends in Bates county. 

H. H. Council, proprietor of the Butler Steam Laundry, is a native 
of Indiana. He was born in 1870, a son of Thomas and Mary Council, 
both of whom are now deceased. His father died when the son, H. PL, 
was a child nine years of age. Mrs. Council departed this life seven 
years ago, in 1910. To Thomas and Mary Council were born three sons, 
who are now living: Harry, Lansing, Michigan; Charles, a successful 
rancher at Mondak, Montana: and H. H., the subject of this review. 

H. H. Council attended the public schools of Indiana until the death 

(6o) 



946 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of his father, when he was obliged to make his own way in life and 
labored as a farm "hand" for his board and clothing, attendance at school 
being of secondary importance. Mr. Council was given the opportunity 
to acquire an education at intervals, which were brief, few, and far apart. 
He drove a riding cultivator for his cousin, when he, H. H. Council, 
was too small to hold the plow handles. Mr. Council came West as 
far as Des Moines, Iowa, when he was eighteen years of age and entered 
the laundry business there, which business he has followed for thirty 
years. He remained in Iowa several years and from that state moved 
to Missouri, locating first at St. Louis, then at Kansas City, and at last 
at Butler. 

In 1891, H. H. Council and Ida A. Seamen, of Des Moines, Iowa, 
were united in marriage and to this union were born six children : Thomas, 
who has been in the service of the United States Government for the 
past four years, enlisting at Kansas City, Missouri, serving in the Philip- 
pine Islands three years, and when war was declared by the United 
States on April 6, 1917 he w^as sent by the Government to Leavenworth, 
Kansas and is now with the Coast Artillery at Galveston. Texas; Marie, 
the wife of Omer E. Brown, of Butler, Missouri ; Edward, who enlisted 
in February, 1917 in the United States navy and is now on the battle- 
ship U. S. A. "New York;" Clyde, who is twelve years of age and is at 
home with his father; Nina, who is nine years of age and is at home; 
Donald, who is six years of age and is at home. The mother died at 
Butler, Missouri in December, 1915. Interment was made in the ceme- 
tery at Butler. Mr. Council has kept his little ones together and has 
gi\-en them as good home and training as he could, though sadly handi- 
capped by the loss of his life partner. 

Mr. Council came to Butler in December. 1913, at which time he 
bought out Kienberger & Macomb, owners and managers of the steam 
laundrv, which they liad ol)tained from C. Sells. Since H. H. Council 
acquired the ownership of the laundry, he has installed a new boiler, 
at an expense of one thousand dollars, two washing machines, and a 
shirt ironer, making the establishment thoroughly up-to-date. The build- 
ing occupied by the laundry, a structure 100 x 26 feet in dimensions, 
located on Dakota street was purchased by Mr. Council in October, 
1917. Eight people are employed at the laundry in order to handle 
the immense amount of work as family washings as well as the washings 
of individuals are taken care of here. ]\Ir. Council was connected with 
the Silver Laundry of Kansas City, Missouri jirior to coming to Butler. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 947 

He had scores of years of experience in the laundry business when he 
began business at Butler and but little else except an invincible ambition 
to succeed. Practically without one dollar, Mr. Council has made a 
marked success in his line of work, for by honesty and straightforward 
business methods he has won the confidence of his patrons and has 
built up a splendid establishment from nothing in less than five years. 

H. H. Council is an up-to-date laundryman, thoroughly familiar 
with every detail of the laundry work, and he knows full well how to 
take advantage of opportunities and to create opportunities when none 
exist. Joining the great army of wage earners in America at the age of 
nine years, Mr. Council has had a world of~ experience and after a lapse 
of years of hard toil he is now the possessor of a competence which 
in the dreamiest days of his youth he never hoped to realize. 

J. T. Hathaway, a veteran of the Civil War, one of the oldest resi- 
dent farmers of Bates county, now living in comfortable retirement at 
his country place in West Boone township a few miles south of Drexel, 
was born in Shelby county, Ohio, December 31, 1834. He was a son 
of Eleazer and Sallie (Henry) Hathaway, natives of Miami county, 
Ohio. Eleazer Hathaway was the son of John Hathaway, a son of John 
Hathaway (I), a native of Wales, who accompanied by two of his brothers 
made a settlement on the Atlantic seaboard before the American Revolu- 
tion. John Hathaway, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
fought in the Army of Independence during the Revolutionary War. 
His grandfather, John Hathaway (H), fought in the War of 1812. John 
Hathaway, the first in line, was a scout for the American forces during 
the War for Independence of the colonies. Eleazer Hathaway settled 
in Illinois in 1867, two years after J. T. Hathaway had settled in Chris- 
tian county. Father and son resided on adjoining farms. The father 
died there in 1871. The mother of J. T. Hathaway died in 1874. 

y. T. Hathaway enlisted in November of 1861 in Company F, Twen- 
tieth Ohio Regiment of Volunteer Infantry and served for nearly four 
years, receiving his honoral:)le discharge in July, 1865. He took an active 
part in many battles and skirmishes, among them being the attack on 
Fort Donelson ; the campaign around Vicksburg, Mississippi ; Pittsburg 
Landing; Pea Ridge; siege and capture of Atlanta; Sherman's famous 
march to the sea and the subsequent capture of Savannah. From Savan- 
nah he was sent to Washington and participated in the Grand Review. 
He received his final discharge and was mustered out of the service 
at Cincinnati. Ohio. He then returned home to Shelbv countv, Ohio. 



948 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

After a short stay he went to Christian county, Illinois and engaged in 
farming until his return to Illinois in 1866 and married the sweetheart 
of his boyhood days, Hattie Blake, a native of Ohio, who died in 1871, 
leaving one daughter, Mrs. Clara New, living in Bates county, on 
a farm adjoining that of her father. ]\Ir. Hathaway lived in Illinois until 
1901 and then came to Bates county, where he invested his capital in 
two hundred thirty-three acres of land, part of which he has given to 
his daughter and now has one luindred fift\-five acres in the home place. 
Incidentally, it is worthy of mention that Mr. Hathaway went to Clay 
county, Kansas, in 1859, homesteaded a claim, proved up on it and then 
returned to Illinois. 

His second marriage took place in 1881 with Margaret Ellen Wil- 
son, who was born in 1843 in Pike county, Illinois, a daughter of James 
Wilson. One son has been born of this marriage: Mark Wilson Hatha- 
way, born in .1882, an intelligent and industrious young farmer who has 
relieved his father from the burden of managing and cultivating the 
home place in ^^'est Boone township. Mr-. Hathaway is a pronounced 
Prohil)itionist and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 

Daniel K, Walker, one of the most progressive and up-to-date merch- 
ants in this section of the state, the senior member of the business firm 
widely known as the W^alker-McKibben Mercantile Company, was born 
in 1870 near Otterville in Moniteau county, Missouri. Mr. W' alker is a 
son of Rev. Alexander and Agnes (Hannah) Walker, who were the 
parents of ten children, eight of whom are now living, as follow: D. 
v., a successful merchant of Wichita, Kansas ; A. B., a prominent real 
estate dealer of Columbus, Ohio; Mrs. Annie C. Pyle, Butler, Missouri; 
Mary S., Butler, Missouri; D. K., the subject of this sketch; C. M., who 
is engaged in the loan business at Kansas City, Missouri; Harry, a 
prosperous merchant of Enid, Oklahoma; and John S.. who is engaged 
in the life insurance business at Butler, Missouri. Rev. Alexander ^^^llker 
was born in Scotland. He and Mrs. Walker, who was of Scottish descent, 
came to Moniteau county, Missouri, in 1868, and located at Tipton in 
that county in 1870. Twelve years later, Reverend Walker moved with 
his family to Bates county, wdiere the remainder of his life was spent 
in ministerial work. He was a gifted minister of the Presbyterian 
church and was well known and highly esteemed in Butler, in which 
city he was pastor of the Butler Presbyterian cluircli iov man\- vears. 
In his latter years, he was appointed state synodical missionary of the 
Presbyterian church, which position he was most ably filling at the time 




ELLIOTT PYLE WALKER. 
The first Butler boy to give up his life in the world war. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 949 

of his death, which occurred at Butler. Reverend Walker was interred 
in the cemetery at Butler. 

In the public schools of Tipton, Missouri and in Butler Academy, 
Daniel K. Walker obtained his education. He received his first busi- 
ness experience at the age of fifteen years at Wichita, Kansas, where 
he was employed for one year by Larimer & Stinson. Mr. Walker then 
returned to Butler, Missouri, and entered the employ of James McKib- 
ben, who conducted a dry goods and clothing store where the Palace 
Hotel was once located on the northeast corner of the public square, 
and later became associated in business with James and Joseph McKib- 
ben, organizers of the McKibben Mercantile Company of Butler, Mis- 
souri. James McKibben now resides in Kansas and Joseph McKibben 
is living at Pasadena, California. Further mention of both McKibbens 
will be made in this sketch in connection with the history of the Walker- 
McKibben Mercantile Company. 

In 1895, Daniel K. Walker was united in marriage with Ruby Pyle, 
daughter of Dr. Elliott Pyle, a prominent pioneer physician of Butler, 
Missouri, a surgeon of the Union army, who settled in this city a short 
time after the close of the Civil War. To Daniel K. and Ruby (Pyle) 
Walker have been born three children : Elliott Pyle, the eldest, gradu- 
ated from Butler High School and was attending the University of Illinois 
when, in the spring of 1917, he enlisted with a University ambulance 
unit for service in Erance, afterward transferring with his unit to the 
United States Army Ambulance Corps, which was immediatelv sent to 
the training camp at Allentown, Pennsylvania. He earned promotion to 
first sergeant of Casualty Company Number 9, but March 30, 1918, just 
at the time his company was to sail for France, he died of pneumonia. 
Fie was the first Butler boy to die in the service. He was buried at 
Butler, Missouri, April 4, 1918, with military honors. Kirkbv A., a gradu- 
ate of the Butler High School, wdio is now studying at the Missouri 
University; and Agnes, wdio is a student in the Butler High School. The 
W^alker family has long been prominent in Bates county and is still num- 
bered among the best families of this part of the state. Mr. and Mrs. 
Walker reside at 512 West Pine street in Butler. 

The Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company, of Butler, was organ- 
ized in 1892 by James McKibben, Joseph McKibben, and D. K. Walker 
as the McKibben Mercantile Company, succeeding James M. McKib- 
ben, who had succeeded M. S. Cowles & Company. M. S. Cowles opened 
a general store at Rich Hill about 1881 or 1882, after selling the general 



950 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

store in Butler to James McKibl)en. The M. S. Cowles & Company's 
general store in Butler was opened about 1867 and was located where 
the Farmers Bank is now, on the northeast side of the public square. 
The stock of merchandise was moved by James McKibben to the former 
location of the old Palace Hotel, on the northeast corner of the square. 
Tater, Joseph McKibben, who had been with M. S. Cowles & Company 
at Rich Hill, with James McKibben and D. K. Walker organized the 
McKibben Mercantile Company and the stock was again moved, this 
time to the north half of the Bennett-Wheeler block and afterward to 
one door east of the present location of the Walker-McKibben Mer- 
cantile Company's establishment. Daniel K. Walker first entered the 
employ of James McKibben in 1886 and he was associated in business 
with the McKibbens at the time of the organization of the McKibben 
Mercantile Company. After a few years, James M. McKibben sold 
his interest in the store to Joseph McKibben and Mr. Walker and about 
eleven years ago Joseph McKibben retired from the business. In 1906, 
Daniel K. Walker purchased all the interests of the McKibbens in the 
company, which has since been known as the Walker-McKil)ben Mer- 
cantile Company, and the stock of goods moved to the present location 
on the north side of the public square. The building now occupied is 
a large, well-lighted, two-story structure, 30 x 100 feet in dimensions. 

That Daniel K. Walker is exceptionally well qualified as a business 
man and merchant and that he has prospered is evidenced Ijy the fact 
that he carries a stock of merchandise valued at many thousand dollars 
and employs a corps of assistants. The stock is clean, neatly arranged, 
and up to date, including a general line of dry goods, notions, ladies' 
ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, men's furnishings, ladies', misses', and 
children's furnishings, rugs and lace curtains. The clerks employed are 
unusually attentive to customers and lend their hearty and cheerful 
support in the pull for success. This store is undoubtedly one of the 
finest to be seen in any city, in places even twice the size of Butler. 
Mr. Walker is a gentleman of pleasing personality and his earnest pur- 
pose, humanitarian principles, and upright life richly merit the splendid 
success, which has attended his efforts, and his present high commercial 
and social standing. 

Elliott F. Edwards, an enterprising business man of Butler, is a 
representative of a pioneer family of Missouri. He was born in 1886 
in Bates county on his father's farm near Butler, a son of James P. and 
Leanna (Hines) Edwards. James P. Edwards was born June 12. 1838 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 95 1 

in Nashville, Tennessee. He came West and located at Brunswick, Mis- 
souri in 1864. Mr. Edwards was a teamster by trade and a man of excep- 
tional intelligence and initiative. He crossed the plains from Atchison, 
Kansas in 1865, and, in the same year, built the fourth residence, in 
Pueblo, Colorado, hauled the first bell to Denver, Colorado, and one 
year later sold the first merchandise ever sold in Trinidad, Colorado. 
At Fort Garland, Colorado, Mr. Edwards was engaged in selling mer- 
chandise to the Indians, with the permission of Kit Carson. When 
James P. Edwards started in business at Fort Garland, he had but eighty 
dollars of his own and was in debt five thousand dollars. He had bor- 
rowed the latter sum of money in order to get a start in business and 
was paying five per cent, interest monthly. Most men would have fallen 
beneath the weight of the burden and have given up the fight in despair, 
but it was not characteristic of James P. Edwards to shirk heavy respon- 
sibilities, to give up the fight. He worked hard. In four months time, 
he had earned thirty-tv/o hundred dollars — and that was during the "hard 
times" of 1865. He hauled the boiler and set it up, which furnished the 
steam to run the mill where the lumber was sawed which was used to 
build Fort Lyon, Colorado. He received thirty-five hundred dollars 
freight at that time. Provisions were exceedingly high-priced at Fort 
Garland. Four pounds of bacon were worth five dollars, butter sold 
for one dollar and fifty cents a pound, and coiTee commanded a price 
of one dollar and fifty cents. After a short sojourn in Brunswick, Mis- 
souri, Mr. Edwards came to Butler in February, 1870. He hauled the 
first rock used in foundation w^ork in Salisbury, Missouri. He engaged 
in farming and stock raising in Bates county and became closely identi- 
fied with the business interests of Butler. Mr. Edwards erected a num- 
ber of the business buildings in Bates county. He was one of the direc- 
tors of the Bates County National Bank and was 'connected with the 
Light. W^ater & Power Company. James P. Edwards was progressive 
and public-spirited and a "booster" for alb enterprises having for their 
object the betterment and development of Butler and Bates county. His 
death on July 16. 1913 was universally lamented and mourned in this 
part of the state. Interment was made in the cemetery at Butler. 
Leanna (Hines) Edwards is a native of Brunswick, Missouri, a daugh- 
ter of John S. and Nannie (Pollard) Hines. John S. Hines was a native 
of Keyesville, Virginia and of English descent. His father was a wealthy 
plantation owner, the proprietor of a vast tract of land in Prince Edward 
and Charlotte counties. He was the master of a large number 



952 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

of slaves. Nannie (Pollard) Hines was a native of Marysville, 
Virginia. To John S. and Nannie Hines were born six children: 
Edward, deceased; Richard, deceased; Thomas ]., deceased; Sue, who 
was educated in an academy at Goldsboro, North Carolina, now resid- 
ing at Butler, Missouri; Emily F., the wife of J. C. Congor, Macon, 
Georgia; Leanna, the widow of James P. Edwards, Butler, Missouri, the 
three daughters being the sole survivors of the family. The Pollards, 
as well as the Hines family, were wealthy plantation owners of Virginia. 
James P. and Leanna (Hines) Edwards were the parents of seven chil- 
dren: Lola, deceased; Lela, the wife of C. H. Conger, Washington, D. 
C. ; Lula, the wife of M. S. Horn, Butler, Missouri; Lon L., a prosperous 
farmer, Butler, Missouri; Claude, a successful merchant, Oakland, Cali- 
fornia; Elmer, deceased; and Elliott F., the subject of this review. Mrs. 
Edwards, the widowed mother, resides at the present time in Butler. 

Elliott F. Edwards obtained his education in the city schools of 
Butler. He began life for himself when he was twenty-one years of age, 
at first following the pursuits of agriculture. In 1914, Mr. Edwards 
entered the coal and transfer business at Butler, his office being located 
due north of the Missouri Pacific railway station, and from the beginning 
he has prospered. Mr. Edwards is as honest as the light and when he 
sells a ton of coal his customers know that they are receiving a ton of 
coal. He owns a nice farm of eighty acres of good land located north- 
west of Butler. 

January 14, 1908, Elliott F. Edwards and Cleo Moore were united 
in marriage and to this union have been l)orn two children: Elliott F., 
Jr. and Leomi. Mrs. Edwards is a daughter of J. M. and Naomi (Brown- 
ing) Moore. J. M. Moore is a native of Pettis county and Mrs. Moore 
was born near Humboldt in Woodson county, Kansas. The Moores came 
to Bates county about thirteen years ago. J. M. and Naomi Moore are 
the parents of six children: Clara L., the wife of Clarence Harrison, 
Altona, Missouri ; Cleo, the wnfe of Elliott F. Edwards, the subject of 
this review; Juanita, deceased; Ethel, deceased; John L, Butler, Alis- 
souri ; and Roy V., Butler, Missouri. A strange affinity in dates occurs 
in the Moore and Edwards families, January 14, 1918, was the ajiniversary 
of the marriages of Mr. and Mrs. James P. Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. J. 
M. Moore, and Mr. and Mrs. Elliott F. Edwards. The oldest child in 
1)oth the Moore and Edwards families was a daughter and both girls 
were born on the same day of the same month. 

In all his business transactions, as well as in his social relations, 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 953 

Elliott F. Edwards manifests unquestioned integrity and the pleasing 
demeanor of a gentleman, gaining by his unassuming, quiet manners and 
kindly personal bearing countless friends in Butler and Bates county. 

William J. Bullock, an ex-sheriff of Bates county, is a native of Cass 
county, Missouri. He was born near Old Index, Alarch 1, 18G0, a son 
of H. N. and Margaret M. (Hereford) Bullock, the former, a native of 
Kentucky and the latter, of Mason county. West Virginia. H. N. Bul- 
lock was born September 24, 1832 and, when a child three years of age, 
came to Missouri with his father, William Bullock, who located first in 
Johnson county in 1835 and shortly afterward settled in Cass county. 
H. N. Bullock has been a resident of Cass county for eighty-two years 
a-nd is now living, at the advanced age of eighty-five years, at Archie, 
Missouri. His father, William Bullock, died many years ago and his 
remains are interred in the cemetery at Index. H. N. Bullock is a Con- 
federate veteran and he was in active service throughout the Civil War, 
serving under Gen. Francis M. Cockrell. When Mr. Bullock enlisted, 
he left his wife in charge of their farm in Cass county and to care for 
their little ones. Order Number 11 was enforced jfnd Mrs. Bullock moved 
with her children to Clinton in Henry county, Missouri, where her 
brother, Capt. W. JP. Hereford, resided. During their absence, all the 
improvements on the Bullock farm were destroyed. The home 
was burned to the ground in 1862. Mr. and Mrs. H. N. Bul- 
lock were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Dora Adair, 
Archie, Missouri; Mrs. Minnie Keyes, Wellington, Kansas; Mrs. Nora 
Lee, Appleton City, Missouri; James Emmet, deceased, a prominent 
minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. South, who died at Bronson, 
Kansas in 1894 wdiile engaged in ministerial work and his remains were 
interred in Crescent Hill cemetery; and AVilliam J., the subject of this 
sketch. 

The pul)lic schools of Index in Cass county and of Burdett in Bates 
county afforded William J. Bullock the means of obtaining an excellent 
common school education. At the age of twenty-one years, he began 
life for himself, engaged in the pursuits of agriculture in Cass county. 
Mr. Bullock moved to Bates county in 1878 and located in East Boone 
township, returning later to Cass county for two years, when he came 
back to Bates county and located in Deer Creek township. Mr. Bullock 
always took an important part in the public affairs of his township and 
in the autumn of 1908 was elected sheriff of Bates county and served 
from 1909 until 1913. Since that time, he has resided in Butler, where 



954 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

he has a handsome home at 201 Dchiware street. Mr. Bullock is at the 
present time in the employ of the Red Arrow Oil & Gas Company of 
Oklahoma, having their main office in Kansas City, Missouri. 

June 22, 1884, William J. Bullock and Mary A. Dejarnette were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Bullock was born in Boone township in Bates 
county, a daughter of W. H. and Mary A. Dejarnette. Mr. Dejarnette 
is now deceased and the widowed mother resides in Archie, Missouri. 
To Mr. and Mrs. William J. Bullock were born seven children, all of 
wdiom are now living: Georgia, the wife of Charles Hall, Floweree, 
Montana; A\'illa, the wife of Clarence Buillman, Oakgrove, Missouri; 
Aumer, at home with her father; Minnie, at home with her father; Julia, 
who is with her sister, Mrs. Charles Hall, at Floweree, Montana; Emmet 
H., a student in the Butler High School; and \\^allace, at home with his 
father. Mrs. Bullock died July 23, 1908 and her remains were laid to 
rest in the cemetery near Adrian, known as Crescent Hill cemetery. 
Nearly six years afterward, Mr. Bullock's mother died at Archie, Mis- 
souri and she, too, was taken to Crescent Hill cemetery for Inirial. Mrs. 
H. N. Bullock died April 15, 1914. Both women were beautiful and 
exemplary moral characters, mothers whom to know was to admire and 
love, and they have been sadly missed, not only in their home circles, 
but by a vast number of close personal friends. 

In all the relations of life, William J. Bullock has manifested uncjues- 
tioned integrity. 

John R. Weadon, prosperous farmer of New Home township, town- 
ship trustee, has resided in Bates county since 1878 and is justly classed 
among the old settlers of this county. He has created his fine farm 
from unbroken prairie land and has placed every stick and shrub thereon 
and erected every l)uil(ling on the place during the many vears in which 
he has resided here. In 188v3 Mr. \\'eadon made his first purchase of 
land in Bates county and is now the owner of one hundred forty-two 
and a half acres of well improved and productive land, located in the 
southwest corner of New Home township. 

Mr. Weadon was born in Loudoun county. Virginia, Octol)er 17, 
1857, a son of Samuel K. and Almira (Wines) \\'eadon. both of whom 
were born in Virginia. They removed to Missouri in December of 
1870 and first settled in Greene county, where thev resided until 1874 
when they located in Lawrence county. Six years later Mr. and Mrs. 
Samuel Weadon made a settlement in the southwest part of New Home 
township in Bates county and resided here until death called them. 



HISTORY. OF BATES COUNTY 955 

Samuel Weadon was born in 1835 and died on June 1, 1887. Mrs. 
Almira Weadon died in March, 1890 at the age of fifty-five years. They 
were parents of the following children : Francis, a resident of Kansas 
City, Missouri; John R., subject of this review; Samuel, living in Kan- 
sas City; Turner, a citizen of Oregon. 

John R. Weadon received his schooling in Virginia and in Mis- 
souri. He was reared to the life of a farmer. He came to Bates county 
from Lawrence county, Missouri in 1878. When Mr. Weadon came to 
this county, a young man twenty-one years of age, he had little or 
practically nothing in the way of capital or property. He began work- 
ing on the farms of the county with a willing heart and strong hands 
and was imbued with an ambition to some day own a farm of his 
own. Five years later in 1883 he was enabled to make his first purchase 
of land and is now ranked with the well-to-do and forehanded farmers 
of this prosperous county. He has created a farm of his own upon 
which he has reared his family with the assistance of a capable wife. 

Mr. W^eadon was very fortunate in his selection of his helpmeet 
and took to wife a daughter of one of the first and most proniinent of 
the Bates county pioneers. He was united in marriage with Miss Mattie 
C. Miller, who was born in New Home township, March 13, 1861. a 
daughter of O. H. P. Miller, one of the earliest of the Bates county pio- 
neers concerning whom extended mention is given in the history of the 
Miller family which will be found in connection with the biography of the 
late Jason Woodfin elsewdiere in this volume. This marriage was con- 
summated on November 18, 1883, and has been a happy and prosperous 
one. Mr. and Mrs. John R. Weadon have one child, Mrs. Edna R. Birks. 
of Howard township. Bates county. 

Mr. Weadon has been a life-long Democrat and is prominent in 
the councils of his party in the county. He is a1)ly filling the office of 
trustee of his township and has filled many positions of trust and respon- 
sibility during his residence in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Weadon are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church. South, and are worthy and 
respected citizens of Bates county. 

Eli F. Kincaid, proprietor of a fertile farm of two hundred sixty- 
five acres in the northwest part of Howard township adjoining the 
Kansas-Missouri border, was born June 9, 1850 in Preble county. Ohio. 
He is the son of John and Sarah (Fair) Kincaid, both natives of Ohio. 
John Kincaid was the son of Samuel, a native of Kentucky, who moved 
to Ohio and resided with his familv until 1866 in Preble countv. In 



956 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

the fall of that year he came to the West and made a settlement near 
Lonejack in Jackson county, Missouri. Some years later he moved to 
Cass county, Missouri and there died in July, 1896. Eli F. Kincaid was 
one of eight children born to his parents, as follow: William, Cass 
county, Missouri; Eli F., subject of this review, and Ervin, living in 
Kansas, twins; Mrs. Rachel Grifhth, Cass county, Missouri; Leander, 
living in Washington; Wesley, deceased; Joseph, living in Missouri; 
and Mrs. Mattie Akers, Cass county, Missouri. 

Eli F. Kincaid received his schooling in Ohio, and accompanied his 
parents to Missouri when sixteen years old. He stayed at home and 
assisted his father on the farm until 1873, when he began his own 
career. He went first to Henry county, Missouri and during the first 
year in that county, he was employed at farm labor. He then rented 
land for several years and eventually made a purchase of eighty acres 
in Henry county to which he added forty acres. He sold this tract and 
bought a farm of one hundred twenty-seven acres which he cultivated 
for four years. He sold this tract and invested the proceeds in another 
farm of one hundred forty-eight acres at Montrose, Missouri, which he 
later sold at a profit and then bought a farm of one hundred forty acres 
located ten miles east of Butler in Bates county. He again sold out 
in 1907 and bought one hundred twenty acres south of Hume in Vernon 
county, which he retained until the spring of 1911 when he sold out 
and bought a farm in Cass county which he soon traded for his present 
place in Howard township. Mr. Kincaid has one of the best farms in 
Bates county, twenty-five acres of which are heavily timbered. 

Mr. Kincaid was married on December 20, 1890 in Bates county, to 
Miss Eva Fowler, who was born April 29, 1869 in Illinois, a daughter 
of Isaac and Martha (Breedlove) Fowler, natives of North Carolina, 
who moved to Illinois after the Civil W^v period. Isaac Fowler served 
in the Confederate army with a North Carolina regiment throughout 
the Civil War. He left Illinois and came to Henry county, Missouri in 
1871, and made a permanent location in that ccumty, dying there in 1893. 
His widow (lied in 1914 at the age of seventy-three years. Of the eight 
children born to Isaac and Martha Fowler. scNcn arc living, as follow: 
Harvey, Schell City, Missouri; Herman, died in infancy; ^Irs. Delia Ford, 
lives near Butler; Cora, resides at Eldorado Springs, Missouri; Mrs. 
Eva Kincaid and Ira Fowler, of Ea Ilarpe, Kansas, are twins; Ezra, 
lives at Dallas, Texas; Carrie, makes her home at Eldorado Springs. 
The followinc: children have been born to Eli F. and Eva Kincaid: Earl. 



inSTORY OF BATES COUNTY 957 

died in infancy; Roy, died at the age of seventeen years; Emmons, a 
student in Missouri University, Colundoia, Missouri; Marl, Herbert, and 
Nore, are at home with their parents. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and are substantial and w^orthy citizens of Bates county. Mr. 
Kincaid is a Democrat politically and his fraternal affiliations are with 
the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. 

James McCulloch, member of one of the old pioneer families in Bates 
county, farmer of New Home township, was born in Cooper county, 
Missouri, August 20, 1866. He is a son of Joseph Richardson and 
Isabella America (Brown) McCulloch, natives of Virginia. His father 
was born in old Virginia and his mother was born in what is now West 
Virginia. The Brown family of which Mrs. J. R. McCulloch was a mem- 
ber was one of the early pioneer families of Missouri. W. O. Atkeson, 
author of this "History of Bates County" is related to the McCullochs 
through the mother's family. Joseph R. McCulloch was born in March, 
1826 and died in September, 1893. He was a son of Robert McCulloch, 
who settled in Cooper county, Missouri in 1834. Isalxdla A. McCulloch 
was born in October, 1836 and died in July, 1915. She was a daughter 
of Matthew Brown, who emigrated from Virginia to Missouri in 1850 
and was married in Saline county. 

J. R. McCulloch came to Bates county on October 11, 1866, and 
settled in New Home township. Prior to this time he had served for 
three years with the Confederate forces under Generals Price and Mar- 
maduke. Upon taking up his residence in Bates county, he built a one- 
room log cabin and in this cabin reared a family of live children: Robert 
M., a farmer in New Home township; Mrs. Adeline Brown Caton, How- 
ard township ; James, subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Mattie Clark, Rich 
Hill; Joseph, Rich Hill, Missouri. J. R. McCulloch became owner of 
one hundred acres of land in New Home township, and the home place 
of the familv is now owned by James McCulloch, the tract having been 
deeded to him by his mother. Mr. and Mrs. J. R. McCulloch were mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church and were sturdy, God fearing, 
industrious people who courageously withstood the poverty and hard- 
ships of their earlier days in this county and their names are honored 
ones in the history of Bates county. 

Tames McCulloch was reared to young manhood upon the McCul- 
loch home farm and has always lived in this vicinity. He received eighty 
acres of land from his mother upon which he is now making his home. 



958 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Mr. McCulloch was married on June 15, 1893 to Florence Salina Ben- 
son, who was born October 5, 1875 in Illinois, a daughter of Thomas 
and Florence Benson, who died in St. Clair county, Illinois when Mrs. 
McCulloch was an infant. She and her brother, Louis, were adopted by 
William Allenson, an Eng-lishman, who came to Missouri and settled in 
New Home township, Bates county, in 1883. Mr. Allenson was an old 
friend of Mr. Benson and accompanied the Bensons to x\merica from 
their native England. During his last years, Mr. Allenson made his 
home with Mr. and Mrs. McCulloch. Four children have been born 
to James and Florence McCulloch: Mrs. Salina Donaldson, New Home 
township, mother of two children — ^Joseph Elmer, and Lucille ; Lois Ada, 
living in Tulsa, Oklahoma; James B., aged nineteen, and Benjamin Lee, 
aged fifteen years, at home with their parents. Mr. McCulloch is a 
Democrat. 

Alfred Norbury, successful farmer and stockman, Walnut township, 
owner of four hundred twenty-five acres of rich, prairie farm lands in 
the western part of Bates county, is a native of England, born in 
Ramshire, August 7. 1849. He was a son of John and Tabitha (Besant) 
Norbury, who lived all of their lives on an English farmstead in Ram- 
shire. Alfred Norbury was reared and educated in his native England 
and immigrated to America in 1871. W^ien he landed at New York 
he had his savings wnth him, and traveled to Olathe, Kansas, where he 
was employed at market gardening, during his first year. He farmed 
land in Johnson county during his second year and in 1873 he located 
in Bourbon county, Kansas, moving to a farm located five miles south 
of Fort Scott. Some time later he removed to Crawford county, Kan- 
sas and purchased one hundred twenty acres of farm land which he 
occupied until 1901, and then traded the tract for tw^o hundred twenty 
acres in Bates county. He moved to his farm in ^^^'llnut township dur- 
ing the fall of the "dry year" as it will always be known in the history 
of Missouri and Kansas. He prospered thereafter and added to his acre- 
age until he owned six hundred ten acres, a portion of which he has 
deeded to his sons. 

Mr. Nor])ury was married in England, in the year 1871, to Sarah 
Rowe, born in Essex county, England, in 1852. To them have been 
born children as follow: Daniel, a farmer in Walnut township, married 
and has seven children — Emma, Grace, Sarah, Agnes, Margaret, Alpha, 
and Fred; Edward, a farmer, \\\alnut township, has six children — Edna, 
Marv, Lanita, Anna Mav, Edith, Edward, and Leonard; Sydney, is mar- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 959 

ried and has six children — Alfred, Naomi, Leroy, Vint, Ellis, and Lillie; 
Walter, is a farmer and has two children — Freda, and Harold. Mr. Nor- 
bury is fortunate in having all of his sons residing in the neighborhood 
of the home place and all are doing well as tillers of the soil. In politics, 
Mr. Nor1)nry is a Socialist, and belongs to the Episcopal church. 

J. J. Mudd is one of the young, hustling and progressive young 
farmers of East Boone township. Mr. Mudd was born in 1882 in Bates 
county, a son of Joseph D. and Nancy Jane Mudd, who are among tiie 
oldest residents of the township. 

Joseph David Mudd was born in April, 1842, in Bullitt county, Ken- 
tucky, and was a son of Joseph and Nancy (Brown) Mudd, natives of 
Kentucky who immigrated to Missouri in 1866, and settled upon the 
farm where Joseph D. now resides. Joseph Mudd was father of thir- 
teen children, of whom four are yet living: J. D. ; Mrs. Jane Hall, Pasco, 
Kansas; Henry, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Julia Bunton, Nelson county, 
Kentucky. Joseph D. Mudd came to Bates county with his parents and 
has lived for over fifty years in the vicinity of his present home. He 
was married in 1868 and began his career with twejnty acres of ground 
upon which he built a log cabin which was the first home of Mr. and 
Mrs. Mudd when they began housekeeping, but the years that have 
passed since that time have been prosperous ones, Mr. Mudd now being 
owner of four hundred fifty-five acres of well improved farm land in the 
western part of East Boone township. Mr. Mudd was married 
to Nancy Jane Deacon, born in Nelson county, Kentucky, a daugh- 
ter of Andrid and Eliza (Shockame) Deacon, who lived and died 
in Kentucky. To this union have been born children as follow: Joseph 
E., deceased; Mrs. Eliza Ann Ormsbee, Cass county, Missouri; Mrs. 
Sidonia McDaniels, Canon City, Colorado; RufTee, Stephen, Nancy Lee, 
and Edgar, deceased; Mrs. Fannie Louise Hughes, deceased; J. J., 
.subject of this review; Ernest Arnold, who is managing- the home farm; 
Honest Arthur, farmer near Adrian, Missouri ; Sarah Margaret, deceased ; 
Ruth v., deceased. For the past thirty years, Mr. Mudd has been a 
member of the Adrian lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He 
has always been a Democrat in politics. 

J. J. Mudd was educated in the Liberty High School, and began 
farming on his own account on the farm owned by his cousin, E. C. 
Mudd, in February, 1912. This farm is a splendid property, well improved 
and highly productive and Mr. Mudd is keeping up the farm to its fullest 
productive capacity. 



960 ' HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

He was married in 1908 to Miss Ethel Buchanan, of Burdett, Mis- 
souri. The have one child, Gleeta, aged four months. Mr. Mudd is 
an independent Democrat who votes for the man regardless of his party 
label if by so doing he can assist the cause of good government. He 
is a member of the Baptist church and is fraternally afifiliated with the 
Fraternal Aid Union and the Ancient Free and yVccepted Masons of 
Adrian. 

Horace Perry Edwards. — The life story of H. P. Edwards, of East 
Boone township, is that of a self-made man, who when he had achieved 
a sufficient competence, invested in land whereon he could always be 
certain of a comfortable and independent living and be free from want 
in his later years. Mr. Edwards has one of the most attractive and well 
kept farm plants in Bates county upon which he has resided since 1907. 
Since coming into possession of this farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
he has remodeled the home, adding substantial verandas, etc., and has 
built a modern barn, thirty-six feet square and ten feet to the square 
in addition to a barn which had been previously erected by other owners. 
He has expended five hundred dollars for wire fencing and generally 
enhanced the appearance and value of the place during the past ten 
years. During 1917 there were harvested on the place thirty-live acres 
of corn which yielded thirty bushels to the acre. Part of the Edwards 
land is rented out because his crippled condition will not permit of active, 
heavy farm labor on his part. At the present time he has fifteen head 
of cattle, six horses and a fine drove of forty-six head of sheep which 
are considered the best flock of Shropshire sheep in Bates county. His 
success in sheep breeding has been such as to determine him to engage 
in the l^reeding of thoroughbred Shropshires for the discerning trade. 

H. P. Edwards was born in the city of Indianapolis in 1860 and 
is a son of Nathan and Cynthia (Swcaringen) Edwards, natives of 
North Carolina. Nathan Edwards removed with his family to Indiana 
in 1833 and engaged in the contracting and 1)uil(ling l)usiness whicli he 
followed for several years with signal success. It was he who erected 
the first union railroad depot in Indianapolis, and the building of this 
structure was followed by the erection of many other public buildings 
throughout the state under his supervision. Natlian Edwards em])loyed 
upward of three hundred men in his building operations and had the 
reputation of being an honest, reliable and painstaking contractor who 
could be trusted to meet his obligations and perform his duties to the 
letter of his contracts. For a period of about f^^•e years he was engaged 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY . 961 

in the mercantile business. In 1862 he removed with his family to a 
small farm in Morgan county, Indiana which he purchased for a home. 
Nathan Edwards was born in 1812 and died in 1881. His wife was born 
in 1818 and died in 1885. They were the parents of three daughters 
and two sons, of whom but two are now living: Horace Perry, sub- 
ject of this review; and Henry Tyson Edwards, born in 1856 and now 
residing in Harrisonville, Missouri. 

H. P. Edwards came to Missouri with his mother in 1882 and the 
family located on a farm in Cass county. For the first two years he 
rented land in Cass county and in 1884 he came to Adrian, Bates county. 
From July, 1885 until the spring of 1887 he followed laboring in Adrian, 
and then entered the employ of Bryant & McDaniel as grain buyer, 
remaining in the employ of this firm for seven years. In 1892 he estab- 
lished a draying and transfer business in Adrian which was very suc- 
cessful. He conducted this business until 1898 and then bought a small 
farm of sixty-four acres adjoining Adrian on the south and turned over 
the draying business to his sons. He cultivated his Adrian farm until 
1907 and then traded for a farm in East Boone township. 

Mr. Edwards was married in 1881 to Anna E. Whitlem, who was 
born in Iowa and came to Cass county, Missouri, when a child with her 
parents, Robert and Sarah Whitlem, both of whom died in Bates county 
at the Edwards home. Both parents of Mrs. Edwards were born in 
England. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have four children: Fred Richard, 
El Paso, Texas, a railroad conductor, who has had some exciting experi- 
ences in operating trains in Old Mexico during late years, and who 
was arrested by the Mexicans and held in jail for twelve hours on a 
trivial charge at one time: Arthur R., owner of two newspaper delivery 
routes in Kansas City, Missouri ; Claude B., a rancher near Steamboat 
Springs. Colorado; Clarence AV., attending the Adrian public schools. 

Mr. Edwards is a Republican in politics and while a resident of 
Adrian held office as city councilman. He is a member of the Christian 
church, as is Mrs. Edwards. He is fraternally affiliated with the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
During the session of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the Odd Fellows 
in 1911, Mr. Edwards was an interested visitor and took great pleasure 
in going over old home scenes of his boyhood days. Mr. and Mrs. Ed- 
wards are among Bates county's best and most patriotic citizens. 

Jefferson Hemdon, better known as *'Jeff" Flerndon, owner of a 
fine farm of two hundred and thirtv-one acres in Howard township where 

(6i) 



962 . HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

he is widely and favorably known, was born May 19, 1861, in Tazewell 
county, Illinois. He is a son of James Walker and Frances (Wilson) 
Herndon, the former of whom was born in Tennessee, in 1827, and the 
latter of whom was born in Illinois in 1831. James W. Herndon accom- 
panied his parents to Illinois in boyhood in the early pioneer days of 
the settlement of that state and was there reared to young manhood and 
married. He died in Tazewell county in 1887. The widowed mother 
of Jeff Herndon resides in Illinois. There were five children in the 
family of James W. and Frances Herndon, namely: Mrs. Kittie Beck- 
man, Arkansas City. Kansas; Nannie, deceased; Jefferson, subject of 
this review; Benjamin, who is farming the old home place in Tazewell 
county, Illinois. 

Jeff Herndon was reared on the old home place of the family 
in Illinois and attended the common schools of his native county. He 
remained on the home place until twenty-eight years old and began 
for himself in 1879. Upon his father's death he inherited eighty acres 
from the estate which he cultivated until 1893, when he sold out and 
came to Missouri, arriving here on March 8. He purchased two hun- 
dred forty acres of land in Howard township, through which the rail- 
road has run taking off nine acres. For the past twenty-four years 
Mr. Herndon has lived continuously upon his farm and has made a 
success in raising livestock and producing good crops. 

Mr. Herndon was married in 1887 to Miss Lenna Miller, who was 
born in Tazewell county, Illinois, in 1860, and daughter of Moses and 
Lucia Miller, of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Herndon have five children: 
Harlan, Montana; Mrs. Frances Hoffman, living in Kansas; William 
Lester. Frank, and James, at home with their parents. Mr. Herndon 
is a Democrat in politics and is one of the substantial and well-thought- 
of citizens of his section of Bates county. 

John McKee, well-to-do farmer of West Point township and presi- 
dent of the Bank of Amsterdam, Missouri, is one of the most substantial 
and influential citizens of his neighborhood. Mr. McKee was born near 
Belfast, Ireland, in 1857, a son of John and Elizabeth (Peddon) McKee, 
of Scotch-Irish origin and wdio lived all of their days in Ireland. Four 
of their cliildren came to America to find Iionies in this country. John 
McKee left his native land in 1869 and upon landing at New York Citv. 
had barely sufficient funds to enable him to reach his destination, which 
was Peoria, Illinois. He soon got a job as farm hand during the harvest 
season at a wage of thirty dollars per month, later working for twenty 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 963 

dollars per month. His object in coming to America was to get a "bit 
of land" which would be his own home. Land rose to such a high 
price in the vicinity of Peoria, Illinois, that he decided to come further 
west. He saved his money and came to Bates county, where he rented 
for a time and invested his savings in stock for the farm which he intended 
to buy. After casting about for a suitable location he bought one hun- 
dred and sixty acres at a cost of sixteen dollars an acre. This was 
raw land and unfenced at the time of purchase. When Mr. McKee 
first came to Bates county there vvas much free range for cattle and he 
took advantage of this condition and invested a good part of his savings 
in cattle which ranged the prairies. He erected all the buildings on his 
place, built the fences and in 1887 added eighty acres more to his hold- 
ings at a cost of twenty dollars and twenty-five cents an acre — a tract 
which had been broken up and fenced. Mr. McKee has always handled 
livestock and for a number of years was a successful sheep raiser. By 
careful management and hard work he has become practically inde- 
pendent and is rated as one of the best farmers and stockmen of Bates 
county. 

Mr. McKee was married in 1878 to Bessie McKee, who was born 
near Belfast, Ireland, in 1849 and departed this life on July, 28, 1894. 
To this union children were born as follow: Mrs. Lizzie Crawford, 
living in West Point township; Eleanor G.. who is at home with her 
father. Mr. McKee was formerly allied with the Democratic party but 
has long been ah advocate of temperance and prohibition. So pro- 
nounced has his views upon prohilntion become that of late years he 
has definitely allied himself with the Prohibition party and now stead- 
fastly supports his party's candidates at election time. He is a member 
of the United Presbyterian church. 

A, E. Moore, a prominent farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap 
township, was born in Bates county January 17, 1875. He is a son of 
William and Nancy (Gragg) Moore, the former a native of Luliana, and 
the latter of Henry county, Missouri. The family came to Bates county 
in 1868 . In 1876 they moved to Barton county, and the father died shortly 
afterwards. The mother married for her second husband, A. H. ^^'ood- 
fin. They are now deceased. 

A. E. Moore was one of a family of three children born to his parents, 
two of whom are living: A. H., Pleasant Gap township and A. E.. the 
subject of this sketch. A. E. Moore spent his boyhood days mostly in 
Bates county. He was educated in the public schools of this county, 



964 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and the high school at Springfield. Missouri. He has made farming and 
stock raising his principal occupations, and has been successful in his 
line of endeavor. 

Mr. Moore was united in marriage March 14, 1901, with Miss Car- 
rie Rogers, wdio is also a native of Bates county, and was born on the 
place where she now resides. She is a daughter of Judge James Madi- 
son and Lucy (Wilson) Rogers. 

Judge James Madison Rogers was born near Cumberland Gap, 
Tennessee. He came to Bates county in 1851, coming from Platte county 
to Bates. He first settled near Mulberry, where he remained until about 
the time the Civil War broke out, when he left the county. In 1865, 
he returned and settled in Pleasant Gap township, where he engaged 
in farming and stock raising and spent the remainder of his life. He 
was prominent in the alYairs of Bates county for a number of years. 
His political affiliations were with the Democratic party and he generally 
took an active part in politics. He served as judge of Bates county and 
held other minor offices. He died in 1902, aged eighty-seven years. He 
was widely known in Bates county and held in high esteem by his fellow 
citizens. 

Judge Rogers was married three times. His first wife was Sarah 
Moon. Four children were born to that union, one of wdiom, Mrs. 
Angeline Gassoway, is now living. After the death of his first wife, 
Judge Rogers married Levena Sittles and four children were born to 
that union, one of whom is now living, John, who resides at Harwood, 
Vernon county, Missouri. After the death of his second wife. Judge 
Rogers married Miss Lucy Wilson, a native of Callaway county, Mis- 
souri. To this union seven children were born, five of whom are living 
as follow: Sterling, Los Angeles, California: Mrs. Emma Settle, Harri- 
sonville. Mo.: W. D., JefTerson City, Missouri; P. V., Porterville, Cali- 
fornia: and Mrs. A. E. Moore, the wife of the subject of this sketch. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Moore have been born three children as fol- 
low: Willis, Lucile Fern, and Nannie Irene. 

Mr. Moore is a Democrat and takes an active interest in local 
political afifairs. He has served two terms as constable of Pleasant 
Gap township. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge. Ancient Eree and 
Accepted Masons No. 140, Butler, and he holds membership in the 
Modern Woodmen of America. 

Mr. and Mrs. Moore have an extensive ac([uaintance in Bates county, 
and have manv friends. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 965 

Oscar Hand, of Elkhart township, former township assessor and 
central committeeman of the Republican party, belongs to one of the 
old families of Bates county, his parents with their children and worldly 
possessions, having driven overland from their former home in Illinois 
to Bates county in 1871. Mr. Hand was born in Knox county, Illi- 
nois, in 1857, and is a son of Ellis and Jane (Kennedy) Hand, the 
former having been born in Indiana in 1832 and still resides in Bates 
county. The wife and mother was also born in Indiana and is now 
eighty-one years old. Both Ellis and Jane Hand were children when 
they accompanied their respective parents to Knox county, Illinois. 
They grew up in that county and were there married. Two weeks trav- 
eling were required to bring the family to Bates county and the trip 
was a distinct novelty to the younger children, who rather enjoyed the 
outing. They made their home here at a time when there was no town 
of La Cygne, and Butler was but a settlement. Their nearest market 
was at Harrisonville, where they drove their stock and hauled their 
grain to be sold and shipped. 

Ellis Hand followed the vocation of farming all of his life and became 
cjuite prominent in the civic and political affairs of Elkhart township and 
the county. He served several terms as a member of the tow^nship 
board and was actively identified with political matters as regards the 
Republican party with which he was always identified, serving as Repub- 
lican committeeman. Six children born to Ellis and Jane Knox were 
reared to maturity: Oscar, subject of this review and the eldest son of 
the family; Lizzie, wife of Charles Evans, residing near Scott Citv. 
Kansas ; Albert, Kansas City, Missouri ; George, a farmer in Elkhart 
township; Minnie, who married William Allen, who is now deceased; 
Rebecca, wife of Buell Mudd, living near Burdett, in Bates county. 

The early education of Oscar Hand was obtained in the public schools 
of Illinois and Bates county. He applied himself diligently to his studies 
and has become well informed through constant reading. From his 
youth he has been engaged in farming and with the exception of nine 
years spent in Kansas City in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad 
Company and the stock yards, has lived in Bates county since coming 
here in 1871. He removed to Kansas City in 1880 and returned to the 
farm in 1889. 

Mr. Hand was married to Mary J. Peebles, a native of Illinois and 
daughter of Abraham Peebles, who came to Bates county and located 
in Elkhart township as early as 1869. Mr. and Mrs. Hand have three 



966 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

children: Ethel, wife of William Spencer, Adrian, Missouri; Elsie, and 
Roy, residing in Claudell, Kansas. 

Mr. Hand is prominently identified with the Republican party 
and is one of the leaders of his party in Bates county. He has filled 
the oftice of township assessor and is the present central Republican 
committeeman for Elkhart township. He is secretary of the local Cen- 
tral Protective Association and is a member of the Modern Woodmen 
of America. 

Robert Marshall, of Elkhart township, is a son of one of the early 
pioneer families of Missouri, the family having made its first settlement 
in north Missouri as early as 1856. He was born in Brown county, 
Indiana, in 1845, and is a son of James and Artemesia (Fallowell) Mar- 
shall, the former a native of l>nnessee, but was reared in Indiana, and 
the latter was born and reared in Indiana. They came west and located 
in north Missouri in 1856, but remained only two years, going to Macou- 
pin county, Illinois, in 1858. The family made their home in Illinois 
until 1880 and then came to Bates county and located in Elkhart town- 
ship, one mile west of the village of Elkhart. They both died at the 
age of seventy years and within one month, the father dying in Febru- 
ary 20, 1881, and the mother March 20, of that same year. James and 
Artemesia Marshall were parents of the following children: William, 
died in Bates county in 1907; Louisa, married J. M. Scott, now deceased; 
Lucinda, wife of James Patterson; Robert, the subject of this sketch; 
and two children died in infancy. 

Robert Marshall was educated in the public schools of Indiana and 
Illinois and followed in his father's footsteps as a tiller of the soil, 
beginning his own career upon the place of one hundred acres which 
he owms in Elkhart township. His farm is well kept and highly pro- 
ductive and he carries on general farming and stock raising. 

Mr. Marsliall w^as married in 1873 to Sarah Jane McCoy, who was 
born in Caney county, Missouri, and to this marriage have been born 
two children: James P.. who is assisting his father \vith the farming 
operations; and Maude, also at home with her parents. Mr. Marsliall 
is affiliated fraternally with Elkhart Lodge, Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica, and is a Republican. 

J. O. Brown, well-known citizen of Passaic, Mound township, was 
born in London, Madison county, Oliio, in 1849, and is a son of 
James P. and Mary A. (Black) Brown, tlie former a native of Hamp- 
shire county, Virginia, of English descent, and llic latter a native of 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 967 

Pickaway county, Ohio. James P. Brown was a drover who was engaged 
in the arduous business of driving herds of cattle across the country 
from western Ohio to the Pittsburg and across the Alleghany Mountains 
to other Eastern markets for a number of years. When Bates county 
was largely in an unsettled state and the land was still owned to a con- 
siderable extent by the United States Government, he with three other 
men, came to this section and entered one and three-quarters sections 
of government land at a cost of one dollar and twenty-five cents an 
acre. Of this original tract, J. O. Brown, subject of this review, owns 
one hundred and seventy-six acres. James P. Brown never took up his 
residence in this county, but returned to Ohio and engaged in farming 
for the remainder of his days, dying at his home in Madison county, 
Ohio. He became identified with the Whig party when it was formed 
and when the Whigs were succeeded by the Repubicans as a political 
organization, he espoused the principles of that party. The three chil- 
dren reared by James P. and Mary A. Brown are : J. O., subject of this 
sketch; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Frye. wealthy land owner of Circle- 
ville, Ohio; Annie, wife of David Campbell living at Dayton, Ohio. 
Another son, Charles Wesley, is deceased. 

The boyhood and school days of J. O. Brown were spent in his 
native county of Madison and Ross county. Ohio. He migrated to 
Bates county, Missouri, in 1877 and has since been engaged in farming 
operations. His first employer in this county was Levi Steele, and he 
later handled cattle in his brother's interest for some time. He was 
engaged in herding cattle on the plains for four years and was then 
engaged in pasturing cattle for fifteen years in all. Finally when the 
wire fence came into vogue, and the entire country was crossed and 
criss-crossed with fences of barbed or woven wire, thus cutting up all 
the free ranges which had marked the surface of Bates county for a 
long period of time, he fenced his land and then engaged in farming 
like other settlers. He has two hundred and thirty-six acres of very 
fine land in Mound township and makes his home in the pretty little 
village of Passaic. Mr. Brown is an excellent farmer and keeps only 
the best grades of livestock, his special fancy being Shorthorn cattle 
and Duroc Jersey hogs. 

Mr. Brown was married to Alice Troutman, of Ohio. They have 
three children, namely: James Arthur, a student in the Adrian High 
School; Gladys, also in high school: and Harry, who is attending the 
Passaic public school. Mr. Brown has always been a stanch Republican 



968 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

and is a nienil)er of Crescent Hill Lodge No. 1, Ancient Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons, of Butler. 

When Mr. Brown came to Bates county there was no railroad in 
the county and no Passaic. Butler was a little village consisting of a 
cluster of houses around the puhlic square. There were no highways, 
and one followed the trails which crossed the open prairie and took 
the shortest route to any given destination. Wild animals, such as wolves 
and deer, were plentiful. Prairie chickens and wild turkeys were here 
in alnindance. For fifteen years, Mr. Brown kept bachelor's hall and 
then decided that he needed a helpmeet. When he came to this county, 
he, like others, had little expectation of ever seeing the country so 
thickly populated as it is at this day, and had no idea that land values 
would climb as they have been doing of late years. He was content to 
herd his cattle upon the i)lains and did not undertake actual cultivation 
of his land until he saw that intensive farming w^as inevitable and 
that the old days of the free range were gone, never to return. 

J. C. Denton, who has a fine farm located in Mound township on 
the Jefferson Highway, seven miles north of Butler, and three miles 
south of Adrian, was born in Monroe county, Tennessee, in 1857. He 
is a son of \\'illiam H. and Fathie Ann (Stephens) Denton, the former 
of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter a native of North Caro- 
lina. The Dentons came to Missouri in 1857 when the subject of this 
sketch was but six months old. They first located in Saline county, 
where they remained for one year and then removed to Johnson county, 
where they made a permanent location. The family lived in Johnson 
county during the dark days of the Civil \\'ar. and J. C. Denton remem- 
bers some of the sadness and hardships of that period. \\'illiam H. 
Denton made his home on a farm eight miles south of \\'arrensburg 
and there spent the remainder of his life. He followed farming until 
1885, when he engaged in the grocery business in ^^'arrensburg■ until 
his retirement, and attained the great age of eighty-eight years before 
death called him. Three children of William H. Denton are living: 
John Denton. Columbia, Missouri; J. C, subjec4; of this sketch; Rich- 
ard, Parsons, Kansas. 

J. C. Denton was reared in Johnson county and educated in the 
public schools. He followed farming in that county until 1886. He 
then came to Bates county and purchased his present homestead of 
eighty acres, which is well impro\'ed and yields him a comfortable li\ing. 
Mr. Denton was married in 1882 to Florence Glazebrook. a daucliter 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 969 

of James Glazebrook, an early settler in Missouri. 

As a good citizen, Mr. Denton takes an active and influential inter- 
est in township and county affairs. He has held the office of school 
director of his district on several occasions and is allied with the Repub- 
lican party in whose activities he takes a keen interest, being prominent 
in party councils. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the \\'orld 
and is a member of the Baptist church. 

C. W. Chrisman and G. E. Chrisman, widely known in Bates county 
as the "Chrisman boys," are representatives of a pioneer family of Bates 
county and they are still residing at the Chrisman homestead in East 
Boone township. C. W. Chrisman was born in 1855 in Jackson county, 
Missouri, and G. E. Chrisman was born in 1860 in the same county, 
both sons of Ewin and Mary M. Chrisman. The Chrisman trace their 
lineage back to a prominent colonial family of Virginia. Ewin Chris- 
man was a son of John Chrisman, who came to Missouri in 1832 and set- 
tled on a vast tract of land in Jackson county, as the boundaries were 
later defined. Ewin Chrisman came to Bates county, Missouri, from 
Jackson county in 1877 and purchased a farm comprising ninety-two 
and a half acres of land in East Boone township. 

To Ewin and Mary M. Chrisman were born eight children, seven 
of whom are now living: J. L., who resides in Oklahoma; J. T., Arm- 
strong, Missouri ; C. W., one of the "Chrisman boys," a subject of this 
review; E. F., Adrian, Missouri; G. E., the younger of the "Chrisman 
boys," a subject of this review; Mary E., deceased; Mrs. Anna F. 
Corbin, Kansas City, Missouri ; and Mrs. Ida L. Haley, Slater, Missouri. 
Mrs. Chrisman, the mother, one of the most highly respected and 
esteemed of Missouri's noble pioneer women, died in Bates county at 
the Chrisman homestead in 1904. Eleven years later, she and her 
husband were united in death. Ewin Chrisman died in 1915. He was 
one of the best citizens of East Boone township, a gentleman who 
easily made many friends, and wherever he was known his name was 
honored as the synonym of honesty, integrity, and uprightness. He 
was an honored veteran of the Confederate army, having fought bravely 
in many battles, serving faithfully for two years with Company K. 
Missouri Infantry, under "Fighting Joe" Shelby. 

The "Chrisman boys" have spent more than forty years in Bates 
county on the home place in East Boone township and they well recall 
the pioneer conditions and primitive appearance of Bates county, for 
amid the scenes of the early days they spent their young manhood. 

(62) 



970 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

There were very few settlements in Missouri in the middle of the nine- 
teenth century and practically all the land was open prairie at the time 
the Chrismans settled in this part of the state in 1877. There were no 
roads, just mere beaten trails across the unfenced prairie, and the set- 
tlers traveled by their sense of direction. Wild game abounded and one 
day, in the late seventies, C. W. Chrisman killed a deer near Pleasant 
Gap. The Chrismans did their trading either at Harrisonville, Mis- 
souri, or at La Cygne, Linn county, Kansas, selling their corn for twelve 
and a half cents a bushel, their meat for two and a half cents a pound. 
The two brothers once took a load of meat on their sled to Freeman, 
Cass county, Missouri, and sold it for one dollar and ninety cents per 
hundred pounds, and that was the highest market price. The hardness 
of life in the new country and the universality of suffering from the 
pri\-ations and hardships inspired a more neighborly spirit in the old 
days than now exists. The early settlers necessarily depended upon 
their neighbors for assistance in times of sickness and distress and assis- 
tance was more freely given then than now. Physicians were few and 
difficult to secure. Dr. G. W. Chrisman was the nearest one to be 
had in this vicinity and he probably traveled thousands of miles, all 
told, during his career and watched beside the bedsides all night long 
of hundreds of different sufferers in this part of the state. The McNeil 
school house was the first school building to be erected in this district 
and William Kirk was the first "school master." Reverend Pitts and 
Reverend John Sage were pioneer preachers, whom the Chrisman broth- 
ers personally knew. They state that the old-fashioned revivals always 
attracted large crowds of people and they are of the opinion that the 
early settlers attended church better than do the people of today. G. E 
Chrisman tells of an old trail which led past the old Chrisman home 
place, along which he has seen hundreds of covered immigrant wagons 
going southwest. The inmates of the wagons would frequently encamp 
near the home of the Chrismans. The old home was built of lumber 
hauled from Pleasant Hill, the weatherboarding of walnut, and it was 
probably erected long before the Civil War. When the Chrisman broth- 
ers would take their produce to market in the old days, it required two 
entire days to make the trip. G. E. Chrisman describes a very destruc- 
tive prairie fire which he witnessed one autumn and he states that for 
many years the grass out on the prairie grew higher than an ordinary 
man. He relates how he used to participate in "wolf drives" and has 
seen many captured and four years ago took part in a "drive" which 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 97 ^ 

resulted in the capture of three wolves. From this brief account, the 
reader may be able to form a fairly clear concept of the early institutions 
and conditions. 

C. W. Chrisman has been in charge of the Chrisman place for many 
years. He and his brother are engaged in raising good grade cattle 
and Poland China hogs. Both C. W. and G. E. Chrisman are stanch 
Democrats and highly respected and valued in East Boone township. 
The "Chrisman boys" have neither married, but have been content to 
spend their lives together at the old homestead, which has become 
a landmark in Bates county. 

F. A. Huston, a well-known auctioneer of Bates county, is one of 
the prominent citizens of Deer Creek township. Mr. Huston was born 
in Illinois in 1860, a son of John and Catherine Huston. The Hustons 
came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1876 and settled on a farm in Walnut 
township. John Huston purchased a tract of land in this township, 
which tract comprised one hundred ninety-five acres, and engaged in 
general farming. To John and Catherine Huston were born ten chil- 
dren, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. x\ddie Cox, Miami, Okla- 
homa; F. A., the subject of this review; Mrs. Mattie Harris, Kiowa, 
Kansas ; Perry, who resides in Kansas ; Mrs. Acenith N. Moudy, Creede, 
Colorado ; Melvin S. ; and Elbert, Walnut, Kansas. The father died in 
1892 and the widowed mother makes her home with her eldest daugh- 
ter in Oklahoma. John Huston was one of the most unostentatious 
of men. open hearted and candid in manner, yet retaining in his demeanor 
much of the courtesy of the old-time gentleman. 

When F. A. Huston was a youth, sixteen years of age. he came 
to Bates county with his parents and he recalls clearly the open condi- 
tion of the country at that time. He attended school at Garrison school 
house after coming to Bates county and was taught by Miss Duncan 
and John McPeak. About thirty years ago, F. A. Huston attended 
a sale in this county and, when the auctioneer failed to make his 
appearance, Mr. Huston was asked to "cry the sale." An enthusiastic, 
eager, young man, who never knew what timidity means, he did as 
requested and was at once pronounced by those in attendance as a 
"star performer." Henceforth, F. A. Huston was many times called 
upon for his services and became a successful, popular auctioneer in 
this part of the country. 

The marriage of F. A. Huston and Mary J. Field, a daughter of 
Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Field, of Cass county, Missouri, was solemnized in 



972 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

1883. To this union was born one child, a daughter, Mrs. Grace Lee, 
of San Bernardino, California. Mrs. Huston died seventeen years ago, 
in 1901. Mr. Huston has never remarried. 

There have been many sorrows and tragedies interwoven in the 
career of F. A. Huston and more than once have the depths of his moral 
fiber, the strength of his character been sounded — and still he is an opti- 
mist. He enjoys a good joke and a hearty laugh as much as any man in 
Bates county, probably more than many men for he has known from 
hard, bitter experience what a sob is. 

Mr. Huston recalls among the pioneer preachers, whom he per- 
sonally knew, Reverend "Billy" Miller, Reverend Gans, and Reverend 
Nicholson. The last mentioned, Reverend Nicholson, was a lover of 
sports, especially games of baseball. He had during the week attended 
a game and had participated in a fight, but the following Sunday he 
filled his regular appointment. Both his eyes had been most thor- 
oughly blacked, but he said that he never let anything interfere with 
his serving the Lord. 

John Huston, the father of F. A. Huston, was a Methodist minis- 
ter, llie son describes an early-day wedding, which he witnessed, 
when he was a curious, fun-loving lad. F. A. Huston states that young 
people often came from Kansas to Missouri to be married, in order 
to avoid the extra expense of obtaining a marriage license and his father 
was frequently called upon to perform the marriage ceremonv. On 
one occasion. Reverend Huston was away from home and a crowd of 
young people from Kansas, riding in a wagon, came to the Huston 
home and announced that two of their number wished to be married. 
As his father was not at home, young F. A. directed them to the resi- 
dence of the justice of the peace of the township, and then followed 
them there. The justice, Levi Gritten, was down along the creek fish- 
ing. When informed that there was a young couple at his home want- 
ing to be married, Judge Gritten sent word on to the house that he 
would be there in a short time, and in the meantime practiced the cere- 
mony upon his two sons, who were with him. When ready to begin 
the performance, the justice could find no pencil and no paper, except 
the fly-leaf of an old, worn. l)etlmnibc(l law book, that the young people 
might sign their names. Tlie matrimonial prospects stood up on the 
wrong side of one another, wliicli furnished much amusement to a 
"red-headed girl" in the crowd, wlio seemed to know more of the ethics 
of marriage ceremonies tlian the rest. After tlie ceremonv, Judge Grit- 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 973 

ten kissed the bride, which furnished more amusement to the "red- 
headed girl," and she screamed in mirth. Justice Levi, barefoot and 
his scanty raiment held together by one suspender, returned to his fish- 
ing, from which he had most reluctantly parted, saying gleefully to young 
Huston that he should take the word to his father that the justice would 
have to "set them up" to him for being away, as he had extracted two 
dollars and fifty cents for his services! 

As a public-spirited citizen and useful member of society, F. A. 
Huston ranks with the substantial and enterprising citizens of this county 
and the high esteem in which he is held bears mute testimony to the 
sterling qualities of his head and heart. 



APPENDIX 



439 Federal Building, 
Denver, Colo., December 21, 1917. 
Hon. W. O. Atkcson, Butler, Mo. 

My Dear Sir : Yours of Dec. 13 rec'd and in reply will try to give you my recollection 
of some of the things you ask about. To explain my present situation I will say that I have 
just arrived at the Denver office after a field season and have not had the use even of 
my own notes in matters of Mo. history, so any statements I may now make should be 
accepted onh^ after verification. 

As to the precise date when "Marais des Cygnes" as the name of this main upper fork 
of the Osage was used can only be fixed in a general way. So far as I know now j-our 
finding in treaty of 1825 is first official use of name. But the name is much older than that. 
The French Canadian voyageucr, coureitrs dcs hois, or trapper, who overran this whole 
country that borders the Missouri, Osage and tributaries as early as 1700, trapping and 
trading with the Indians, gave the beautiful names to the streams which they now bear. 
Of course this fork is also known as the "Osage" and the other fork coming in just below 
Papinsville as the "Little Osage," and I believe that the Presbyterian Mission at Harmony 
when reports were made referred to this stream as the Osage, and no doubt you will find 
the people living along this stream today often refer to it as the Osage and that the names 
are used interchangeably. (Is this true?) (No. 'Ehe Author.) ,' ',. 

The "Marais des Cygnes," means in English, ^^ive/* of the Swans, and no doubt was 
so named by the early trappers because of the gr^wr numbers of "Swans," or Sand Hill 
Cranes and Brants, (Branta Canadensis) and birds of this kind that frequented its reedy 
sloughs and ponds. As you state the earliest official mention of this name is in the 
treaty of 1825 with the Osages, but I truly believe the name to have been in use for 125 
years prior to this time. It has been my great pleasure to have spent some time among 
the remnants of the voyageuer, that trapper tribe that may now be found in the Northland, 
along the Mackenzie. Porcupine, Yukon and tributary waters, living much as did their 
prototype on the Osage, running their trap lines in the winter months. Around his camp- 
fire at night I have listened to his tales of adventure, have employed him as guide, have had 
him draw maps for me of the country ahead of my party, and I know the way he does this 
from memory, and these maps are useful to the explorer, altho as "maps" they are mis- 
nomers. He has a peculiar way all his own. He will lay down his main stream probably 
as a straight line, but on that line he will give each tributary its relative position, with the 
name by which it is known to him, and as he is still a French Canadian his name will 
likely be in French. No doubt Pike carried such a map with him as he passed your way.* 
For proof of this I will cite the very appropriate name he gave to "Gravois" creek in Mor- 
gan Co. Mo. Now the Gravois at its mouth is as placid a stream with well defined banks 
and as far as Pike or any of his party on that August day would have time to examine, 
was just like many other streams coming into the Osage. But several miles up stream its 
true character is apparent and the name is very appropriate. Pike was the first to bring 
this name into notice, but the map that Pike carries of the Osage and its tributaries had 
this information on it from previous explorers. No doubt his party was hired, or many 
of them because of their familiarity with the upper Osage. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 975 

As a boy I lived on the Harmony Mission trail in Morgan Co. Mo. I have often 
wanted to map this trail from Jefferson City, or from the mouth of the Osage, where the 
old Indian trace commenced, to the Mission, but have never had the opportunity. Much 
of its entire length is now in use, and traces can be followed through the cultivated fields 
to this day. 

The Grand Osage village in Pike's time was probably where he said it was on the 
prairie near the Little Osage, and in Vernon Co., but I do not now remember what details 
he gives. There were other villages. The Osages deserted their villages after a few years' 
use or when a pestilence broke out, going to a new place, as the wild tribes of the Northland 
do today. There is not a flat place of land near the forks of a stream or near a spring of 
good water in your county which does not contain a village site at some time. By looking 
the ground over one may find the site of the arrowmakers 'wickyup' by the conchoidal chips 
covering the ground, together with discarded broken arrow and spear points. 

So soon as I have the opportunity to get into the main office I will take great pleasure 
in looking up the notes in this matter of Osage village, but the villages likely to have been 
noted on the land surveys, you will readily see, may not be the original of Pike's village. 
Just at present I can be of very little use to you, but will go you 50-50 in exchanging ideas 
on any part of this subject. 

I would like to write you an article on the history of the survey of the State line that 
forms a part of the boundary of your Co. and also of the men who made the subdivision in 
your county and anything that you may want in that line, if you care for it. You may use 
anything I write as you see fit and in any way that will be useful to you. 

I would like to possess a copy of the Harmony Notes if not too much trouble, and as 
I have time I will send you whatever I think will interest you. 

Very respectfully, 

David W. Eaton. 

*I meant to state in this connection that could we find Pike's sketches of the country 
that he had it would be interesting to note the names thev bore. 



War Department, The Adjustant General's Office, 

Washington, December 20, 191 7. 
Hon. W. O. Atkeson, Butler. Mo. 

Dear Sir : In response to your letter of the 7th instant, in which you state that you 
are engaged in writing the history of Bates county and desire to locate as definitely as 
possible the site of Fort Clark or Fort Osage from the records on file in the War Depart- 
ment, I have the honor to inclose a copy of date relative to Fort Osage, Missouri, as 
shown by the records on file in the War Department. 

In addition to the data referred to, an old paper on file in this office furnishes the 
following description of the Fort : 

Fort Osage stands on an elevated bluff, commanding a beautiful view of the river, 
both above and below. The works are a stockade of an irregular pentagonal form, with 
strong log pickets perforated with loop holes ; two block houses are placed at opposite angles, 
one of them, however, flanks one of its curtains too obliquely to be of much service in 
defending it. There is also a small bastion at a third angle. Within are two series of 
buildings for quarters, storehouses, etc. 

The position of the fort is not a secure one, on account of numerous ravines and 
declivities that would cover an enemy within a short distance; but is such that boats ascend- 
ing or descending the river must be exposed to its fire. The stream in the middle of the 



9/6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

river, and on the opposite side is so remarkably rapid that it is in vain to contend against 
it with the oar or paddle. It is therefore, usually necessary for ascending boats to enter 
the eddy, which brings them within musket shot of the fort. 

No record has been found showing location of the Grand Osage village referred to in 
your letter. Very respectfully, 

H. T. McCain, 
The Adjutant General. 



D.\TA RELATIVE TO FORT OSAGE, MISSOURI, AS SHOWN BY THE RECORDS ON FILE IN THE 

WAR DEPARTMENT. 

Fort Osage was situated on the right bank of the Missouri river at the junction of the 
Osage river in Jackson county, Missouri, latitude 38° 40' N., near the site of the town of 
Sibley, ]\Iissouri. 

May 17. 1808, the Secretary of War wrote to Thomas Hunt at St. Louis: 

"The government having concluded to establish a trading house on the Osage 
river, & * * *^ tj^js jg ^^^ request you to establish a military post as a guard to 
each of those trading houses. * * * Each post ought to consist of 30 men * * *. 
A stockade work with a block house ought to be erected with barracks, &c. * * * 
I shall request * * * Genl. Clark to go with Mr. Sibley the other agent up the 
Osage River to aid him to fix on a suitable site for the house and post. You will 
please to send with him a party of 30 men, under a suitable officer with instructions 
to erect the necessary buildings and a blockade (?) work as soon as possible." 
(War Department Alilitary Book No. 3.) 
June 25, 1808, letter from General William Clark to Secretary of War. acknowledges 
receipt of letter from Secretary of War dated May 17, requesting him to accompany Mr. 
Sibley with the party of troops up the Osage river to fix a site for a store and post. He 
states that the Osage is only navigable for a short distance, and suggests that "some situa- 
tion on the bank of the Missouri above that river would be more (word illegible) to the 
Osage tribes." (War Department, Letters Received.) 

August 18. 1808, General William Clark to Secretary of War, states that Mr. Sibley 
has started up the Missouri with Captain Clemson and his company and that he (Clark) 
will soon follow and prol)ably reach Fire Prairie on the Missouri by the time Captain Clem- 
son and party arrive there. (War Department, Letters Received.) 

September 4, 1808, Captain Clemson reported the arrival of his party and General 
Clark's at camp on the Missouri four miles above Fire Prairie and that "The Spot of ground 
for an establishment General Clark is authorized by the Secretary of War to select, which 
I doubt will not go on rapidly." (War Department Letters Received.) 

September 6, 1808, General Clark to Secretary of War— Letter dated from Fire Prairie 
relative to establishing a fort, &c. (War Department Letters Received Book. Letter 
charged to Indian Bureau.) 

September 23, 1808, General Clark to Secretary of War— tells of selecting site for 
fort near Fire Prairie and of progress made in erecting buildings, &c. (War Department 
Letters Received.) 

Letter of William Clark to Secretary of War dated St. Louis, December 2, 1808, states 
"A few days ago I rec'd a letter from Capt. Clemson & the gentlemen at the establishment 
on the Mo., near Fire Prairie, by which 1 am informed that the fort at that place is nearly 
completed, strong & well built." (Letter on file in War Department.) 

In a joint letter dated Fort Osage near Fire Prairie, on the Missouri, July 16, 1812, 
Captain Clemson and other officers of the ist Regiment recommend the abandonment of 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 977 

Fort Osage and set forth the reasons on which their recommendation is based. (Letter 
on file in War Department.) 

In letter dated Ma}- 14, 1813, Colonel D. Bissell, ist Infantry, stated that he has 
"ordered the evacuation of the garrison of Fort Osage." (Copy of letter on file in War 
Department.) 

Note : The Captain Clemson referred to in the foregoing memorandum was Eli B. 
Clemson, Captain of the ist Infantry, United States Army. 



Smithsonian Institute, Bureau of American Ethnology, 
Washington, D. C, December 21, 1917. 
Dear Sir : Your inquiry of November 21 was referred to Mr. La Flesche of this 
Bureau and a copy of his reply is enclosed herewith. 

Very respectfully yours, 

F. W. Hodge, 
Ethnologist in Charge. 
Mr. W. O. Atkeson, Proprietor, 
The Bates County Record, 
Butler, Mo. 

(Inclosure.) 

Washington, D. C, December 18, 1917. 
Mr. F. W. Hodge, 

Bureau of Ethnology, 

Washington, D. C. 
Dear Mr. Hodge: 

The letter of Mr. W. O. Atkeson of Butler Mo., which you referred to me Nov. 24, 
1917, is received. In this letter Mr. Atkeson asks information as to the location of the 
Great Osage Indian village and of the Harmony Mission, and their nearness to or remote- 
ness from each other. 

Maj. Zebulon M. Pike who spent about fifteen days (August and September 1806) with 
the Osage Indians, when on his expedition to the Rockies, places the Great Osage village 
on the east side of the Little Osage river, near the mouth of the stream now known as the 
Marmiton river. The recent atlases show that the Little Osage river runs through the 
northwestern part of Vernon County, Mo. ; therefore, there can be no doubt that the Great 
Osage village was situated in the land now known as Vernon County and not in Bates 
County. At the time of Maj. Pike's voyage up the Osage river upon his visit to the Osage 
Indians, the two branches of the Osage river upon which were situated the Great Osage 
village and later the Harmony Mission, seem not to have been known to the Europeans by 
any particular names, for Pike, the earliest traveler to mention these rivers, refers to the 
one upon which was established the mission, as the "right hand fork" and the one on which 
was the Great Osage village as the "left". (See page 386 of The Expeditions of Zebulon 
M. Pike, Coues' edition.) For a detailed description of these forts I would refer Mr. 
Atkeson to note 42 of the editor. (Mr. Coues, pages 385-386.) 

The Harmony Mission was established in the summer of 1821 and its buildings were 
located on the north bank of the "right hand fork" of the Osage river. At some time 
between 1821 and the visit of Maj. Pike to the Osages in 1806 this "right hand fork" of the 
Osage river became known as the Marais des Cygnes river. Rev. Jedidiah Morse in his 
report to the Secretary of War on Indian affairs quotes a letter addressed to General Steele 
by a Mr. Newton, one of the missionaries, that was dated from Harmony, Mo., Sept. 27, 



97^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

1821, in which he (Newton) states that: "Harmony is situated on the margin of the 
Marais de Cein river, about six miles above its junction with the Osage. This place was 
granted to us by the Indians in council, on the 13th of August." (1821). Mr. Morse also 
quotes a letter written about the same time by a Mr. Sprague, another of the missionaries, 
to his brother, in which he says: "We are within fifteen miles of the Great Osage Village." 
(See pp. 222-223 of Jedidiah Morse's Report.) 

In 1831 was published "Letters on the Chickasaw and Osage Missions," by Sarah Tuttle. 
On page 69 of this little book she says, "The station is situated upon the north bank of a 
branch of the Osage river, called Marais des Cygnes, one mile from the United States' 
factory, or trading house, and about fifteen or twenty miles from the place where the Osage 
villages then were." In another place she says that the missionaries arrived at Choteau's 
post on August 2. 1821. 

Reference is made to the Harmony Mission by Mr. Houck in his history of the state 
of Missouri, as follows: "In this delightful land, in 1821, the United Foreign Missionary 
Society established a school for the education of the Osages, on the margin of the Marais 
des Cj'gnes rivefr about six miles from the junction of this stream with the Osage, on land 
granted the Society by the Indians in council, the school being situated about seventy-five 
miles from Fort Osage and about fifteen miles from the Great Osage village. This place 
was named "Harmony" and was situated within the limits of the present Bates County." 

Thus it would appear from these records and from the examination of certain maps 
of the state of Missouri, that the Harmony Mission was situated on the Marais des Cygnes 
river, in Bates County, northwest of the Great Osage village which was on the Little Osage 
river, in Vernon County, and that the distance between the two places, on a straight line, 
is aI)out eight or nine miles. The writers who speak of the distance as being about fifteen 
miles must have taken into account the necessary detours of the path leading from one 
place to the other. 

Having examined all the accessible records I have failed to find any explanation as to 
"when and how the Marais des Cygnes river got its name." There may be some hint as 
to the origin of this name in Mr. R. I. Holcomb's History of Vernon County, published 
in 1887, a book mentioned in a note by Mr. Coues in Pike's Expedition, but the book is 
not carried either by the Library of the Bureau or by the Congressional Library. 

Mr. Atkeson also asks "if it is not true that the Osage river begins at the confluence 
of the Marais des Cygnes and the Little Osage on the line or boundary of Bates and Vernon 
counties." Referring to these two branches, the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes, 
Mr. Coues says, in a note on page 385 of Pike's Expeditions: "The present confluence is 
at the point where Bates and Vernon cos. begin or cease to be separated by the meanders 
of the Osage, for the Little Osage runs in Vernon Co. and the main Osage, above the 

confluence, runs in Bates" Both forks head beyond (W. of) the Missouri 

State line, in Kansas, in which state the main Osage river bears the name of Marais des 
Cygnes." 

I trust that this information may be of use to Mr. Atkeson and indicate to him 
the records from which he may gather further details, should he need them. 

Very truly yours, 

Frances La Flesche. 

(This letter is submitted to show the errors and confusion which exists among the 
alleged authorities. The courtesy due the writer of this letter forbids comment here. 
Our views are stated elsewhere in this volume touching the errors in the authorities cited, 
after examining all of them, except the little book by Sarah Tuttle which we have not read ; 
hence further comment here is unnecessary. The Editor.) 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 979 

United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, 
Washington, D. C, January ly, 1918. 
Mr. W. O. Atkeson, 

Butler, Mo. 
Dear Sir : 

In compliance with the request contained in your letter of the 2nd inst., I have taken 
some pains to look up the matter of the Osage and Marais des Cygnes Rivers. 

In going back over the various maps of the state that have been published from time 
to time, I find there is no map of the Osage River- that gives evidence of anything more 
accurate than mere Indian legends earlier than the one contained in Maj. Z. M. Pike's 
narrative of his expedition to the Rocky Mountains, which was published in 1810. In this 
map the lower Osage is laid down in such a way as to indicate that it had been actually 
surveyed even then. The name of the river is not shown on the map above the mouth of 
the Sac. This latter stream is called the Grand River. The map shows a forking of the 
stream some distance above the mouth of the Sac and close to the location of the Osage 
Indian village, one stream coming in from the south and the other from the northwest. It 
seems evident that these two branches are what are now known as the ^larais des Cygnes 
and Little Osage Rivers, although no name is given to either of them on this map. 

On the map published by one Carey in 1822 the name Osage is applied to the river 
even out in Kansas. There is no such term as Marais des Cygnes on any of the branches 
though the map would indicate that the term Osage applies to the Little Osage while the 
stream now called the Marais des Cygnes is shown as a small stream without any name. 

A map published by E. Browne and E. Bancroft in 1827 shows the same branch of the 
stream as was shown on the last map and the term South Fork of the Osage is applied to 
the southern branch while no name is given to the northern one. 

Exactly the same nomenclature and relationship is shown on H. S. Tanner's map pub- 
lished in 1831. The fact that the stream called South Fork of the Osage on this map is 
really what is now called Little Osage is indicated by the location of Harmony Mission on 
the unnamed branch a few miles north of the junction of the two. 

On Hinton's map, published in 1832 the same nomenclature is applied to what seems 
to be the Little Osage. A small stream is shown which seems to be intended for what 
was later named the Marais des Cygnes, although the Harmony Mission is not shown. 

Exactly the same thing is shown on Tanner's map of 1836 except that on this map 
Harmony Mission is shown in the same position that it occupied on the Tanner map of 1831. 

On the map published by Bradford in 1838 the term Marais des Cygnes first appears. 
It is applied to the small stream that on all the maps published heretofore had been without 
a name although the Harmony Mission is not located on the map, yet there can be no 
doubt but that the stream called Marais des Cygnes is the one on which the ^Mission is 
located. The stream Little Osage is called Neosho Creek on this map. 

On Mitchell's map of 1840 the Little Osage and the Marmiton are shown in just about 
their true position and the Marmiton is called the Manitou Creek. The stream on which 
Harmony Mission is located is called Marais des Cygnes. From this date onward all the 
maps show the Marais des Cygnes. 

In none of the maps, so far referred to does the name Osage appear in such a position 
as to give any indication where it was intended that the river should begin. 

On the map published by Morse and Breese in 1844, however, the name Osage appears 
immediately below the junction of the two streams designated as Marais des Cygnes and 
the Little Osage Rivers. The one designated as Marais des C\'gnes shows the town of 
Batesville, which seems to be a new name for Harmony ^Mission, just above its mouth. 
There seems to be good historical ground, therefore, for applying the term Marais des 



980 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Cygnes to the stream which joins the Little Osage a short distance below Harmony Mission 
and to apply the term Osage to the combined Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes. 

I have found nothing to indicate who first applied the name Marais des Cygnes to the 
■stream which is designated by it. The term signifies "swan marshes" and was given 
undoubtedly because of the broad, swampy lowlands lying along its valley. 
Hoping this information will be of some use to you, I am, 

Very truly yours, 

Milton Whiting, 

Chief of Bureau. 



Chicago, February 26, 1918. 
]\Ir. \V. O. Atkeson, Prop., 

Butler, Mo. 
Dear Sir : 

Answering your letter of the 15th will say Papinsville is '77y-2 miles from Sibley in a 
straight line and about two miles above the mouth of the Marais des Cygnes River where 
it enters the Osage River. Papinsville is located on the Marais des Cygnes River. 

Very truly yours, 

Rand McNally & Company. 



United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, 
Washington, D. C, February 2, 1918. 
Mr. W. O. Atkeson, 

Butler, Mo. 
Dear Sir : 

Replying to your letter of January 22, I desire to say that the expression Marais des 
Cygnes in French and, as stated in my former letter, signifies "swan marshes." 

The stream was named Osage on our soil survey map of Bates County because the 
Geological Survey had used the same term on its Butler topographic sheet, which had 
been published some time before our soil survey report was published. We, as a rule, 
accept the nomenclature of the Geological Survey in areas which they have mapped previous 
to our work. In looking up the reason for their use of the term Osage rather than Marais 
des Cygnes, I find the United States Geographic Board adopted the term Osage for the 
Kansas portion of the river in 1897 and for the Missouri portion the following year. They 
did this without reference to the historical evidence in favor of the use of the expression 
Marais des C3-gnes. In consulting with the Chairman of the Board on the matter he states 
that the decision was based on the fact that the river as a whole is the Osage river, that 
the branch in question is the larger part of the two forks and that the term Osage should 
therefore be extended to that larger branch while the smaller one should be designated in 
some other way, such designation, you 'know, would be the Little Osage. You will see, 
therefore, that the reason for their decision was purely one of convenience and had nothing 
to do with the historical evidence. In my last letter the historical evidence was given to 
you- Very truly yours, 

Milton Whiting, 

Chief of Bureau. 



Rich Hill., Mo., January 22, 1918. 
Friend Atkeson : 

Did you ever get the facts of how Rich Hill came to be so named? As I got it direct 
from the founders I will give to you for what it is worth. About 1868 Osage Township 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 98 1 

having quite a population with no post office nearer than Papinsville, held a meeting to peti- 
tion for a post office. In the meeting the question of a name was among the important 
matters discussed. Mr. E. W. Ratekin, who became the first postmaster suggested that 
as the post office was to be situated on the hill overlooking the Marais des Cygnes River 
which hill was known to be underlaid with from five to seven feet of coal, it would be one 
of the richest hills in the country, therefore he suggested that "Rich Hill" would be an 
appropriate name and his suggestion prevailed. The post office was secured and the first 
post office was in William Wears's farm dwelling, one and three-quarters miles north of 
present city. 

At that same meeting Mr. Ratekin made the prophecy that it would only be a question 
of time until 100 cars of coal would be moved from that place in a day. This prophecy was 
considered extravagant at the time but nine years later three hundred cars of coal passed 
over the switches at the foot of that hill, from the mines there, in thirty-six hours. 

Did j'ou know further that the banner mine of the State of Mo. was No. 15 one mile 
South of Rich Hill? It is a fact. Hoisting an average of over three tons every minute 
for seven hours from a depth of 106 feet. It means this, a pit car run on the cage 106 
down, raised to the surface, weighed and emptied into railway car every 20 seconds. 

I may call to mind some other matters that may be of use to you. 

Yours truly, 

Jno. D. Moore. 



Rich Hill, Mo., January 28, 1918. 
Mr. Atkeson: 

Replying to your inquiry, I will state that many years ago a railroad man, who was 
familiar with the matter in regard to the building of the road through here, told me that 
Mr. Talmage, who was general manager at the time, had four sons : Archie, Adrian, 
Arthur and Sheldon, and that the several towns of same name along the railway were 
named in rotation after these boys. I give you my information which I have no reason to 
doubt is correct. Yours truly, 

Jno. D. Moore. 



NOTES ON THE SURVEY OF THE OSAGE BOUNDARY LINE BY DAVID \V. EATON. 

The survey of the Osage Indian Boundary was charged to the Commission to treat 
with the Indians, &c., and they made a request that Wm. Rector, Surveyor General of the 
Territory of Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, cause the same to be made. Here is Rector's 
reply : 

"St. Louis, July 10, 1816. 

"Gentlemen: I have received a note from Robert Walsh, Esq. (your secretary), in- 
forming me that it is your wish that I cause the survey of the Osage Boundary line from 
the Missouri River to the Arkansas to be commenced about the ist of August. I have 
engaged a surveyor who is now in readiness to commence making the necessar}- arrange- 
ments preparatory to surveying that line ; and who will be at Fort Clark prepared to com- 
mence the survey on the ist day of August next or soon thereafter provided he is furnished 
with sufficient sum of money to purchase supplies to enable him to do that work. 

"As I have not yet received instructions on the subject or authority to draw money to 
pay for surveyors, it rests with you to furnish the necessary sum. One Thousand Dollars, 
I presume, will be sufficient for that object. 

"I am, gentlemen, with much respect, your obedient servant, 

(Signed) "Wm. Rector." 



982 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 

Jul}- 13, 1816, Joseph C. Brown was appointed Principal Surveyor and Archibald 
Gamble as Assistant Surveyor to survey Indian Boundary. They were furnished with $1,000 
with which they were instructed to purchase pack animals and the necessary outfit and to 
hire packers, hunters, chaincarriers, markers, &c., to whom they were to pay $1.00 per day. 
A strict account was to be kept and on return from work were to sell for cash the property 
in their hands. 

They were instructed to ascertain the variation of the compass and were to run a true 
meridian, and if weather permitted were to make frequent observations for the variation 
of the needle. They were instructed to mark the end of every mile, and mark bearing trees 
where there was timber, and raise mounds on the prairies. They were to note objects of 
interest and were to return two plats thereof. Brown and Gamble were to do the work 
and receive such pay as was deemed just on completion of the work. 

The surveyors were also asked to collect specimens of minerals found and wrap them 
and properly mark them and note in a book where they were found and the appearance of 
the place, &c. 



St. Louis, Mo., 28 January, 1918. 
Dear Sir : 

Miss Drumm sent me your letter of the 23d, and it reminded me that I promised to send 
you a copy of an extract from Victor Tixier's book. Voyage Aux Prairies Osages — Louis- 
iane et Missouri, 1839-40. Tixier was in your part of the State in 1840. He says : "Nous 
Vouliens partier le lendemains de bonne heure, pour nous vendre chez un Francais nomme' 
Colin, etable depuis plusieurs annees sur la riviere Osage, a trois milles au dessus d'Har- 
mony Mission." That is : We wished to leave the next day at an early hour to go to 
the house of a Frenchman named Colin, who has been living for many years on the Osage 
River, three miles below Harmony Mission. 

In another place he says: "The farm of Colin, situated on the Osage River, three 
miles below^ Harmony Mission." 

Tixier visited the site of Harmony Mission, and says that the buildings were in ruins, 
and that an old farmer named Halley, who lived there, gave him a tolerably good dinner. 
Now, as to the name of the river, "Le Marais des Cygnes", or as I have usually seen it, 
"Le Marais du Cygne", there can be no question but that it is French. Le Marais des 
Cygnes means the Marsh of the Swans. The singular form, "Le Marais du Cygne", means 
the Marsh of the Swan. It is in that form that Whittier uses it in his poem — "Le Marais 
du Cygne" : 

"From the hearths of their cabins 
The fields of their corn 
Unwarned and unweaponed, 
The victims were torn, — 
By the whirlwind of murder, 
Swooped up and swept on 
To the low, reedy fen-lands, 
The Marsh of the Swan," Etc. 

Whittier in a note says: "The massacre of unarmed and unoffending men, in Southern 
Kansas, took place near the Marais du Cygne of the French voyagcurs." I do not quote 
Whittier as an authority on the form of the name, any more than I believe that the Kansas 
Jayhawkers and Red-legs were "unarmed and unoffending," but he is right about it being 
named by the French. In St. Louis there was in French times, a Marais Castor, or Beaver 
Marsh. In St. Charles County they still have the Marais Temps Clair (Fair weather 
Marsh or Swamp) and the Marias Croche or Crooked Marsh. 



HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 983 

In Spanish there are two words that mean marsh, pantano and tremedal ; so that the 
name in Spanish would be El Pantano (or El Tremedal) del Cisne, for the singular — the 
Marsh of the Swan, and El Pantano (or El Tremedal) delos Cisnes, for the Marsh of the 
Swans. 

Both the French Cygne and the Spanish Cisne come from the Latin Cygnus, as does 
our English word Cygnet. Tixier speaks of the river as the Osage but says that down to 
some miles below Harmony Mission it bears the name Marais des C3'gnes. 

If I can be of help to you in any way I am at your service. 

Yours truly, 

(Signed) Walter B. Douglas. 

W. O. Atkeson, Esq. 



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